Mindfulness: Shaping An Individual's Identity

Many aspects of life shape an individual’s identity, and one’s culture plays an especially huge role in it. Different from the concept of self, identity is developed within an individual and is an individual’s self-conception of himself. The reason that identity can create anxiety and uncertainty is that people might judge based on stereotypes and pre-determined frameworks (Dai, 2009). Although these stereotypes can be both positive and negative, it often comes with a stigma and creates stresses for the individual. It is tightly linked to AUM because as mentioned, anxiety can be caused by conceptions for oneself. Through successful communication cross-culturally, it does not only allow for the individuals to have a positive identity, but also
Since mindfulness, as Gudykunst (2005) argues, requires the communicators to be conscious of it, Miller and Samp (2007) then question the indicators of mindfulness. This makes individuals wonder how mindfulness stands on a continuum. This is similar to past critique back made by Yoshitake (2002) who argues that AUM overstresses the significance of mindfulness and consciousness. If one has never learned about the theory or related topics, it is unsure whether he is conscious of the mindfulness concept. This shows that the theory should work on giving a better definition of mindfulness and the ways it works on a continuum, from being unmindful to being fully
It is interrelated to a number of theories in the field. However, in this paper, we only looked at the Expectancy Violation Theory and the Identity Negotiation Theory. As discussed above, the theories come to make more sense when one understands AUM. When looking at other theories, it is important to look at Gudykunst and his theories and concepts as well. His concept of mindfulness is especially significant across the field. The concept of mindfulness contributes to the understanding of how an individual might unconsciously use his own predetermined frameworks to judge others. However, this concept is also a major critique and gap in the theory as it is not discussed adequately. Because AUM is such an important theory in the field, it has been changing perceptions in the past decades. Basing on AUM, researchers have discovered new ideas for either AUM itself or other theories that are connected to AUM. Given the above understanding and critiques of AUM, future research may be able to investigate the gaps in the theory to strengthen