Improve Your Life by Facing the Mirror - Research Paper Example

? Improve Your Life by Facing the Mirror of Improve Your Life by Facing the Mirror It is no doubt that journalism, mass media, and communication play a more fundamental role in modern society than in previous years (Vivian, 2005). This situation has been brought about by increasing number of issues to be addressed. Technological advancements have contributed immensely on enhancing the role of journalism and communication in society. Developments in technology have made the practitioners in this field to investigate and report on events more effectively, and to report trends and issues to a broadened audience (Dominick, 2010). Ideally, these fields aim at informing the targeted audience on various topics including cultural issues, politics, and business, as well as entertaining the intended audience. Apart from performing those functions, these fields intend to provide the forum for public criticism by the public in a bid to address various issues and grievances that the public have. These fields use various media such as film, newspapers, radio, magazine, social media, and television to achieve their goals (Vivian, 2005). One of the fundamental elements of achieving the intended goal by communicators is objectivity and focusing on both the internal and external factors. However, over the years, communicators have been focusing on the victim mentality which has taken hold in their culture (Morin, 2011). This is a reflection of the reality in the society where people have found it easier to blame others for their unhappy situations and existence. This prevailing situation among people and communicators in particular is uncalled for (Brook, 2001). It is important that the people and specifically the communicators should focus on themselves through an introspective approach because the situation in society happens because of the actions and perceptions of personal individuals (Diamond, 2010). Individual’s life and that of the society at large can be improved by people facing the mirror and having a more self-awareness understanding. Improved self-awareness and subsequent self-improvement can be achieved effectively through a self-awareness training program (Goukens, et al., 2009). It is true that people tend to find it easier to blame others for their unhappy existence, and to generally look at external factors instead of focusing from within when analyzing and communicating difficult situations (Ratliffe et al, 2002). In particular, communicators have the tendency of considering themselves as the victims of certain circumstances. The culture of victim mentality is deeply entrenched in them, just like in other people. This mentality makes them to have the tendency of blaming uncontrollable or external factors, rather than focusing on controllable or internal factors for their unhappy existence or for the things that go wrong. Blaming uncontrollable or external factors put one in a mindset that there is nothing that one can do to control their life (McKittrick, 2010). As a result of victim mentality, people tend to lack objectivity because what they see and report is what they have created through their beliefs and thoughts. Consequently, the victim mentality makes people to make the mistake of looking for uncontrollable or external factors to fix their unhappy situations and bad moods (Zahavi, 1999). Instead of focusing within, they gain the tendency of trying to change virtually everything around them so as to feel better. However, focusing on external factors ultimately makes them to realize that they will still feel the same and nothing changes significantly. However, a closer look at the relationship between external factors and happiness shows that out of the many external factors that one is blaming only a few are the actual cause of people’s unhappy situation (Goukens et al, 2009). Actually, the other factors that one is blaming for their unhappy situations are innocent as the cause of such situations are internal. If one has to deal with their unhappy existence they ought to focus more on the factors within, and focus less on external factors that only cause a small part of their situations. Focusing on the external factors by many people tend to deny them the opportunity of accepting or changing the real issues that cause their unhappy existence. Besides, by striving to change their unhappy situations using external factors tend to provide them with temporary solution rather than long-term solutions that will make them to lead a happier life (Morin, 2011). When people focus on the external factors instead of focusing within for their unhappy existence, they live life believing that they do not deserve the absolute best that life can offer. This makes them not to direct sufficient energies towards achieving what they want in life (Ratliffe et al, 2002). They live in a life of victim mode that prevents them from realizing their full potentials. If a person lives with the victim mentality for a long time they have a danger of failing to overcome most of the challenges that may come their way. In worst cases when the culture of victim mentality have been deeply embedded in them, they tend to be “irredeemable”; that is, most effective motivation and self-help materials may become completely ineffective in making them get out of the mentality (Bradberry, 2009). Since victim mentality can have very devastating effects to individuals and the society at large, it is important that ways be sought of reducing or eliminating it from people, or at least mitigates the effects. One of the ways that can be used is through self awareness training program (Brook, 2001). There is need for a self-awareness training program that can help people to focus more within rather than at external factors. In other words, it is essential that people should improve their lives by facing the mirror. Facing the mirror will give individuals opportunity to have an introspective approach to their life. Such training would provide a road map for greater self awareness and ultimately greater self improvement (Diamond, 2010). So, what makes self awareness training program necessary? Self awareness implies that an individual should look objectively at his or her needs, strengths, personality, values, weaknesses, emotions, and habits among others (McKittrick, 2010). It enables one to have a sense of vision of who they want to become and who they are, in addition to enabling one to plan their personal or professional development. Besides, it provides individuals with the opportunity of motivating themselves and managing their stress more effectively. Moreover, it helps people to make intuitive decision-making and in motivating and leading others more effectively. Self awareness training program can be very useful for any individual who have a feeling that they may benefit from the positive changes that can be brought about by enhanced self awareness (Goukens et al, 2009). In particular, the self awareness training will design in such a way that it makes the participants to focus within by facing the mirror. This will be achieved by focusing on the key self-awareness areas including: personal values, emotions, psychological needs, habits, and personality traits that drive people’s behaviors (Urdang, 2010). The program will help individuals to not only know their personal values but also focus on them. Focusing on values enables one to set priorities and to easily accomplish what he or she considers to be the most important (Zahavi, 1999). The training program would also help in creating emotional self-awareness among the participants. They will be able to under their feelings and what causes them, as well as their impacts on their actions and thoughts. They will learn that high level of emotional self awareness enables them to understand the internal processes that are related to emotional experiences, and therefore be in a better position to control them (Urdang, 2010). More importantly, the training program would help them to understand various psychological needs that drive their behaviors such as affection, self-actualization, control, power, belongingness, esteem, and achievement. This will help them to know which of these needs have the strongest influence on their personal behaviors, and how that can affect their interpersonal relationships (Brook, 2001). Furthermore, the self awareness training program would help participants to understand their habits. Bradberry (2009) defines habits as the behaviors that a person repeats frequently and automatically. Understanding one’s habits can help a person to understand the habits that make them to effectively interact with others and achieve success. On the other hand, it can help one to identify the habits that decreases or compromises their effectiveness. This will be critical in empowering the decision-making ability of individuals. Lastly, the training program will focus on personality traits of individuals, which is a key area in self awareness (McKittrick, 2010). Understanding of personalities would help the participants to find situations that they can thrive in, thereby helping them avoid circumstances that can diminish their effectiveness. Knowing of one’s traits help in helping find positions and opportunities that are more compatible with their personalities, and where the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved. Besides, understanding of personality traits is critical in helping individuals to cope with various situations that are likely to cause stress to them (Ratliffe, et al., 2002). The focus of the self awareness training program on facing the mirror will lead to self improvement of communicators. The training program will help them to know themselves, and how they act or reacting in various situations (Diamond, 2010). Also, it will help them to know in which areas are they effective or ineffective communicators. The entire program will be critical in their self improvement which is critical in enhancing professionalism and objectivity in the field of journalism, mass media, and communication. The program would help them to identify the gaps in their skills and find ways in which they can become better in everything that they engage in. The training program that focuses on key self-awareness areas will lead to self improvement through skill development, developing of intuitive skills in decision-making, understanding of strengths and weaknesses, stress management skills, promoting leadership skills, and enhancing motivation (McKittrick, 2010). The training program will lead to skill development where participants would learn how to asses current situations and the future situations. This will improve individuals as they will be able to develop an accurate sense of who they are and the skill gaps that they need to work on (Urdang, 2010). Also, the training program would lead to self-improvement by developing intuitive skills in decision-making. High levels of self-awareness will help communicators to develop effective skills on decision making (Brook, 2001). This will help them to make proper decisions even in complex situations and moments of uncertainty. They would also be able to guide others to make well-informed decisions. Along with that the training program would lead to self improvement by helping the communicators to know their strengths and weaknesses. This is critical in helping them to fully exploit their strengths while at the same time coping with their weaknesses. Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses not only enables one to be effective, but also helps in producing decisions of high quality (Zahavi, 1999). In addition, the self awareness training program would lead to self improvement among the communicators by enhancing their stress management skills. They will learn what personality traits are compatible with their jobs, and which ones are not, therefore able to adjust accordingly (Ratliffe et al, 2002). Like other professionals, communicators tend to experience certain aspects of stress in the course of their duty. Therefore, they need adequate knowledge and skills on how to manage stress when and where they occur. Leadership skills are essential in self improvement. This training program will equip communicators with leadership skills that relate to key self-awareness areas. They will be able to know what makes tick and what makes other tick as well. Communicators are leaders in their own right, and therefore should learn how to conduct their leadership roles (Bradberry, 2009). More importantly, they will learn how to motivate themselves and others towards achieving set goals. The final way through which the training program would lead to self improvement is through motivation. Self awareness would empower the communicators by revealing the problems in their performance and what should be done towards improving their performances (Goukens et al, 2009). Moreover, the program would increase their motivation by helping them understand the rewards that they desire such as additional responsibility, flexibility of their work schedule, opportunity to help others, or sense of accomplishments. In conclusion, it is evidently clear that self awareness is very fundamental in helping people to understand themselves. It allows them to shift their perspective from looking at external factors to focusing within. It helps to eliminate or reduce the victim mentality which can have very devastating effects to individuals and the society at large. It gives individuals the opportunity to have an introspective approach to their lives which is important in addressing most of the problems that afflict personal lives and the whole society. As has been noted, there is need for self awareness training program as it would lead to self improvement of communicators. The program will focus on the key self awareness areas, whose understanding is critical in self improvement of individuals in areas such as leadership, stress management, skills development, and knowing of one’s strengths and weaknesses. References Bradberry, T. (2009). Self-awareness: The hidden driver of success and satisfaction. New York: Penguin. Brook, A. (2001). Self-reference and self-awareness. Amsterdam: Benjamin’s Publishing. Demetriou, A. & Kazi, S. (2006). Self-awareness. Intelligence, 34, 297–317. Diamond, E. (2010). 7 mindsets to master self-awareness. Indiana: Author House. Dominick, J. (2010). Dynamics of Mass Communication: Media in Transition. New York: McGraw- Hill. Goukens, C et al. (2009). Me, Myself, and My Choices: The Influence of Private Self-Awareness on Choice. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 46(5), 682-692. McKittrick, W. (2010). Self-Awareness: Re-Discovering Your Truth. Bradenton, Florida: Booklocker. Morin, A. (2011). Self-recognition, theory-of-mind, and self-awareness: What side are you on? Laterality, 16(3), 367-383. Ratliffe, S et al. (2002). Self-awareness: Communicating with yourself and others. Skokie, Illinois: National Textbook Co. Urdang, E. (2010). Awareness of Self—A Critical Tool. Social Work Education, 29(5), 523-538. Vivian, J. (2005). The Media of Mass Communication. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Zahavi, D. (1999). Self-awareness and alterity: A phenomenological investigation. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. Read More