What is self?
The word self means the discussion and context of the individual.
It can also be interpreted as the way in which communication and interpretation of messages takes place within the individual.
How you ever wondered about these:
Who are you?
What represents you?
How others think of you?
Why are you, you?
When did you become, you?
AND FINALLY…
Where will you become, you?
In class, we learned that the area of ‘self’ can be explored and widen into 4 categories.
1. Self-Concept
Self-concept is how you feel and think about yourself. It is the image of who you are.
 |
| @convey-yourself.blogspot |
Areas that affect Self-Concept
|
Description
|
Social comparison
|
We compare ourselves and adjust our image and thinking with the way society acts and thinks.
Example: Following the latest fashion trends or music.
|
Others images of you
|
We often compare ourselves to those around us especially friends and family members.
Example: When exam results are released, we would compare our results with our peers.
|
Self- interpretations and evaluations
|
Standards that applies to our ethical and moral reasoning, beliefs and comprehension and conformity of things around us.
Example: Some think smoking helps release tension but to others, it only deteriorates their health.
|
Cultural Teachings
|
Culture instils in us a variety of beliefs, values, and attitudes about such things as success.
|
2. Self-Awareness
It’s the ability to discover things that you know about yourself. It is also a process of discovering your personal development and understanding. Besides ourselves,we need help from those around us to become aware about our own ability.
It’s the ability to discover things that you know about yourself. It is also a process of discovering your personal development and understanding. Besides ourselves,we need help from those around us to become aware about our own ability.
In order to evaluate our self-awareness, we could use the Johari Window as
guideline. Charles Handy refers the Johari Window as a house with 4 rooms.
Each room explains a different part of us.
 |
| Source: http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/johari.html |
Below is an example of a Johari Window.
 |
http://dissenterdan.com/hglt-3-creating-an-environment-for-growth/
|
A) Open Self/Open Arena
- What we, ourselves and others know about us
- What we, ourselves and others know about us
- example: We know we hate eating durian and our friends are aware of it too.
B) Blind Self/ Blind Spot
- Things that are unknown to ourselves but known to others.
- example: When you are nervous during giving a speech, your hand stammers but you do not realise it instead your friends are aware about it.
C) Façade/ Hidden Self
- Things that are known to self but unknown to others.
- example: You are afraid of heights but you never mention your fear of heights to those around you.
D) Unknown Self
- Unknown to you and others.
- Some people have hidden talents and aptitude that they themselves and others might not realise.
Since we now know there are 4 different part which explains ourselves, we should learn to grow in our self-awareness too. How? Well here are some tips to increase our own self-awareness:
<Listen to others
Sometimes, we should learn to accept feedback from others.
<Increase your open self
Try to reveal more about yourself to others so that you can increase the chances of people revealing what they know about you.
<Seek information about yourself
Encourage those around you to reveal what they know about you by asking questions but do it moderately to avoid from irritating others.
<Dialogue with yourself
Ask yourself self-awareness questions as no one knows yourself better than you do.
- Things that are unknown to ourselves but known to others.
- example: When you are nervous during giving a speech, your hand stammers but you do not realise it instead your friends are aware about it.
C) Façade/ Hidden Self
- Things that are known to self but unknown to others.
- example: You are afraid of heights but you never mention your fear of heights to those around you.
D) Unknown Self
- Unknown to you and others.
- Some people have hidden talents and aptitude that they themselves and others might not realise.
Since we now know there are 4 different part which explains ourselves, we should learn to grow in our self-awareness too. How? Well here are some tips to increase our own self-awareness:
<Listen to others
Sometimes, we should learn to accept feedback from others.
<Increase your open self
Try to reveal more about yourself to others so that you can increase the chances of people revealing what they know about you.
<Seek information about yourself
Encourage those around you to reveal what they know about you by asking questions but do it moderately to avoid from irritating others.
<Dialogue with yourself
Ask yourself self-awareness questions as no one knows yourself better than you do.
So, from this day onwards, take those action to increase your own self-awareness. An Arabic proverb once stated that:
3. Self-Esteem
It is the level of trust, assurance or confidence towards ourselves.
If you have high self-esteem, it is a good thing but don’t have overly high self-esteem as it leads to self-destructive beliefs. Now, what should you do if you have low self-esteem?
Hope you all enjoy that video from You Tube. It does makes us recall back lots of things in our life especially to working adults. Being a kid, we had dreams and were never afraid of achieving them but as we grow older, for some of us, our self-esteem drop. Let us be like what we was when we were once kids (although not all kids have high self-esteem, most of them actually do), have confidence in ourself and it will take us where we want to go!
4. Self-Disclosure
It is an act of telling others about things that they wouldn't know about us-our hidden self.
"He who knows not and
know he knows not: he is a fool (shun him).
He who knows not and
knows he knows not: he is simple (teach him).
He who knows and
does not know he know: he is asleep (awake him).
He who knows and
know he knows: he is wise (follow him)."
Well, that proverb is kind of complicated but take your time and digest it's true meaning. If you mange to decode it's true meaning, you will know what self-awareness truly means to a person.
It is the level of trust, assurance or confidence towards ourselves.
If you have high self-esteem, it is a good thing but don’t have overly high self-esteem as it leads to self-destructive beliefs. Now, what should you do if you have low self-esteem?
JUST REMEMBER...
-Attack your self-destructive belief (don't set unrealistic high standards)
-Seek out nourishing people (avoid those who make your self-esteem decrease)
-Work on projects that will result in success
-Remind yourself of your successes (do not focus on failure)
AND
-Secure affirmation (think about good things of yourself)
-Attack your self-destructive belief (don't set unrealistic high standards)
-Seek out nourishing people (avoid those who make your self-esteem decrease)
-Work on projects that will result in success
-Remind yourself of your successes (do not focus on failure)
AND
-Secure affirmation (think about good things of yourself)
Being a person with high self-esteem has more benefits than being a person with low self-esteem. In class, we did an activity by comparing the characteristics and qualities of people with high and low self-esteem. Take a look at what we did in class.
 |
| @convey-yourself.blogspot |
Before we move on to the third category of self, watch this video. It is really meaningful and I'm sure most of us are like what that is portrayed in the video.
Hope you all enjoy that video from You Tube. It does makes us recall back lots of things in our life especially to working adults. Being a kid, we had dreams and were never afraid of achieving them but as we grow older, for some of us, our self-esteem drop. Let us be like what we was when we were once kids (although not all kids have high self-esteem, most of them actually do), have confidence in ourself and it will take us where we want to go!
4. Self-Disclosure
It is an act of telling others about things that they wouldn't know about us-our hidden self.
WHAT Affects Self-Disclosure?
Who you are
Your culture
Your gender
Your listeners – small groups or large groups
Your topic and channel.
Self-disclosure have it's own pros and cons. Here are some of the pros and cons.
PROS
a. Gain confidence
b. Be more truthful about yourself
c. Make or strengthen friendships and relationships
CONS
a. Lost of friends and trust
b. Additional pressure and burden
c. Living with regret
So, that wraps up the end of this chapter. Hope you all enjoy reading it and remember to stay up to date with us for our next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment