Although I had fun making the above illustration, it’s not strictly an accurate Johari window.
To be accurate, a Johari window is a grid with four quadrants. Each quadrant represents an area of potential self awareness. In other words, it’s a window into your soul showing you your potential for personal growth and even greatness!
By the way, the butterfly in my illustration is not part of a Johari window either. It symbolises transformation. I’ll come to that later.
It’s good to understand this, because it can help open a window of happiness and success in your life.
Let me unpack this even more… The 4 quadrants of a Johari window in an average person are made up of:
An open area known to yourself & also known to others. You do not cover up anything in this area, and it’s the area in which you feel free to be yourself.
A blind spot area known to others but not known to yourself. This is your area of denial, where you deceive yourself into thinking that everything is okay, when it’s not. This is an area of self delusion.
A hidden area not known to others, but known only to yourself. This panel is your area of shame. It consists of the things you hide from others because you are afraid to be real. It’s your secret self where you cover things up with pretence and lies.
An unknown area. It’s not known to others & not known to yourself, but God knows about it. It’s your area of unknown potential.
A Johari window consists of these 4 quadrant panels, or panes of glass in the window; but each area is adjustable.
A healthy person has less hidden, and less blind areas, and their potential is more fully realised. The purpose of understanding the quadrants is to push back the lies in your belief system, and understand that which is currently hidden from you.
In other words, reduce the amount of darkness and increase the amount of light coming through your window of life.
For example, you don’t really want blind spots, do you? Nor should you desire to live life hiding most of your defects from others. It would be better to overcome your defects and reach your full potential.
Your choices make all the difference.
Beginning at the top of the chart and working down, you can see that your beliefs, based on truth or lies, determine your choices, and your choices steer the direction and outcome of your entire life.
How Jesus Sees Us
When you understand the symbolism in the Song of Solomon (explained here), you understand that Jesus is pictured looking through a lattice window at his bride, the church. The lattice window in Song 2:9 may not necessarily picture a Johari window, but on the other hand, Christ, as God, is all-knowing, and knows our heart (Heb 4:12-13), therefore this metaphor of Jesus examining our Johari window may actually be a good one!
In fact (even though this is rather outrageous speculation), in a universe where nothing is impossible for God, I can conceive that God could even have put that verse in the Bible so that, in the future, I could specifically write about it here!
(I think my feet left the ground there, so let me come back down to earth, and continue.)
Jesus healed the blind, and had a lot to say about light (known clarity and truth) and about it’s opposite, which is darkness, lies, and blindness (the unknown and the distorted):
Jesus said in John 8:12
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life"
In other words, those who follow Christ have adjusted their Johari window to let in more light!
John 12:35,36 "Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.
Luke 11:35,36 "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If then thy whole body is lightened, NOT HAVING ANY PART DARKENED, the whole shall be lightened, as when the lamp by the brightness may give thee light." (Verse 36 is from Young's Literal Translation)
Again, Jesus warns us to take heed, and adjust our Johari window… by letting God light the way for us.
Not only does Christ look through our Johari window, he also stands at the door and knocks.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
He sees the blindness in our Johari window, and offers to heal it.
Revelation 3:17-18 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Luke 6:39 “Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”
1 John 1:5 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Jesus had no hidden or dark areas.
Jesus had no lies or distortions in his belief system. Therefore he had no ‘buttons’ Satan could press.
The reason we hide things is because we’re afraid of rejection. We believe the lie that we’re not enough, and we hide who we really are.
Jesus was not afraid. He wore no mask, metaphorically or physically.
In relation to hiding from ourself, we don’t want to see who we really are. We try to meet our needs with things outside God’s will for us. They are outside His will because they end up hurting us. We have distorted perceptions. We think we need things that ultimately harm us, or harm others.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…
If we are willing to let God’s light shine on us, we open our eyes to see who we really are (we see the dark spots of distorted thinking, and we see the lies). If we don’t do this, we remain in darkness and greater success will pass by us. On the other hand, when we are willing to deal with our less than ideal behaviours or habits, we break free of them. We are no longer in bondage and we will have much more success.
Jesus had the light of life.
John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Transformation comes when we confront the darkness – when we become more self aware, and allow God to work in our lives to push back the darkness, and shine a light on things we’ve previously not seen, or ignored, because they’re too hard to face. But not facing reality results in greater suffering, greater pain, messed up relationships, or damaged lives, frustration or death.
Short term solutions are usually misguided coping mechanisms where people try to solve their problems without God. They believe they can survive without God, but they end up creating even worse problems and addictions.
How to PUSH BACK THE DARKNESS
The alternative to darkness is to follow Jesus example in the Bible, and trust God.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
You can trust God to alter your thinking, and claim God’s power to redirect:
- your actions,
- thoughts,
- words,
- work choices,
- associate & friend choices,
- body & health choices,
- environment,
- finances,
- use of time choices.
If we couldn’t claim God’s power, Jesus would not have said in Revelation 3:21
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Jesus overcame the world. (John 16:33)
With Jesus Spirit living in us, we can too.
1 John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. In other words, I cannot give myself wings. But God can!
Finding Specific Solutions
Instead of denying or hiding from reality, and giving in to endless distractions, we need to go to God in prayer for specific solutions. God has solutions you could never dream of by yourself. Jer 33:3. No matter what the burden, solutions are available to us:
Matt 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and CARRY HEAVY BURDENS, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. (NLT)
That’s a PROMISE you can claim.
Keys to Happiness
Jesus revealed other keys to happiness, but they are easily missed. For example Jesus said:
“… wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.”
That’s Luke 2 and verse 49 in the KJV.
They’re the very first recorded words of Jesus, and if we follow Jesus example here, in doing what God would have us do, in preference to our own business, we can gain inner peace.
Short term solutions using our own logic won’t bring peace. Following Jesus example, using God’s spiritual understanding will bring peace of mind, and bring us closer to true happiness. John 16:33.
Jesus walked a narrow path. But it’s why he was able to say, in John 14:30, that the devil had no hold over him.
God may prompt you in an easily missed still small voice (1 Kings 19:12), directing you to stay on the path.
The Bible is like a roadmap showing us how to reach the general grounds of a university. But hearing God’s voice, or prompting, or nudging, is like having a GPS directing us to the exact building we need to go to! …I’m referring more to the university of life rather than the universities of this world.
A true follower of Christ studies the examples Jesus set, and asks God for help to apply them in their own life, to remove all hidden areas, self deceptions, and addictions. Then, like the butterfly, God transforms them, and sets them free.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 21:6,7 ... I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Self awareness, and dealing with false beliefs is part of finding the truth – and long term, there is great reward!
There is more…
Next, understand what the Bible really says about God, and how that relates to the true meaning and purpose of life…
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