Sense of Self

"Sense of Self" is defined as a general conscious awareness your of your own identity. My sense of self, (as I have come to understand the term) is essentially what defines me and makes me unique. This could be a certain look, attitude, or personality trait. It could also be the way I view a certain person, thing or subject. Perhaps, my sense of self could even be my purpose in life? If thats the case, I would argue that my sense of self is something that has changed over time and will continue to evolve as I get older and my life is influenced by people, places and events. To me, developing my sense of self is crucial to living a satisfying and healthy life and is a journey of sorts with no real end. I started to develop my own sense of self when I was a child. I had the support of my family and friends while I developed new skills, realized my strengths and accepted my limitations. My parents taught me lessons which lead to the development of my own morals, beliefs and values and provided me with experiences and a good sense of judgement that carried with me while I began to distinguish myself as an individual. Personally, emotional experiences have had the largest impact on developing my sense of self. Good or bad, I have learned that when you are pushed to your limits, you get a better understanding of who you are. Specifically, I have learned from family and friends just how feelings can be used as a tool to help determine my needs or desires. For example; anger can be a response from being hurt or scared. This emotion allowed me to set limits on other peoples behaviour that I was not willing to accept and helped me realize what precautions to take to increase my feeling of being safe. Being able to control an emotion such as anger, and use it to effectively communicate and identify my needs, helped me establish a strong sense of self and a high level of self esteem. All in all I continue to develop my own sense of self even to this day and will continue to develop it into the future as new events, people and experiences slightly alter my life and mould me into the person I become. It is a process in which we all go through and is an evolution of our beliefs, values, goals and experiences. How your self assessment can be considered Flawed; Generally self assessments are flawed because they tend to compartmentalize. For example having the most beautiful eyes doesnt describe who you are, but rather its only one component of who you are. Or being a mother, is another example, as all Mothers are also daughters and many are sisters and husbands as well. The flaw is in the fact that no one thing can define who you are, but rather a sense of self is a huge puzzle of instances and experiences that you have gone through. Its how you interpretate them and use them that actually determines who you are and your sense of self. Interpretation: I would also think that your sense of self if flawed in the fact that people may not agree. You may think youre a great cook, and that is what defines you. However, others may not think the same way, leading to a possible flaw. Bibliography:Myers, David G., and Steven J. Spencer. Social Psychology. 3rd ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 2006

Bibliography: Myers, David G., and Steven J. Spencer. Social Psychology. 3rd ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 2006