RAJAGIRI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (AUTONOMOUS)
100908/EN100E-Life Skills
MODULE 2
(REFERENCE NOTES)
, SYLLABUS
1. Self-Awareness
2. Need for Self Awareness
3. Tools and Techniques
4. Stress Management
5. Approaches towards effective stress management
6. 4 A’s of stress management
7. Stress Diary
8. Gratitude Training
9. Coping with Emotions
10. Harmful ways of coping with emotion
11. PATH method
12. Relaxation techniques
13. Human Values
14. Senses of Engineering Ethics
,What is Self-Awareness?
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. Simply put,
self-awareness is an awareness of the self, with the self-being what makes one’s 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 Wicklund’s 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 one’s internal states, preference,
resources, and intuitions.”
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.
If non-judgmental quality is an essential component of self-awareness, how do we work
towards that? As we notice what’s 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/shouldn’t 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 beginner’s mind and an
open heart. Our mind is extremely skilful at storing information about how we react to a certain
event to form a blueprint of our emotional life.
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.
Does Self-Awareness Matter?
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 behaviours.
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.
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. If self-awareness is so important,
why aren’t we more self-aware?
100908/EN100E-Life Skills
MODULE 2
(REFERENCE NOTES)
, SYLLABUS
1. Self-Awareness
2. Need for Self Awareness
3. Tools and Techniques
4. Stress Management
5. Approaches towards effective stress management
6. 4 A’s of stress management
7. Stress Diary
8. Gratitude Training
9. Coping with Emotions
10. Harmful ways of coping with emotion
11. PATH method
12. Relaxation techniques
13. Human Values
14. Senses of Engineering Ethics
,What is Self-Awareness?
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. Simply put,
self-awareness is an awareness of the self, with the self-being what makes one’s 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 Wicklund’s 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 one’s internal states, preference,
resources, and intuitions.”
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.
If non-judgmental quality is an essential component of self-awareness, how do we work
towards that? As we notice what’s 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/shouldn’t 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 beginner’s mind and an
open heart. Our mind is extremely skilful at storing information about how we react to a certain
event to form a blueprint of our emotional life.
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.
Does Self-Awareness Matter?
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 behaviours.
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.
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. If self-awareness is so important,
why aren’t we more self-aware?
