(1) Cognitive / Intellectual Learning

In the “How Language Shapes the Way We Think” TED Talk, I learned that languages could shape the way people think. Speaking in our languages is not only a means of communication but also a way to transmit knowledge between minds. When you speak in your language, you do not always transmit the exact meaning of your words. Each language has its own idioms that convey hidden messages to those who speak it. This raises an important question for me: To what extent does thinking in a second language affect the way we interpret ideas compared to thinking in our native language? Through the Soliya experience, communicating with others in a second language may help me explore this question further. Although I have communicated with others using a second language, I had not paid attention to the change that happened in my way of thinking. Therefore, being introduced to this idea raised this question in my mind.

While watching the “How is Your Heart?” video, I learned that recognizing your trauma helps you to recognize other trauma. I realized that people often understand others’ experiences by relating them to their own; they cannot imagine, create, or recognize situations from nothing. Our minds rely on what they face and simulate it to perceive knowledge. Therefore, if you understand your trauma and become part of your experience, we will be able to recognize others’ trauma and understand them deeply because you have already faced this situation. For instance, if someone gets into a car accident and is traumatized by cars, he will be able to realize the fear of cars that others may have, while other people who have not been exposed to any accidents may taunt them. This raises an important question for me: How can we understand someone’s trauma when their experiences are very different from our own? I am not sure if it is possible to fully understand someone else’s trauma, especially when our experiences are very different. Through Soliya sessions, I will be exposed to real conversations with people from different cultural and personal backgrounds. By listening to their stories and perspectives, maybe I will find some similarities between our experiences that enable us to recognize our traumas, even though we have different experiences.

The somatic healing session is one of the most knowledgeable and interesting sessions in this course. It taught me a lot about the mind and body connection. One of the most interesting facts that I learned is that it is more important to identify the cause behind your stress rather than identifying the healing method. Choosing the proper way of healing differs depending on the cause of your stress. For example, if you are scared, overwhelmed, or filled with negative emotions, try to find safety outside by doing activities that bring positive feelings to you, like organizing colors. But, if the stress is coming from external situations (i.e., like having many emails or a hard conversation), bring attention to the inside, such as doing the breathing activity. This raises an important question for me: Are all somatic healing activities in each healing category effective for all people? Through Soliya sessions, I can explore this question by learning how people from different backgrounds manage stress and discovering the variety of approaches that may work for different individuals.

The most interesting concept that I learnt from the video, “Danger of a Single Story”, is that power and knowledge are interconnected. The single story is often influenced by people who have authority, because their words can be heard by many people, and it is represented as “a trusted source of information”, leading to imbalance. There is nothing called a single story. There are always multiple stories that provide balance. However, unfortunately, people usually focus on a single story, leading to multiple stereotypes. For example, multiple foreigners think that Arabs use camels for transportation and do not have cars. That happened because the media’s “power” represented the Arab countries as deserts and pyramids with camels (in the case of Egypt), leading to stereotypes. Single stories make the perception of our equal humanity difficult because it emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar. This raises an important question for me: Why do people tend to rely on a single story even when multiple perspectives exist? Through Soliya sessions, we can share our various perspectives about the single stories that we know based on our different cultural backgrounds and try to correct them. Engaging in dialogues and listening to others’ experiences can help in balancing the stories and facing multiple stereotypes.

(2) Intrapersonal

Through this course, I began to reflect more critically on my own identity and how it shapes the way I see the world. I used to consider myself a person who could read faces and understand people’s personalities well after a small period of interaction. When I see someone, I start to analyze their personality to understand what kind of person they are. I think it is part of my personality as I have interests in psychology. However, I realized that many of my assumptions about others were not based on direct experience, but on what I first realized about them, and I stereotyped them. For example, when I entered the university, I met a colleague who was always sitting alone and did not interact with others. When I first saw her, I stereotyped her as an unfriendly person, and I was completely wrong. After some interaction, I noticed that she was just nervous and had difficulties interacting with new people, and now we have become close friends. This is a single example of how I used to stereotype people unconsciously. I used to judge people unconsciously without even noticing that I was stereotyping them. Paying attention to myself made me aware of my actions and my understanding of others. I realized that these stereotypes came and were shaped by my background and experiences with other people, so when I met people similar to those in my background, I started to stereotype them unconsciously.

This reflection raised several questions for me. To what extent are my opinions and assumptions truly my own, which are not affected by my environment and the people I met before? As I have mentioned before, people often understand others’ experiences by relating them to their own experience. I realized that it is similar to the concept of stereotyping. We tend to stereotype people based on the limited framework of our own experiences, mistaking familiarity for understanding. Becoming aware of this tendency does not eliminate it, but it gives me a choice to move from unconscious judgment to curiosity.

Through Soliya’s experience, I will be able to explore the question further. During the sessions, I will talk to new people virtually without being able to see them. Talking to new people virtually is really uncomfortable for me, but I think it will force me to reduce judgment to avoid unconsciously stereotyping people. Listening to others’ opinions and perspectives will allow me to discover different biases, and maybe I will discover hidden biases inside myself. Through this experience, I hope to develop a deeper understanding of myself and become more conscious.

(3) Interpersonal

Through interacting with multiple people, I have discovered that the most important action to take in any conversation is just listening to people. When I was young, I had a friend who used to ignore my stories and not listen politely to what I said. Through her behavior, I always felt unwelcome in any conversation, but I was too young to understand the importance of good listening. Paying attention to the person that you are talking with provides them with a sense of acceptance, leading to being comfortable while talking. When you listen to others and ask them questions about what they are saying, even if they are talking about a normal situation, it will give them the impression that you are interested in what they say. Listening to others is not only important to the speaker, but also important for the listener to enrich their knowledge about the world and people. All people have different experiences, and sharing these experiences can enrich our understanding of life in ways we never expected. When I truly listen to someone, I am not just being polite; I am also allowing myself to see the world through their eyes, even for a moment. And I think that is how we grow and learn.

While writing these words, a question is raised in my mind. Usually, when someone is talking about an experience they faced, you start to relate this experience to yourself or a person you know. So I was wondering about something: What does it truly mean to understand someone’s experience without reducing it to something familiar to me? Trying to truly understand someone’s experience can help me become a better global citizen who can support others. But is it even possible? Maybe understanding someone does not mean completely understanding his experiences, but rather holding them lightly. I think people sometimes need to be heard more than anything else.

Trying to listen and interact with culturally different people during Soliya conversations can improve my listening skills and avoid immediately trying to relate everything to myself and my background. I think relating everything to my background and culture can limit my ability to recognize new cultures and experiences. Soliya’s experience can provide an interactive environment for other students and me to learn how to be a good global digital citizen through listening, understanding, and accepting different cultural experiences that we have never been exposed to.

(4) Current Wars

If the issue of Palestine or the current war with Iran and the Middle East came up in Soliya conversations, there would be strong opinions and multiple disagreements. Topics like Palestine and the Middle East are connected to identity, religion, and history. Some people consider these wars a religious matter, so depending on their religion, they decide whether to support Palestine and the Middle East or not. Others consider that these wars either identity or history matters, so they also decide to support Arab countries depending on their situation. Therefore, there are always disagreements regarding these sensitive topics that are related to wars in Palestine and the Middle East, especially in Non-Arab Countries. The media around the world plays a significant role in spreading lies related to Arab countries, such as being terrorists, in addition to relating these lies to the Islamic religion, which leads Non-Arab people to always disagree with Arab countries without searching for the truth. Personally, I saw a lot of online videos for foreigners who agreed that the media always represent Arabs or Muslims in the worst case, “Terrorists”, and build this idea in their unconscious mind. They even converted the phrase “Allah Akbar”, which is an Arabic, Islamic phrase that represents that God is the greatest, into a phrase said to detonate bombs. All these facts will raise different perspectives and agreements.

If I am going to direct the discussion, I will make sure to allow everyone to speak freely without any side comments and represent their perspective. In addition to ensuring that the listeners stay respectful and focus on understanding their opinions. Staying respectful, while allowing everyone to represent themselves, will give space later to correct the misunderstanding about these wars. Of course, a single conversation cannot change a head that is built by the media. However, creating a space where people feel safe to speak honestly can start to decrease the stereotypes against Arabs.

Leading a sensitive topic discussion requires strict rules, like being good listeners, respectful, and avoiding interruptions and side comments. In addition to encouraging different perspectives, to provide a safe place to share our thoughts freely without any fear of judgment. Helping in providing a safe space and following these discussion rules is the support that I need to direct the discussion. In addition, the existence of session organizers is crucial in supporting the conversations. Usually, these conversations include multiple people, so it always requires organizers to guide the conversations, while ensuring everyone has the chance to speak. In addition to helping in conflicts that may happen because these sensitive topics can become emotional or tense.