Johari Window

     In class we were asked to draw our own Johari Window showing which sides of our self were open, hidden, blind, and unknown to our self and others. In chapter 2, our author discusses the guidelines for improving self-concept. One of the terms discussed is self-disclosure which is "revealing information about ourselves that others are unlikely to discover on their own." The Johari Window is an illustration that demonstrates the areas of our life that are known or unknown by ourselves and others. Our book discusses the four types of information that are relevant to the self:


     1. Open, or public, information is known both to us and to others. Your name, height, major, and tastes in music probably are open information that you share easily with others.
     2. The blind are contains information that others know about us be we don't know about ourselves. For example, others may see that we are insecure even though we think we've hidden that well. Others may also recognize needs or feelings that we haven't acknowledged to ourselves.
     3. Hidden information is what we know about ourselves but choose not to reveal to most others. You might not tell many people about your vulnerabilities or about traumas in your past because you consider this private information.
     4. The unknown area is made up of information that ourselves that neither we nor others know. This consists of your untapped resources, your untried talents, and your reactions to experiences you've never had. You don't know how you will manage a crisis until you've been in one, and you can't tell what kind of parent you will be unless you've had a child.

     My Johari Window consists of a large "open" area and a large "unknown" area. This has not always been the case in my life, however, various relationships and circumstances have shaped the way I choose to self disclose. The "hidden" area of my life used to be rather large compared to the other areas of my life throughout high school and even in the beginning of college. I knew a lot of things about my self that I was not ready to openly admit to my peers and role models. I did not want to let anyone too close to me in fear of ruining the facade I had so carefully built up over the years. I was the confident fun loving girl who had everything together. I knew what I wanted and nothing was going to stop me. I was an over achiever, ambitious, and always knew what to say. I am still very much that girl, but I am also scared, uncertain, insecure, I have low self-esteem, and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I was willing to show everyone the best of me but never the doubts or insecurities. Therefore, I had a "hidden" area of my life that was well known to me and very exhausting to maintain.

     As I grew older, friends came and went, and everything I thought I knew and wanted began to shift, I learned to develop my "blind" area and embrace the "unknown" areas in my life instead of fear them. I started by being more open about the fact that I was a person who makes mistakes about as often as I get things right. I started to share with a small circle of close friends that I am not as strong as I pretend to be. I was able to start hearing what my close friends were saying about me that I didn't believe to be true about myself. Some truths were hard to hear, some were affirming, and others were unmarked territory. I learned a lot about myself from others and it started by being honest. Now that I can honestly say I know a lot more about who I am and who I don't want to be. I don't know what life has in store for me which used to scare me more than I can put into words. But now, those unknown areas of my life are uncharted experiences that I will be ready to face because I have a better understanding of who I am and what is important to me.