Loon Lake Learning Advance was a trip we went on to a retreat center based on team building, emotional intelligence, and social and emotional awareness and understanding. This was a trip where we learned lots about our classmates, and became more trusting, and closer to each other, but also learned a lot about ourselves. In an almost profound sense, it felt like the things we learned in Loon Lake gave us a starter pack for how to do basic but very important things in life, like make friends, understand people, connect with people, trust yourself and others, and operate and thrive in our complex social society. Loon Lake Retreat is a company sponsored by UBC University, and is a specialized and unique experience with things to offer from a climbing wall and ropes course, to social and emotional activities amongst your group.
My class of PLP 9 spent 5 days up in Loon Lake, and I would say it was a great time, that impacted and resonated with me far more than I anticipated. Many of the things we did at Loon Lake also reinforced habits and things I already do, and it felt satisfying to be reminded why I do many of the things I do. For instance, lots of the indoor things we did involved learning about core values and daily and long-term choices that have to be made, and also workshops helping you further understand yourself.
We did one activity where you have to say all of the things you loved, and it reinforced the fact that I know myself well, and have applied myself and tried enough new things to understand my being on a deep and cognizant level. We also learned about how important clear communication to others and yourself is, connecting back to understanding yourself.
To be able to communicate with yourself clearly is to be able to control decisions made by yourself, and not be swayed by peer pressure, keeping a growth mindset, but a clear head. To communicate effectively with others clearly is to be able to state what you want in a way that does not combat with unnecessary factors like blaming, anger and resentment. It helps you to be able to communicate what you want more with others, but also helps you forgive people more too, as you understand and are able to break down their reason for confrontation on a deeper level.
Communication plays into many other factors of social and emotional intelligence, and resonated with me very prevalently over other things I we may have learned that I had already understood. We learned how to clearly communicate with others through a three step infographic chart, showing how to effectively confront someone without it becoming an argument. Here is that chart.
As you can see, the chart is a simple but informative and impacting piece that I was able to recreate easily. The first step, eye, or I, shows what you see of the situation, and what you understand. To do this without being tied to any emotion is important, as you do not want to escalate the situation (ie: making a mountain out of a molehill). Next you want to state how this situation or problem makes you feel, and be sure to show that you care for both sides of the problem. Finally, you can make a deal with the person, who should be more than willing if you are reasonable.
This is an excellent baseline for how to confront and deal with people, and how to communicate and change your problems. At Loon Lake, we also did a series of physical activities that I found super fun and were a highlight of the trip for me, and we did around 2-3 of these activities a day. They involved things like having spotters or being a spotter while you or someone else was going through a balance involved low ropes course, or doing trust falls off of elevated tables. All of these things were both very fun, but also impacted me far greater than I would have thought. That pretty much sums up Loon Lake Learning Advance, a trip that created memories and built bridges.
