Matthew Lowe
Hometown: San Francisco Bay area, California
Ethnicity: White
Travel experience: 2000-2012 each summer I would spend in Alabama and travel to other southern states to visit family, in 2002 my family and I drove across country from California to the east coast. With family I went on a couple site seeing trips to Europe and the UK in 2002 and 2011
In 2012 and 2013 I went on an outreach trip to Turkey and Australia for 10 days each
In 2014 I spent 2 months in Cape Town South Africa volunteering at a school for orphaned youth
Social identification:
Religion: a Jesus imitator
We are to imitate our Father as his dearly beloved children and I believe Jesus has done that the best and so I want to imitate him
Personality type:
My personality test showed ENFJ which is related to eh teacher
ENFJs are idealist organizers, driven to implement their vision of what is best for humanity. They often act as catalysts for human growth because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charisma in persuading others to their ideas. They are focused on values and vision, and are passionate about the possibilities for people.
ENFJs are typically energetic and driven, and often have a lot on their plates. They are tuned into the needs of others and acutely aware of human suffering; however, they also tend to be optimistic and forward-thinking, intuitively seeing opportunity for improvement. The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place.
Clifton’s top 5 strength finder results:
Restorative
People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.
Ideation
People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Communication
People who are especially talented in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.
Includer
People who are especially talented in the Includer theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.
Input
People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
Privilege:
I am white, male, Christian, heterosexual, and disabled
Since I do not see too well I have been able to see life from a different mountain than most people and it is a beautiful one.
One of the downfalls is actually one of the greatest attributes of being sight impaired; I am not able to see the surface level of people, but instead I see to their hearts
I have claim that a theme to my life is restoration, so I am on this journey of restoring my vision and I try to welcome others onto the same journey
Biggest strength: I am a great question asker, which stems from quality listening skills and being especially aware. I spent half of my childhood in Oakland, CA and the other half in Fremont, CA, which is two extremely different cultures and ways of life, so I had many question from those experiences inside me and they always led to me asking more questions and always listening to people and observing what is going on.
Biggest weakness: Communicating my expectations and desires
I am not always late, but I push the envelope on things, not so much because I enjoy it or life is too crazy, but because I do not communicate my expectations to other of what I am trying to accomplish and what I desire, which in-turn does not allow me to stay on top of things as timely as possible. I come from a people pleasing background and I do not see that as a good thing, but it is what I have to work with, so I work to try to be more honest and upfront with where I am at.
Goals and culture competency:
I believe understanding culture is essential to doing restorative work. In addition to knowing culture I believe it is even more important to build a strong core culture that is a foundation for people and organizations to build on. In working cross culturally with restorative practices it will be essential for me to stay open and seek understanding of the group or person’s past, present and future position and perspective.