personal growth paper

Developing AWARENESS

What is awareness?

· Awareness is the ability to recognize and describe emotion in oneself and others

· Knowledge or perception of a situation or fact

· The state or quality of being conscious of something

Discussion

· Journal 1 - Awareness

· Share your experience

· Hard? Easy?

· Why do we need awareness?

· How does awareness help personal growth?

Awareness from Freud’s view

Awareness from Stevens’ view

· Awareness of the outside world

· Actual sensory contact with objects and events in the present (I feel the pen in my hand, I hear the lawnmower outside)

· Awareness of the inside world

· Actual sensory contact with inner events of the present (My skin itches, my stomach feels nervous)

· Awareness of fantasy activity

· Mental activity beyond present awareness of ongoing experience (Daydreaming during class

Five Levels of Awareness

· Awareness of bodily sensations.

· TASK: express awareness.

· Awareness of the body in action.

· TASK: Awareness of body impulses and action tendencies associated with emotions.

· Awareness of individual feelings

· TASK: Express awareness of personal feelings

· Awareness of blends of feelings

· TASK: Form complex emotional responses to individuals.

· Awareness of blends of blends of feelings

· TASK: differentiate between integrate, and respond appropriately to complex emotional experiences of self and others

Awareness skills

· Focusing

· Generalizing

· Selection

· Avoiding

· Duration and Flow

· Connection and interruption

· Pleasant-unpleasant

· Shuttling

· Intending

· Process

· Physical activities

· Releasing your body

· Contact-withdrawal

· Daily Task

Why is Awareness Important?

· In the moment

· Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of what is happening in the present moment without judgment

· Focusing on the present moment helps decrease anxiety and depression

· Of the self

· Having an accurate picture of who you are;

· Personality, strengths, and weaknesses

· Of yourself in relation to others

· Understanding what role you play in your relationship with others