Activating Your Potential

 Insights into the importance of developing healthy self-awareness and self-esteem

Summary

Some women, men, and adolescents with great potential, find themselves living in a plexiglass cube. Because of perceived barriers challenging personal choices and decisions, there is resistance to taking steps toward developing healthy individual self-awareness and self-esteem. A well-developed self-awareness and self-esteem can help to provide a secure foundation for living life’s potential.

This workshop will review

  1. What is self-awareness?
  2. The definition of self-esteem
  3. Significance of self-esteem
  4. Influences of self-esteem
  5. Practice Activities
  6. Resources
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01. What is Self-Awareness?

  • Self-awareness can be simplified: Personal Information
    • Personal Identification
    • Career
    • Education
    • Culture/Race
    • Political Preference
  • Self-awareness can be complex: Psychological Types
    • Extravert vs Introvert
    • Sensing vs Intuitive
    • Thinking vs Feeling
    • Judgment vs Perception
  • Self-awareness can be a conscious awareness of the authentic holistic self: P.I.E.S.S
    • Physical
    • Intellectual
    • Emotional
    • Social
    • Spiritual

02. Definition of self-esteem

There are various definitions for self-esteem. Branden (1992) defined self-esteem as the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life. More specifically self-esteem is:

 

  • Confidence in our ability to think and to cope with the challenges of life.
  • Confidence in our right to be happy, the feeling of being worthy, deserving, entitled to assert our needs and wants to enjoy the fruits of our efforts.

03. Significance of self-esteem

In reality, “self-esteem is a vitally important psychological need,” (Branden, 1998, p.26) and is developed and grounded over time through appropriate operation of the mind. The experience of personal judgment has a profound effect on all levels of self, including: thinking processes, emotions, desires, values, and goals (Branden, 1998). Peoples’ choices to confront or evade issues whether or not it is in their best interests is also influenced by the level of self-esteem (Branden, 1998). Self-esteem is essential for empowerment. There are times when it appears difficult to evade issues that may influence self-esteem such as issues related to discrimination or other cultural barriers. Many people with low self-esteem tend to blame themselves for everything that is wrong. (Charles Zastrow, 2017).

04. Influences of self-esteem

There are internal and external variables that influence levels of self-esteem. Both can be either a positive or negative influence.

 

  • Influences of a healthy self-esteem:
    • Self-affirmation
    • Affirming others
      • The Jewelry Box
    • Positive attitude
    • Being accountable (accepting consequences for decisions and choices)
    • Being responsible
      • P.I.E.S.S of Life
  • Influences of an unhealthy self-esteem:
    • Self-denunciation
    • Denunciation of others
    • Negative attitude
    • Defiance
    • Being irresponsible
      • P.I.E.S.S of Life
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05. Practice Activities:

Activities will be provided for participants to experience building self-awareness and self-esteem

06. Resources:

  1. Bailey 2nd, J. A. (2003). Self-image, self-concept, and self-identity revisited. Journal of the  National Medical Association, 95(5), 383
  2. Belenky, M. F.., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1997). Women’s ways of knowing. New York: Basic Books.
  3. Branden, N. (1998). Self-esteem at work: How confident people make powerful companies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  4. Branden, N. (1994). The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. New York: Bantam Books dictionary.cambridge.org/us/English/self-efficacy
  5. Burnett, J. W., Anderson, W. P., & Heppner, P. P. (1995). Gender roles and self-esteem: A consideration of environmental factors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73, 323-326.
  6. Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row. Maslow,  A.H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 50(1), 370-396
  7. Matthews, S. F. (2001). The Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Impostor Phenomenon of Female Teachers for Kindergarten Through Grade 12. Dissertation, 29-30, 3416809.
  8. Schultz, D. P. and Schultz, S. E. (2001). Theories of Personality (7th Ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
  9. Zastrow, C. (2017). Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People (12th Ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
  10. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-acceptance
  11. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-actualize
  12. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-esteem
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