New London It is a privilege for me hardly a birthright to watch high school football games from the sidelines. A true flavor for the game. I do not take the privilege lightly. My rule: If I couldn't hear it or see it from the press box, I do not report what I hear or see on the sidelines. This is the personal space of the players and coaches. I am a guest.

But there are times when my rule bends a bit, because something relevant must be shared.

To wit: Some of the finest coaching I've seen in almost 30 years here now happened Saturday on the New London sideline.

And it had nothing to do with Xs and Os.

It is clear that coach Johnny Burns and his staff are aware of their biggest challenge: teaching their players the coping skills necessary to conquer adversity. It is difficult. At times, seemingly impossible. But their efforts were inspiring.

Straight up: The single biggest scourge I see in high school athletics today is kids without coping skills. When bad things happen, they either point fingers it was somebody else's fault or simply quit. And it comes with alarming levels of anger, thus preventing kids from absorbing the greatest lesson sports teach: resilience.

I see it in kids at every school. I'll leave the reasons to the nearest sociologist. All I know is that engagement after enragement is one of the most difficult tasks assigned to an educator.

What I saw Saturday: All members of Burns' staff choosing to stay positive with their players. Asking for the kids to stay positive as well. Begging. Demanding. The words "positive energy" became a mantra.

There were many mistakes made during the 32-6 loss to New Canaan. The kids pointed fingers. Grew angry. And yet there was every coach faithfully advising that mistakes happen. They can be corrected. It's OK. Stay positive. I believe in you. We believe in you.

This is not always easy. Coaches get mad, too. And this is where sports have changed the most. No longer can coaches go the way of Vesuvius in the wake of adversity. Their anger only makes them feel better. It does not change the situation. It does not help the kids. It just makes for more angry people with less space to teach.

This is the part of coaching that can't be seen or heard from the bleachers. There was, presumably, ample second-guessing of Burns and his staff during Saturday's game. Call this play. Call that play. Use this kid here. Use that kid there. The standard stuff.

Except that coaching the Whalers and many other kids at many other schools requires a particular energy that transcends Xs and Os. This is about engaging kids where they are. And kids today cannot handle failure with any hint of self-awareness. Part of it is because they're kids, who need to be taught. It's what we need to be teaching at home.

We are failing.

Rather than allowing adversity to be the teacher, we jump to our kids' defenses and enable them. It's not your fault, honey. It's somebody else's. And then when mistakes happen, the residual effects are scary. Maybe it's parental guilt: knowing you're not truly there enough for them that creates the enabling mechanism.

But this is why sports are more important than ever in our schools. They offer impromptu college level courses on coping skills. Sports are often about frustration management. Many kids are ill-equipped at the beginning. But with good coaching that means varying bouts of patience and tolerance kids can learn that overcoming adversity becomes the greatest life skill of all.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli did a nice thing after Saturday's game, addressing the New London kids and saluting them for their effort. I hope the Whalers listened. I hope they listened to their own coaches as well.

This has a chance to be a good football season in the 06320. There's some talent here. If the kids hang in there and begin to process the message of their coaches, they'll win plenty. But more than that, they will invoke a learning process that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

It was a good day in Whalerville, despite the loss. The coaches truly understand their primary mission. I wish them much patience and much luck.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro

Read more from the original source:
NL football coaches teaching 'coping skills 101' - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

Pappys father was a living ghost, and his mother died when I was a young child. But from time to time, once a year or less frequently, the phone would ring, and his voice would grow folksier, maybe even slower, and he would chat with some relation for an hour, sometimes more. I tried to picture the faces of these phantom men and women who incredibly, to me knew who my father was, knew from what world he had come, but imagine as I would, I had no idea what lives they might lead. Oh, thats so-and-so from Detroit, my mother might say, as if that could clarify matters for me. When Pappy hung up, whatever link had been temporarily forged with the past immediately receded from our home, and it was obvious the subject was closed. Sometimes, when I asked him how he learned to fight so well, he would get a gentle, wistful look in the eye and say that his uncles in Longview had shown him how one of the few memories of home Im aware of that could provoke a wholly uncomplicated smile.

I should have better understood how fundamental boxing must have been to my fathers sense of himself as a man in the world, as fundamental as books. After all, the evidence, like those books, was all around me. In that basement, we had a treadmill, stationary bikes and resistance machines, in addition to medicine balls, benches and weights. There was a professional-grade heavy bag and a speed bag in the garage, as well as full sets of headgear and scarlet-red Everlast gloves. Only looking back on it now do I realize that my father must have anticipated that he would train us. There would be intermittent lessons throughout my childhood and adolescence, moments of instruction snatched in the hallway or kitchen in which he patiently demonstrated to me where to place my feet, how to hunch my shoulders chin down, protect the neck and how to parry a blow. Pappy was unhittable, at least for me, whip-fast with the hands, torso and head well into his 60s. It was beautiful to witness what he could do. Is there anything more wonderful than watching your father soar? Perhaps, I imagine now, it is equaled only in the pleasure of imparting really transmitting something of yourself to your child.

One evening thrusts beyond the fog of childhood memory like a rocky peak glimpsed from an airplane window. Pappy takes the scrawny little boy who must have been me down into the basement, puts the gloves on the boys fists and then gloves his own hands. It is a hard space, with hard tiled floors cracking to expose the concrete underneath the most undomesticated part of the house by far. The air is cool and damp on the hottest day of the year. It is an uncomfortable space, with nowhere to sit. You have to stand. You have to work out or remove a book from one of the shelves and read. When you descend into this space, you have to improve yourself in some demonstrable way.

You ready? he asks, his Texan accent suddenly ever so slightly more perceptible, or is this a trick of memory now?

Yes, the boy of my memory replies, and then his father punches him, with but a tiny fraction of his genuine strength but not in any way like a child of 8 or 9, either. He throws straight jabs, repeatedly, on the chin, which astonish the boy, who has never been hit like that before. Has never been hit at all.

You need to know how to take a shot, how to feel it on your face, Pappy explains lovingly but firmly, not jokingly, to the boy, whose mind has begun to race. That way, once youre used to it, it cant ever take you by surprise. Stunned but determined to own the respect of his indomitable father, the boy nods his assent, wishing he were anywhere else. He withstands several more blows to the jaw and chin, the imprecision of the bulky gloves allowing one to graze the nose, flooding his eyes with salty tears.

The plane of remembrance shoots ahead and the mountain peak recedes; all thats left are the clouds. I have no recollection of how that session ended, whether on a good or bad or neutral note. I know that Pappy never tried to teach me that strange lesson again, and I didnt ask him to. As it turned out, I never did muster the discipline to learn how to box. That is not to say I didnt learn, through trial and error, how to endure a fight. Rather, its that everything I knew later to do with my hands, I managed from that day on my own, freestyle exactly the kind of life-learning my father despises for being unreliable and inexact. But even as a very small child, I understood that Pappy was only showing me the sincerest kind of care. I understood that, for whatever the reason, my father could not relate, not fully, to anyone who hadnt experienced a certain amount of discomfort in life. And yet, I have always suspected that Pappy didnt like that lesson with the gloves any more than I did. Though he thought of it as an indispensable part of a masculinity that girds itself for so many inevitable threats, I dont believe he really wanted me to ever have to rely on my hands.

Read this article:
My Familys Life Inside and Outside Americas Racial Categories - The New York Times

Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) in the biomedical sciences industry can grow their digital and leadership skills through an initiative launched yesterday.

The Biomedical Sciences Training Community has been set up by NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and the Chemical Industries Employees' Union (CIEU) with the aim of building a community of learners.

One key programme under the initiative is Project Zodiac, a leadership training workshop to help middle and senior managers develop self-awareness and adaptive skills such as effective communication, problem solving and resilience.

It comprises a two-day retreat and three half-day workshops, as well as a 60-day period for them to implement what they have learnt through a project at work.

About 100 mid-management employees from 14 companies have taken part since it started in March, and another 100 will likely attend by the year end.

The Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers' Advisory Council (BMAC), a group of government agencies and 16 companies, started the programme as a pilot two years ago with leadership training company Forest Wolf and now wants to expand it to the rest of the industry.

BMAC co-chair Lim Hock Heng, who is vice-president and site director at GSK's Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain Singapore, said many foreign biomedical firms here are still young and are currently led by people from their home countries.

But over time, as these companies develop more confidence in the local teams, more locals may be appointed to lead the firms.

"There are many bright and young locals with deep technical skills, but as we prepare them for leadership roles, they need to know how to make good decisions, navigate complex environments, take risks and motivate people," he said.

"This requires a conscious investment in soft skills," he added.

Singapore's biomedical sciences industry employs over 22,000 people and includes eight of the top 10 pharmaceutical and biologics companies in the world, said NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng at an industry event yesterday.

Technology adoption by companies is high and more advanced than in most other industries, so workers need to adapt, he said.

"Having the strategy to match Worker 4.0 with Industry 4.0 is key to meeting the demand for skilled manpower in both technical and management positions," he added.

Besides improving leadership skills, workers can also attend bite-sized courses on Industry 4.0 run by Nanyang Technological University and Republic Polytechnic.

They can also learn about digitalisation and industry topics such as microbiology laboratory safety and stem cell technologies, through NTUC's mobile learning app ULeap.

So far, close to 1,500 PMETs have gone through these programmes, and e2i and CIEU aim to train another 1,500 by next year.

GSK senior chemical engineer Charles Wong, 36, attended the Project Zodiac course in March and April and was one of the top graduates. He said he used what he learnt on a yield improvement project he was leading.

He led his team of about 20 people to reduce the scope and cost of the project by 95 per cent, while still achieving the same yield outcome.

He also convinced senior managers to endorse the new plan by tailoring his presentation to their different communication styles.

The team was able to complete the project while he was on paternity leave in June.

"I felt very proud as a person and also for my team," said Mr Wong.

More here:
Building leadership, digital skills in biomedical sciences sector - The Straits Times

Ravens can plan for the future. Octopuses create armour out of coconut shells. Orangutans can talk about the past.

Scientific research constantly gives glimpses into new dimensions of animal cognition. But intelligencewhich is so complex and encompasses such a wide range of adaptive abilitiesremains confoundingly tricky to measure.

One of the biggest challenges is our inability to comprehend how other species process information, says Kristina Horback, an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis, who studies the cognitive abilities of livestock animals.

Kanzi, a 39-year-old bonobo, became well-known for his language skills. He can communicate using hundreds of symbols that correlate to words.PHOTOGRAPH BY VINCENT J. MUSI, NAT GEO IMGE COLLECTION

Some animals have senses we cant even understand, such as sharks, which have an acute sensitivity to electrical currents, or insects, some of which can see ultraviolet light.

Our own senses skew how we perceive intelligence in animals. The mirror testan animals ability to recognise itself in the mirroris commonly used to assess capacity for self-awareness. Bottlenose dolphins, magpies, and manta rays are among the few species that have passed that test.

Because vision is key to humans, it makes sense that visual recognition of the self would be our default, Horback says. But what about species that rely on smell for identification, like swine? Visual information is not important to these species. Because the mirror test favors species that rely on vision over scent, it doesnt offer an objective measure of self-awareness.

We cant meaningfully compare intelligence among animals. One species might excel in one area but perform poorly in another and vice versa. And so much of an animals ability to pass a cognition test depends on its sensory abilities. Using human abilities as a comparative benchmark reveals the drawbacks of our attempts to measure intelligence across species.

Our vision is good, but not as good as hawks. Our hearing is good, but not as good as rats, says Edward Wasserman, a psychology professor at the University of Iowa who compares cognitive abilities among species. Our sense of smell, he says, is on the poor side, and dramatically outclassed by dogs.

As Wasserman puts it, How we contrive tests of intelligence may tell us more about the sensory abilities of animals than their intellectual abilities.

Add to that our tendency to value cognitive abilities that are human-like as evidence of higher intelligence. Many people say, I hear that pigs are smart, and sheep are dumb, Horback says. This is completely false. Pigs, like humans, are opportunistic omnivoresthey eat whatever they can find. Theyve evolved the ability, she says, to remember food locations and to use deception to keep other pigs away from their stashes. Sheep, on the other hand, are grazers. They have different skills, such as the ability to detect subtle flock movements. They do not need to solve complex food mazes or trick others away from food source, Horback says. It just does not make sense for sheep to have that particular cognitive skill.

Every species is adapted to its own environment. Animals generally have the cognitive abilities necessary to thrive. There are species which simply do not need to retain the capacity for complex problem solving [or] tool use, Horback says, pointing out that having more cognitive abilities than necessary would be wasteful for the animal's survival.

Barnacles do not move. Food comes to them, Wasserman says. Why should they engage in great feats of learning or reasoning?

Although scientists reject the notions of measures of absolute or comparative intelligence in animals, advances in technology are providing new insights.

Touchscreens in particular are proving to be a real game changer, Wasserman says. So long as animals can activate the screen by touching, nosing, or pecking, we can craft clever tests of their intelligence.

Here are 14 species from the animal kingdom that have demonstrated notable cognitive feats.

More here:
See 14 Animals That Have Shown Us Their Impressive Smarts - National Geographic Australia

Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self including traits, behaviors, and feelings. Essentially, it is a psychological state in which oneself becomes the focus ofattention.

Self-awareness is one of the first components of theself-conceptto emerge. While self-awareness is something that is central to who you are, it is not something that you are acutely focused onat every moment of every day. Instead, self-awareness becomes woven into the fabric of who you are and emerges at different points depending on the situation and your personality.

People are not born completely self-aware. Yet research has also found that infants do have a rudimentary sense of self-awareness. Infants possess the awareness that they are a separate being from others, which is evidenced by behaviors such as the rooting reflex in which an infant searches for a nipple when something brushes against his or her face. Researchers have also found that even newborns are able to differentiate between self- and non-self touch.

Studies have demonstrated that a more complex sense of the awareness of the self begins to emerge at around one year of age and becomes much more developed by approximately 18 months of age.

Researchers Lewis and Brooks-Gunn performed studies looking at how self-awareness develops. The researchers applied a red dot to an infant's nose and then held the child up to a mirror. Children who recognized themselves in the mirror would reach for their own noses rather than the reflection in the mirror, which indicated that they had at least some level of self-awareness.

Lewis and Brooks-Gunn found that almost no children under one year of age would reach for their own nose rather than the reflection in the mirror. About 25 percent of the infants between 15 and 18 months reached for their own noses while about 70 percent of those between 21 and 24 months did so.

It is important to note that the Lewis and Brooks-Gunn study only indicates an infant's visual self-awareness; children might actually possess other forms of self-awareness even at this early point in life. For example, researchers Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, and Weiss suggested thatexpressing emotionsinvolves self-awareness as well as an ability to think about oneself in relation to other people.

Researchers have proposed that an area of the brain known as the anterior cingulate cortexlocated in thefrontal lobe region plays an important role in developing self-awareness. Studies have also used brain imaging to show that this region becomes activated in adults who are self-aware. The Lewis and Brooks-Gunn experiment suggests that self-awareness begins to emerge in children around the age of 18 months, an age that coincides with the rapid growth of spindle cells in the anterior cingulate cortex.

However, one study found that a patient retained self-awareness even with extensive damage to areas of the brain including the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. This suggests that these areas of the brain are not required for most aspects of self-awareness and that awareness may instead arise from interactions distributed among brain networks.

So how exactly do children become aware of themselves as separate beings? Researchers suggest that children progress through a series of levels of self-awareness between birth and approximately age 4 or 5. Self-awareness is observed by how children respond to their own reflection in a mirror.

Level 1: Differentiation - At this point, children start to become aware that what it reflected in a mirror is different from what they simply perceive in the environment.

Level 2: Situation - This level of self-awareness is characterized by a growing understandingthat self-produced movements can be seen in the mirror's surface. Children are also aware that it is their own movements they are observing.

Level 3: Identification - At this point, children recognizethe image in the mirror as themselves rather than someone else staring back at them.

Level 4: Permanence - Children can not only identify themselves reflected in a mirror, they can also identify their own image in pictures and home movies.

Level 5: Self-consciousness or "meta" self-awareness - At this level, children are not only aware of themselves from their own perspective, but also become aware of how they are in the minds of others.

Psychologists often break self-awareness down into two different types, either public or private.

This type emerges when people are aware of how they appear to others. Public self-awareness often emerges in situations when people are at the center of attention, such as when giving a presentation or talking to a group of friends.

This type of self-awareness often compels people to adhere to social norms. When we are aware that we are being watched and evaluated, we often try to behave in ways that are socially acceptable and desirable.

Public self-awareness can also lead to evaluation anxiety in which people become distressed,anxious, or worried about how they are perceived by others.

This type happens when people become aware of some aspects of themselves, but only in a private way.

For example, seeing your face in the mirror is a type of private self-awareness. Feeling your stomach lurch when you realize you forgot to study for an important test or feeling your heart flutter when you see someone you are attracted to are also examples of private self-awareness.

Sometimes, people can become overly self-aware and veer into what is known as self-consciousness.

Have you ever felt like everyone was watching you, judging your actions, and waiting to see what you will do next? This heightened state of self-awareness can leave you feeling awkward and nervous in some instances.

In a lot of cases, these feelings of self-consciousness are only temporary and arise in situations when we are "in the spotlight."For some people, however, excessive self-consciousness can reflect a chronic condition such as social anxiety disorder.

People who are privately self-conscious have a higher level of private self-awareness, which can be both a good and bad thing. These people tend to be more aware of their feelings and beliefs, and are therefore more likely to stick to their personal values. However, they are also more likely to suffer from negative health consequences such as increased stress and anxiety.

People who are publicly self-conscious have a higher level of public self-awareness. They tend to think more about how other people view them and are often concerned that other people might be judging them based on their looks or their actions. As a result, these individuals tend to stick to group norms and try to avoid situations in which they might look bad or feel embarrassed.

A Word From Verywell

Self-awareness plays a critical role in how we understand ourselves and how we relate to others and the world. Being self-aware allows you to evaluate yourself in relation to others. For people who have an extremely high sense of self-awareness, excessive self-consciousness can result. If you feel that you are struggling with self-consciousness that is having a negative influence on your life, discuss your symptoms with your doctor to learn more about what you can do to cope with these feelings.

More:
What Is Self-Awareness and How Does It ... - Verywell Mind

From the ancient Greek Aphorism know thyself to western psychology, the topic of self-awareness has been studied by philosophers and psychologists for the last century.

In this article, we will cover what self-awareness is, how it can be beneficial in a therapy session, why it is difficult to achieve, and how one can cultivate it.

It is worthwhile to reflect on this overlooked attribute. After all, high levels of self-awareness benefit oneself and ones social relations.

Simply put, self-awareness is an awareness of the self, with the self-being what makes ones identity unique. These unique components include thoughts, experiences, and abilities.

The psychological study of self-awareness can be first traced back to 1972. Psychologists Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklunds developed the theory of self-awareness.

They proposed that:

when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values. We become self-conscious as objective evaluators of ourselves.

In essence, they consider self-awareness a major mechanism of self-control.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman proposed a popular definition of self-awareness in his best-selling book Emotional Intelligence, as knowing ones internal states, preference, resources, and intuitions.

This definition places more emphasis on the ability to monitor our inner world, our thoughts and emotions as they arise.

In my view, it is important to recognize that self-awareness is not only about what we notice about ourselves but also how we notice and monitor our inner world.

Have you ever held judgment towards yourself regarding the thoughts or experiences you have? If so, then you are not alone, and there it is time to work towards a non-judgemental reflection of yourself.

This isof courseeasier said than done.

If non-judgmental quality is an essential component of self-awareness, how do we work towards that?

As we notice whats happening inside us, we can acknowledge and accept them as the inevitable part of being human, rather than giving ourselves a hard time about it.

Hint: if you have ever said to yourself I should/shouldnt have done it, then you know what I mean. Next time you are judging something you said or did, consider the question:

Is what I experienced also a chance to learn and grow? Have other humans possibly made a similar mistake and learned from it?

Self-awareness goes beyond accumulating knowledge about ourselves: it is also about paying attention to our inner state with a beginners mind and an open heart.

Our mind is extremely skillful at storing information about how we react to a certain event to form a blueprint of our emotional life (source).

Such information often ends up conditioning our mind to react in a certain way as we encounter a similar event in the future.

Self-awareness allows us to be conscious of this conditioning and preconceptions of the mind, which can form the foundation of freeing the mind from it.

Self-awareness is the key cornerstone to emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman.

The ability to monitor our emotions and thoughts from moment to moment is key to understanding ourselves better, being at peace with who we are and proactively managing our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

In addition, self-aware people tend to act consciously (rather than react passively), and tend to be in good psychological health and to have a positive outlook on life. They also have a greater depth of life experience and are more likely to be more compassionate.

An investigation by Sutton (2016) also examined the component parts of self-awareness and their benefits.

This study found that the self-reflection, insight, and mindfulness aspects of self-awareness can lead to benefits such as becoming a more accepting person, while the rumination and mindfulness aspects can lead to emotional burdens.

A number of researches have shown self-awareness as a crucial trait of successful business leaders.

In a study undertaken by Green Peak Partners and Cornell University, 72 executives at public and private companies were studied. They all had revenues from $50 million to $5 billion, and it was found that a high self-awareness score was the strongest predictor of overall success.

Self-awarenessin this studywas the strongest predictor of overall success.

Self-awareness is also crucial for psychotherapists.

Therapists need to be aware of their own biases, values, stereotypical beliefs, and assumptions in order to appropriately serve culturally diverse clients (Oden et al., 2009).

It has also been called a precursor to multicultural competence (Buckley & Foldy, 2010). In other words, self-awareness allows counselors to understand the differences between their lived experiences and their clients lived experiences.

This can help counselors be more nonjudgmental towards their clients, and help them better understand their clients.

If self-awareness is so important, why arent we more self-aware?

The most obvious answer is that most of the time we are simply not there to observe ourselves. In other words, we are not there to pay attention to whats going on inside or around us.

Psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert found that almost half of the time we operate on automatic pilot or unconscious of what we are doing or how we feel, as our mind wanders to somewhere else other than here and now.

In addition to the constant mind-wandering, the various cognitive bias also affects our ability to have an accurate understanding of ourselves; we tend to believe narratives that support our already existing sense of self.

For example, if we have a solid belief that we are a high-quality and loyal friend, then we are likely to interpret eventseven ones where perhaps we did make a mistakeas an anomaly of our identity as that loyal friend.

This pre-existing belief about ourselves might influence how we handle the aftermath of, say, forgetting about a lunch date with a friend.

Additionally, confirmation bias can trick us into searching for or interpreting information in a way that confirms our pre-conception of something.

Have you ever had that feeling when youve accepted a job offer, but are still looking for extra assurance that it is the perfect job for you? That is confirmation bias, in its finest.

Furthermore, the lack of the willingness to seek feedback could also work against us if we want to have a more holistic view of ourselves through the eyes of others.

If we want to cultivate our own self-awareness, how do we reconcile that with these psychological tendencies where we only acknowledge certain versions of ourselves?

It is not easy, but there are some options.

What further complicates the picture is the different aspects of the self we relate to in everyday life.

Daniel Kahneman, is a Nobel Prize winner for his contribution to behavioral science.

In his TED talk, Kahneman explains the difference between the experiencing self and the remembering self, and how this affects our decision-making.

He explains how we feel about the experience at the moment and how we remember the experience can be very different and share only 50% correlation.

This difference can have a significant impact on the story we are telling ourselves, the way we relate to self and others, and the decision we make, even though we may not notice the difference most of the time.

For our purposes, let us say that self-awareness consists of being mindful of our identities and lived experiences and how they relate to those of other people.

Self-focused attention consists of simply thinking about ourselves.

For example, self-focused attention might mean that a counselor thinks about how anxious they are about the therapy session, which leads to the client feeling that the counselor is not paying attention to them.

Self-awareness, on the other hand, would mean that the counselor realizes that if they are anxious about the session, it may indicate that the client is anxious about the session, and uses this to try to help the clients anxiety as well as their own.

In other words, as one researcher concludes, self-awareness might be a tool to decrease the negative impact of hindering self-focused attention on counseling self-efficacy (Wei et al., 2017). This studyoffers an important look into how counselors can change this habit, and move towards self-awareness while meeting with clients.

Being self-aware about all aspects of ones thoughts is crucial, rather than being aware of the current emotion one is feeling.

Some of the strategies that therapists can use to stop self-awareness from being distracting include remembering to focus on the client, their needs, and the goals of the counseling session.

Another strategy is using self-awareness as a way to better understand the client, rather than only being self-aware of ones thoughts and appearing distracted.

If you are not a counselor or in the field, there are many more ways to increase self-awareness in your everyday life.

The tremendous benefits of high self-awareness can be felt by anyone who puts time towards it.

Self-awareness, as arguably the most fundamental issue in psychology, from both a developmental and an evolutionary perspective, is a rich and complicated subject.

As human beings, we may never fully understand ourselves, if there is such a destination. But perhaps it is the journey of exploring, understanding and becoming ourselves that makes life worth living.

Whether you want to be more accepting of yourself or more accepting of others, cultivating self-awareness is a good place to start.

Id love to hear from you. Would you say you are a self-aware person? How do you see the role of self-awareness in your professional and personal life?

Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

See the original post here:
What is Self-Awareness and Why is it Important? [+5 Ways ...

Becoming a truly effective manager requires a great deal of self-reflection, observation, and growth.

For most of us, its an ongoing process. Whether youre a seasoned manager or relatively new to the ranks, you may have learned the hard way that the skills that helped you move up the ladder arent necessarily the skills you need for successful leadership.

It's not unusual to see new managers stumble early on as they stretch beyond their previous roles. Perhaps stellar technical skills helped you get a promotion to team lead, but in a managerial role you'll be relying much more heavily on interpersonal communication skills.

Similarly, if you are too narrowly focused on results, you may lose sight of the fact that your ability to affect change is ultimately dependent on relationships and networks.

Lets look at the example of a rising star who is promoted by his bosss boss. Once in the new position, he disagrees with his supervisors sales projections and has to navigate a tricky set of interests and relationships.

Read the rest here:
How Self-Awareness Makes You a Better Manager | Harvard ...

Self, the I as experienced by an individual. In modern psychology the notion of the self has replaced earlier conceptions of the soul.

The concept of the self has been a central feature of many personality theories, including those of Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Gordon W. Allport, Karen Horney, Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Abraham H. Maslow.

According to Carl Jung the self is a totality consisting of conscious and unconscious contents that dwarfs the ego (q.v.) in scope and intensity. The maturation of the self is the individuation process, which is the goal of the healthy personality.

Rogers theorized that a persons self-concept determines his behaviour and his relation to the world, and that true therapeutic improvement occurs only when the individual changes his own self-concept. Mays approach was similarly existential; he conceived the self as a dynamic entity, alive with potentiality. Maslows theory of self-actualization was based on a hierarchy of needs and emphasized the highest capacities or gratifications of a person. See also humanistic psychology.

Read the rest here:
Self | Britannica.com

SelfAwareness Test submission count updated: 9/1/2018

Welcome! The iNLP Center self awareness test is on this page. Youll get your results once you hit the submit button. No email or obligation is required.

You can scroll down to the quiz right away, but we suggest reading the introductory sections first the instructions.

Approaching 10,000 submissions, this is our most popular online quiz because it reveals uncommon opportunities for personal growth. The self awareness test does not include interpersonal skills, which may be a future project.

Created by the iNLP Center. Private. Non-commercial. Confidential.

Do you have enough curiosity to take a penetrating self awareness test with a few twists? The quiz on this page will inspire you to think about areas of life you may have never considered. It could be challenging. Thats good!

Why?

Because enlightenment begins with self awareness. This quiz puts self awareness in a framework that creates insight. On a journey toward greater enlightenment, this could be a tool youve been missing. Most people report more than one aha-moment.

Sound good?

The iNLP Center uses the diagram above when teaching the NLP Meta Model, which is a set of questions that probe beneath the surface of vague communication. The Meta Model opens the door into a whole new world of self-discovery. Some of these discoveries are featured in our self awareness test.

The self you can be aware of is much more than the conscious mind. Neuro-Linguistic Programming suggests much of our thinking and communication lies outside conscious awareness (non-verbal communication, to give one simple example, goes largely unnoticed by most). Non-conscious thoughts and communication have a much greater impact than what we consciously notice. Heres a great post that cites research on this.

Likewise, your unconscious mind has a greater impact on your life than you can imagine. For example, 90% of decisions are made unconsciously, according to research. You only know what youve decided moments after the fact.

The more aware you are, the more choices you have!

NLP and life coaching students have an advantage over non-NLP-trained people. Theyve learned things that expand self awareness. Of course, you dont need to be enrolled in an NLP course to benefit from this test. Its for everyone.

The self awareness test should prove to be enlightening to anyone, even to those whove been working on themselves for years.

Each question on the self awareness test has five response options. Choose the option that best describes you. When you submit the self awareness test, youll be forwarded to your score and an interpretation.

FYI, this self awareness test is not a scientific or clinical assessment. Its based on 25 years experience as a counselor, NLP trainer and life coach. We have no control over the test conditions, so consider your results for entertainment purposes or education only.

The areas represented on the self awareness test represent the hot spots of self awareness that can save you from problems and pain or lead you straight into them.

A classic model of neuro-linguistic programming, the VAK model suggests we process information on the inside through seeing, hearing and feeling. Further, our processing is redundant. In other words, seeing an internal image will inspire feelings about the image and sounds either related to the image or our own inner commentary. Seeing, hearing and feeling all work together.

A personal paradigm is a worldview. It answers questions about how life exists and why were here. There is a God who created the universe. There is not a God. People are basically good and here to help each other. People are animals interested in survival. And so forth.

Personal beliefs are perspectives about what is true (for you). In the self-awareness test, well focus on your internal beliefs related to who you are and what youre capable of accomplishing in the world.

Life values are indications of whats important to you in life. You can trust that a value is important to you (or congruent) when it successfully guides your decisions. So, if health is important to you, then you will make healthy decisions. If success is important to you, then youll make decisions and spend your time in ways that lead to greater success.

Inner conflict is part of the human condition. It happens when your beliefs conflict with each other. For example, you may believe you are capable of succeeding in life. At the same time, you may harbor doubt about your abilities. This is a sign of inner conflict.

You may also have values that conflict. You may value security because it helps you feel safe. At the same time, you may love freedom. These two values may lead to conflicting desires and difficult decisions.

Triggers are those things in the outside world that automatically set you off into a negative state. A classic example is someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard (although chalkboards arent so common anymore:) This might make you cringe instantly.

When you find yourself in a negative state, there is always a trigger. Something that prompted your reaction. A particular tone of voice or seeing a specific object (dirty socks on the floor) might trigger you, for example.

The influence of parents or primary caregivers is pervasive. Nobody leaves childhood without taking their parents with them on the inside. Beliefs, values, behaviors and personal paradigms are all heavily influenced by parents during formative years. How are you carrying your parents?

We all have limitations. Some of these are self-imposed, usually due to limiting beliefs. Others are legitimate limitations to our intelligence and natural skills. For example, I know I do not have the intellectual capacity to formulate physics theories like Einstein. I know I cant beat Roger Federer in tennis. In this case, the word cant is not a negative term. Its simply the truth about the limits of my skills or natural gifts.

Your own worst enemy! Do you know why you sometimes sabotage your success? Do you know how or understand the intention behind self sabotage? This part of the quiz will highlight how you might get in your own way.

People are naturally goal-oriented. We move toward what we want. Consciously setting goals is one way to be intentional about the future. This section of the self awareness test will help you learn where you stand in this area.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

About Mike BundrantMike Bundrant is a retired psychotherapist, Master NLP trainer, and practicing life coach. He and his wife, Hope, co-founded iNLP Center in 2011.

Continued here:
Self Awareness Test - iNLP Center

Having self-awareness means that you have a clear recognition of your overall personality.

This includes your strengths and weaknesses, thoughts and beliefs, emotions, and sources of motivation. Having self-awareness helps you understand other people and how they view you and your actions.

Many people assume that self-awareness comes easily and naturally, but this sense of heightened awareness can actually be hard to come by.

With practice, however, you can learn to increase your self-knowledge and find new ways to interpret your thoughts, actions, feelings, and conversations that you have with other people.

Achieving self-awareness gives you the opportunity to make positive changes in your behavior and increase your self-confidence.

Here are 33 self-awareness activities that can help increase self-awareness in adults and students.

What is Self-Awareness (and Five Ways to Increase It)

Not sure about how to be more self-aware? In this video, we define self-awareness and five proven strategies that can help you increase it. And for more actionable, habit-related videos, be sure to subscribe to our brand new YouTube Channel.

Self-Awareness Activities - Written Exercises

1. Write morning pages.

This exercise comes from Julia Camerons An Artists Way, which teaches readers techniques to gain self-confidence by harnessing their creative talents and skills.

For this exercise, compose three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness writing every morning as soon as you wake up. Not only does this help declutter your mind, but it also helps you recognize the things that are in the forefront of your brain that you may need to address that day.

Keeping a journal creates a permanent record of your thoughts, feelings, and the events in your life. This will allow you to look back on important life events and rediscover how you felt at the time. This can be a learning experience because, as you grow and live through new trials and tribulations, the way that you react to certain situations may change.

By reading about your past experiences, you can see how you have grown or matured, and put things into perspective. Its also nice to have a written record of your past.

3. Use feedback analysis.

When you are faced with an important decision, write down exactly how and why you came up with your decision. What factors motivated you, and what steps did you take to come to your conclusion?

After a set time (usually nine months), go back and reflect on your decision-making process. Assess the outcome of your choice in detail and analyze your ability at the time to make the best decision based on your self-awareness at the time.

4. Create a life vision-mission.

In an organization, mission and vision statements serve three important roles. They state the purpose of the organization, they inform people of strategy development, and they display measurable goals and objectives to gauge the success of the organization.

Creating a vision-mission statement for your life can define your clear direction and rank your priorities. It will help set measurable goals and provide a tactical way to measure success.

5. Write a personal manifesto.

A personal manifesto describes your core values and beliefs, the specific ideas and priorities that you stand for, and how you plan to live your life. This acts as both a statement of personal principles and a call to action.

A personal manifesto can help frame your life, point you in the right direction to help achieve your goals, and act as a tool to remind you of your primary concerns.

To get started, ask yourself questions such as: What things do you stand for? What are your strongest beliefs? How do you want to live your life? How do you want to define yourself? What words do you want to live by? A personal manifesto can be a powerful tool for bringing about your best life. Refer to your personal manifesto often.

6. Record your ABCs.

This is a good activity to do after you experience an adverse event. It is a helpful way to debrief yourself and get a chance to reflect and discover your beliefs after a big, negative incident occurs in your life.

Doing this can help you understand your response to stress. While many people can experience the same activating adverse event, their thought processes about it can have a great impact on their lives moving forward. Using the ABC model can help people recognize their automatic thoughts when they're upset or mad, and change those thoughts into positive things.

For example, imagine you are stuck in a long line, but you are in a rush. You may become very anxious at the thought of possibly being late to your next obligation, causing you to complain out loud to the people around you about how long the line is taking to move. Alternatively, you may decide to relax and put on your headphones to listen to some calming music while you wait. Either way, the "A" remains the same, but the "B" and "C" show how you respond to the stress.

This can help you look at things more positively and lead you to find alternatives to solving problems and staying calm.

7. Write a regret letter.

Write a letter to your younger self. This is a surprisingly cathartic exercise that is more than simply listing what you wish youd known. Tell your younger self about the regrets youve had in your life so far, and apologize for any mistakes that you may have made and opportunities that you let pass by.

Aside from gaining a feeling of empowerment from accepting your vulnerable younger self, your words can also help others who are in similar situations as you faced in the past. Your newfound wisdom can let readers know that they are not alone in their struggles, and provide them with advice on how to move forward.

8. Do the funeral test.

This exercise was made popular by Stephen Covey in his book,The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

To do this, write your own eulogy and answer questions such as:

Doing this will help you add more purpose to your everyday activities and how you live your life. It may also help you think twice before reacting to a situation harshly or making a decision before thinking about its possible outcomes first.

9. Record your personal narrative.

How would you tell the story of your life to yourself? What would your autobiography look like?

One essential component of our personalities are our life stories, so mapping out what yours is may help you make some positive changes for the future.

10. Write down your most important tasks regularly.

Your most important tasks (MITs) are the things that you need to accomplish each day to help you achieve your long-term goals. Every night, write a to-do list of your three priority tasks for the following day.

This will allow you to start your day with a purpose and keep you aware of where your focus should be. It will help set a precedent for the day if you are able to accomplish your main goals first and get them out of the way to make room for other items on your to-do list.

11. Create a bucket list.

Having a bucket list will help you identify your personal and professional goals. When the daily routines of your life begin to set in, you are likely to let the days pass by without thinking too much about your long-term goals and desires.

Use a bucket list to keep yourself focused, and make an effort every day to accomplish at least one small task that will lead you towards crossing things off of your bucket list.

Self-Awareness Tests You Can Take By Yourself

12. Know and understand your personality type.

Knowing your personality type will help you understand why you're different or similar to other people, help you manage your time and energy better, and help you recognize your emotions.

When you are armed with this information, you will be better equipped to view other people as being different rather than wrong. It will also help you understand what you need to be able to thrive, and allow you to structure your days accordingly.

There are many free psychometric tests you can take online, including:

13. Discover your Eulerian Destiny.

Filling out the Eulerian Destiny circles provokes critical thinking and self-reflection.

Doing this requires you to look at four areas of your life by answering the following questions:

Take a while to write these things down in four overlapping circles and see where they all meet. This may take time and serious thinking, but it can result in defining and refining your purpose in life. This will provide you with a framework to form your future and a basis of self awareness.

14. Utilize The Freedom Diagram.

The Freedom diagram is one of the fun self-swareness activities. It is a short and practical guide to help figure out where you should use your energy in life, you can use The Freedom Diagram.

The three components of The Freedom Diagram are talent, fun, and demand. Talent refers to what you just happen to be good at doing. The fun component is what you wish you could do all the time, even if you werent paid to do it. Demand is what people in the world actually need or want, and will pay for.

Creating this guide for you will help you decide what skill you should focus on building so you have a higher chance of success.

Self-Awareness Activities - Thought Process Exercises

15. Ask the "Three Whys."

Many self-awareness activities simply asking yourself difficult questions and trying to answer as honestly as possible. The "three whys" is the perfect example of that.

The "Three Whys" are exactly what they sound like. Before making a big decision, or if you are trying to get to the root of an issue, ask yourself "why?" three times. This will help to reveal deep and specific issues that you may not otherwise consider.

It's not coincidental that "why?" is a rather simple question. It is an important realization that you must go a few layers deeper before making any critical decision. Whether you are trying to create a new business, hire a new employee, add a new feature to an existing product, or buy something expensive, you always have to dig a bit deeper to reveal the truth behind your motives.

16. Put a name to your feelings and emotions.

Expanding your emotional vocabulary will allow you to articulate yourself better. Once you are able to specifically identify what you are feeling, it will allow you to release stress and resentment that may be building up inside of your mind.

Here is a list of feeling words that are better able to describe your emotions than simply "good" or "bad". Getting more specific to explain how you feel is a cathartic way to relieve stress and anxiety.

17. Pay attention to your self-talk.

Have you ever noticed how we are quick to praise other people in the same instances where we often criticize ourselves? When we fall just short of achieving a goal or we dont live up to some high expectation, we tend to judge ourselves and dismiss our efforts.

How you talk to yourself in response to your successes and failures affects how you view yourself, and how you think others view you as well. Rather than focusing on small things that you are not able to accomplish at a given moment, think about how far you have come, or your successes up to that point. Focus on the positive rather than the negative.

18. Question your assumptions.

Assumptions are a natural thing that people use to help make quick sense of the world. You probably expect people who are in a certain place to look and dress in a particular way. If your expectations do not meet reality, you make assumptions that can be absolutely wrong.

James Altucher suggests putting a question mark instead of a period after each of your opinions. This helps you create an argument with yourself on some of your beliefs and worldviews, which can prevent you from falling prey to irrational thoughts.

19. Ask questions about yourself.

The Proust Questionnaire is a self-exploration questionnaire that is designed to help you uncover your outlook on life and get clarity on how you think. This questionnaire is about one's personality, and will make you think about what you want out of life and the things that you appreciate the most.

20. Observe your stream of consciousness.

Your stream of consciousness is unpredictable, and not always influenced by the world around you. For example, you may be at work trying to focus on a project when all of a sudden you start thinking about a memory you made years ago on a family vacation.

Be an observer of your own thoughts and feelings, especially those that are negative. Let these thoughts simply pass you by as you move on.

21. Build the Pause-and-Plan Response habit.

We are all well aware of the fight-or-flight mode that we tend to find ourselves in during stressful situations. During these times, it is common to stop thinking rationally and just go with your initial urge. If you act in the moment, you likely will not make the best decision.

How can you overcome your natural fight-or-flight response and reactivate the rational thinking areas of your brain? The key is to engage the pause-and-plan response habit. Here, your brain is able to connect with your body to accomplish your goals and pause your impulses.

The pause-and-plan response is able to lead you in the opposite direction of where the fight-or-flight response takes you. Rather than speeding up, your pulse slows down and your muscles relax. This will help set you up to make positive choices.

Self-Awareness Activities - Physical Exercises

22. Be aware of your body language.

Sometimes self-awareness activities are not about what you do or say but how you go about doing it. Body language is an example of this.

Not only will your posture and gestures affect how you perceive yourself, they will also have a great impact on how others perceive you. Your body language will also set the tone for how others act around you.

For example, if people feel that your body language is showing that you are uncomfortable, they may try to look for the cause of your discomfort so they can remove it. Alternatively, if someone feels that you are relaxed, they are likely to be able to relax as well, and enjoy their interaction with you.

While few people have actually trained themselves to deliberately analyze people's body language, everyone still subconsciously reacts to it. For instance, if your body language demonstrates that you are bored or disinterested in what is going on around you, others will think twice before engaging in conversation with you.

Evaluate your own body language by studying a video of yourself so you can find ways to improve.

23. Practice grounding techniques.

Grounding techniques can be used to help keep you in the present. People who have anxiety about future events often forget to live in the moment and take things as they come. Practicing techniques to keep you grounded will help relieve anxiety and make future tasks seem easier to do.

24. Observe other people.

Just as we can use our bodies to communicate how we want other people to perceive us, we can also observe other people to try to figure them out. Observing other people can be a fun and potentially worthwhile hobby. If you stop to watch the behavior, postures, and mannerisms of the people around you, it can help you learn about how similar or different you are from them.

While you don't want to constantly compare yourself to others, it is something that you will naturally do when you are faced with other people in your environment.

Some traits that you are likely to notice are someone's appearance, their self-esteem, their emotional state, their warmth, and their extroversion. Knowing that other people are observing you as well will certainly help you be more self-aware.

25. Take a morning walk.

Taking a walk first thing in the morning can help you connect with your senses and examine your thoughts and feelings. Take this time to meditate about what is going on in your life, and your goals for the day. Sort through your feelings and make an action plan to be productive with your time.

Click the image to check out the...

Click the image to check out the...

26. Practice Zhan Zhuang.

Zhan Zhuang is a simple yet effective tai chi standing practice that helps you gain mental clarity and energy. While practicing Zhan Zhuang, you keep your body still and mostly upright, and become aware of your body as it stabilizes itself. Doing this will help you gain control over your health, posture, and muscle stability. Heres how you can start practicing it.

Continue reading here:
33 Self-Awareness Activities for Adults and Students