the identity of the poets Essays - Sylvia Plath, Guggenheim Fellows

The Identity of the Woman Poet: Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton God, who am I? [?] I sit here without identity: faceless [?] someone believes I am a human being, not a name merely. And these are the only indications that I am a whole person, not merely a knot of nerves, without identity. I?m lost. (Plath, Journals 26) Tasting the Time The identities of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton as female writers were doomed before these two women were even conceived within their mothers? wombs. Society had already carved a mold for these two women?s lives, including the roles of wife, mother, and nurturer. These man-made roles were not a choice of fate, were not a choice of their own; rather, they were a choice and a command spoken from a society that did not allow a woman?s role to move beyond the home. As Freud, an innovative and domineering psychoanalyst during the twentieth century, stated: ?anatomy is destiny? (Freud). Similarly, Plath and Sexton?s female anatomy would be their destinies. Their destinies suffered from a loss of identity created by being women and poets. Plath and Sexton were simply two creative female geniuses thrown into the same poetic category of Confessionalism. They were women writing, making a distinct mark Bienhoff 2 on the poetry scene, resulting in the ultimate: two Pulitzer Prizes (Sexton: 1967; Plath: 1982). They both existed in the same era and even knew each other; their lives collided at a center point: a poetry course at Boston University. They became friendly and regular bar-goers after the course, uniting in conversation about their fascination with death. As Sexton stated in her essay on Plath, ?The Bar Fly Ought to Sing?: ?We talked death with burned-up intensity, both of us drawn to it like moths to an electric light bulb. Sucking on it! [?] We talked death and this was life for us [?]? (No Evil Star 7). Plath and Sexton are further and foremost known for their deaths. They were two women who took life into their own hands and made their own choices about their ends. Plath in 1963 was first to venture off into death, when she swallowed sleeping pills and placed her head in an oven and breathed in the gas, sparing her two children who were sleeping peacefully in a sealed-off room close to their mother?s own doom (Wagner- Martin, ?Two Views?). Sexton was left behind in life and wrote two poems on her friend?s departure into death: ?Sylvia?s Death? and ?Wanting to Die;? as Sexton spoke of in ?Sylvia?s Death?: ?Thief! ? / how did you crawl down alone / into the death I wanted so badly and for so long, / [?] the one we talked of so often each time / we downed three extra dry martinis in Boston? (Complete Poems 126). Yet, Sexton proved that she was not too far behind, following her acquaintance in 1974 when she entered her garage, turned on her car, and slowly went into death that friend she had tried to meet several times before her final end (Wagner-Martin, ?Anne Sexton?). There is another world beyond these cardboard fact similarities of poetry, mental illnesses, and suicides in relation to Plath and Sexton. During their lives, the conservatism and ideals of the nuclear family had been reinforced with the conclusion of Bienhoff 3 World War II. During wartime, women had entered the workforce while the men were absent fighting; however, no one intended women to continue working when the men returned home after winning the war. Instead a woman was expected to return to the home with a relieved and thankful smile planted upon her face. Women were kicked out of the same factories that so desperately needed them during wartime, and they were supposed to be joyous about being demoted or even fired. A woman?s personal fulfillment would not lie within a job, a woman?s personal fulfillment lay within her daily household duties?including the washing and the dusting, the cleaning and the cooking, the slave-like submissive behavior to her husband and the constant conception and birthing of babies. These images of the perfect woman and her unmistakable identity flooded magazines, billboards, and sitcoms on television; they acted as ?woman propaganda.? A woman?s identity was transcribed before she even had time to use her ?useless? brain and choose a path of her own liking. As Naomi Weisstein declared in her article that became a part of the women?s liberation movement when she presented it in 1968, ?Psychology Constructs the Female?: ?A woman has

Reflection on Personal Development in Relation to Self-Awareness and Listening Skills The WritePass Journal

Reflection on Personal Development in Relation to Self-Awareness and Listening Skills Reference list Reflection on Personal Development in Relation to Self-Awareness and Listening Skills IntroductionBodyConclusionReference listRelated Introduction This essay will examine my personal self development in relation to self-awareness and listening skills. Personal development refers to a  set  of activities that one can engage in for the purpose of enhancing self  knowledge  and  identity. It involves talent and potential development,  building  of human  capital  as well as employability, improving the quality of life, and last but not least, playing a role towards the realization of aspirations and dreams. The  idea  of personal development is not only limited to  self  development, but also entails formal and informal activities meant to  develop  others, as well.  For instance, counseling, teaching, guiding, mentoring, coaching and managing, for instance, just as required of a mental healthcare practitioner. Body Before, while working as a mental healthcare practitioner, I came to realize that, I  had  the desire to  attend  to others, but was  really  poor  at listening.  I felt like most people I was attending to were not  really  sure of what they actually wanted and that, I knew better what they were in need of.  Because I had trouble being patient enough to  listen, I  often  never got to understand what they were talking about.  The problem with this experience was that I never  really  got to provide sufficient solutions to most problems that  were relayed  to me.  After realizing this  challenge  and making an effort to  start  listening  better, I have realized how easy it can be to  communicate  and understand others much  better. Consequently, I have been able to be of much  help  in my endeavors anywhere and at  anytime. Given a chance again probably as a healthcare practitioner, I know I can be able to build rapport wi th my fellow colleagues, bosses and even the clients. Self awareness is a  fundamental  factor at the core of this  broad  and  significant  pursuit. Widening one’s self awareness involves discovering new truths about an individual. Self awareness can be described as a  circle  whereby everything within and without the circle is the  self. Those things that exist within the circle are the things that one’s current level of self awareness allows one  to consciously comprehend  (Johns, 2005). As a person’s circle of self awareness expands, not only is he or she consciously aware of a greater  portion  of him or herself, but also the borders of his or her  awareness  have enlarged in such a way that, his or her  self  awareness borders upon a widened area of future  discovery  and development. The more doors an  individual  opens, the more he or she realizes there are to be opened. Personal development starts at a point of self awareness. In fact, it may as well be the ultimate end (Johns, 2005). As I have come to  learn, self awareness is quite  important.  The views we hold concerning the daily happenings of the world and even of  our  personal lives  hugely  determines for an individual the  state  of the  world  he or she is living in as well as his/her being.  Therefore, one important lesson which can be learnt in life is the  significance  of the things we focus on.  When a person thinks about failure, he or she will  definitely  find reasons  to  certainly  succumb  to it.  When  you  think about health and well-being, you will essentially make the important decision  of doing everything within your  reach  that will lead to better health and well-being (Johns, 2005). At a personal level, the  idea  of personal development involves activities such as improving self  knowledge  and  awareness, building identity, developing strengths, spiritual development, enhancing potential, improving health, fulfilling aspirations, enhancing lifestyles,   improving wealth, improving social abilities, and building human capital (Johns, 2005).  In my pursuit of personal development, I have come to  notice  that, any kind of  development  whether  personal, economic, geological, political or organizational, demands a  framework to be able to  know  whether  change  has in  reality  occurred.  For the case of personal development, a person  frequently  operates as the principal  judge  of improvement. Corroboration of  objective  improvement requires an assessment which has to be carried out using a standard criterion (Johns, 2005). These frameworks comprise of benchmarks or goals that define the strategies, end-po ints or plans for achieving goals, appraisals and evaluation of progress, levels that  describe  milestones, and finally a feedback mechanism that provides information on developments. Poor communication is an inexorable  cause  of stress (Moss, 2008). One area of communication where most people are worst at is listening. It is through the significant impact of personal development that an individual can grow and improve his or her relationships, wealth, happiness, health, and careers. According to Burnand (1997), listening and attending are by far the most  vital  aspects of being an     effective  healthcare professional.  Most times, I feel I am obliged  to  talk  and  do  only a  little  listening.  Over-talking on the part of healthcare professionals is  normally  considered to be less productive (Burnand, 1997).  I   will develop in my listening skills   so that I can be of   help  to other people.   It is   important  to understand the difference between attending and listening to a person. Attending  generally  involves ,a  true  direction  of focus on the other person  you  are communicating with.  It requires one  to consciously pay attention of what the person is actually saying and what he or she is trying to  communicate.  Listening, on the other hand, is the process of hearing the other person  you  are communicating with.  It requires an individual  to not only  note  what the other person is saying, but also the other many, aspects of communication (Burnand, 1997). Before, I never used to  have  the capacity  to consciously choose  the perspectives I  took.  Most of my thoughts, which I may consider as being  stealthy  behavior, had been rolling with life, becoming influenced by events around me, the media, as well as my peers.  This made me feel like I gave up my  power  as a human being to come up with my world the way I possibly  see  it.  In other words, it felt like I was using my own  power  against myself to make myself feel  absolutely  powerless.  It was impossible to develop and  grow  myself with a lack of self awareness Johns, (2005). After, making enough efforts to  get  myself into a point of self awareness with improved listening skills, I have been able to maintain a high level of self awareness by keeping my attention focused on everything going on around me. It is  true  to say that human beings are complex and diverse Elearn Limited, (2005). To  develop  my  self  awareness, I have been able to develop an understanding of myself based on a number of self awareness areas for example personality, habits, emotions, values, and needs.  Through, a personal  study  of  myself it  has been  evident  to me that, personal needs, and values can not be changed based on what I have been able to learn about myself.  However, an understanding of my  personality  has enabled me to  discover  those areas where I can  flourish, and avoid situations that are likely to cause  unwarranted  stress  to my life. For instance, I have come to  acknowledge  the fact that I am an in trovert. It is  essential  for each person to  acknowledge  and focus on personal values. My current priority has been to  build  my relationship with God. It has been  very  hard personally for me to keep sight of this priority on a day-to-day basis. During a  normal  busy  day, I  face  so many challenges and arising opportunities that my list of â€Å"things to be done† often exceeds the  time  available for me to  do  them.  Because of this reason, before, a lot of times I used to  find  myself spending much time on activities of lower priority since only few of these things  are related  to what I value most.  Currently, I can  get  myself to focus enough attention on my values, and as a result, I am always much more likely to  realize  those things I  consider  most  important. Habits can be described as those behaviors that one routinely and frequently automatically repeats (Elearn Limited, 2005). I have realized that, I always have the  urge  to develop habits that would  enable  me to interact effectively with other people, especially while executing my duties as a mental health practitioner. Before, in while attending to my patients, I never used  to  often  consult  enough before making  important  decisions. This habit interfered with my ability to  build  the  commitment  of the people around me towards the decisions I make. I have since come to  learn  that, there are a number of  psychological  needs that fuels a person’s behaviors, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Personally, I have been able to understand how  certain  needs in my life affect my interpersonal relationships.  After making this realization, today, I am able to  know  which needs actually influences my behaviors most. Looking at my life, I am always in a high  need  for status. I am  very  much attracted to high-status occupations, and desperately in need for high-status positions in  high status  organizations. This is one of the reasons why I found myself joining the( medical )industry. I always have the desire to be shown respect, and  get  privileges that most people of a lower  status  are not able to  acquire.  For this reason, many times, I find myself fighting for things that other groups of people  consider  inconsequential,  for example spacious rooms and fancy things.   It is  evident  to me that needs  cause  motivations. When they are not fulfilled they  cause     lot of frustrations, unease,  stress  and conflict. Emotional self awareness is a  topic  that causes much  excitement  to me because of its impacts (Pavlina, 2008). It also happens to be one of the components of emotional intelligence. Being in a  state  whereby  you  are able to  understand  your own feelings, the things that  trigger  them, as well as how they impact on your thoughts together with your actions on a daily basis can be considered to be  emotional  self awareness. Before, while starting my career as a mental healthcare worker, I realized that, at first I was  very  much enthusiastic. Slowly I started losing the  motivation  and the  excitement  faded. Before, the question that lingered on my  mind  most  was  whether I could be able to  get  the  excitement  once again. To answer this question I managed to seek the services of a counselor who informed me that, before I can be able to answer that question I needed to understand the  internal  processes that  are concerned  with getting excited.  For sure this sounds  quite  easier than it actually is.  She gave me another  perspective  of looking at the matter i.e. associating the  internal  processes that  are concerned  with getting excited in my work place. Most patients are aggressive, restless and irritable on admission, this   makes me feel like   nursing stable patients only, however I become excited when patients are mentally stable and on their way home. Similarly, an  individual  with  high  standards of emotional self awareness is better informed about the  internal  processes involved with emotional experiences and, therefore, has a better control over them (Pavlina, 2008). People can develop interests towards their jobs by probably doing things differently. This way, I have been able to  sustain  my  subsequent  jobs that I have been taking. I   have evaluated my perfomance and identified areas of which I would like to develop in order to improve my standard of achievements in my skills. Kolb‘s learning cycle(currently have a better control over my feelings and emotional experiences  thus, I am able to  tackle  things differently in different environments, in different occasions and  in  different ways. Concerning my personal awareness, I will  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   have become aware of my good qualities and weaknesses. Therefore I will arrange clinical supervision with my mentor to plan future development. Butterworth (1996) suggested minimum clinical supervision of 45minutes every four weeks. Conclusion Personal development refers to a  set  of activities that one can engage in for the purpose of enhancing self  knowledge  and  identity. It involves  talent  and  potential  development,  building  of human  capital  as well as employability, improving the quality of life, and last but not least playing a role towards the realization of aspirations and dreams. The  idea  of personal development is not only limited to  self  development, but also entails formal and informal activities meant to  develop  others, as well. As a person’s circle of self awareness expands, not only is he or she consciously aware of a greater  portion  of him or herself, but also the borders of his or her  awareness  have enlarged in such a way that, his or her  self  awareness borders upon a widened area of future  discovery  and development. The more doors an  individual  opens, the more he or she realizes there are to be opened. Listening and attending are by far the most  vital  aspects of being an  effective  healthcare professional.  Over-talking on the part of healthcare professional is  normally  considered to be  less  productive.  If people can  train  themselves to learn on how  to  really  listen  to others, then they can be of  really  much  help  to the society.  Personal development starts at a point of self awareness. In fact, it may as well be the ultimate end. It through the significant impact of personal  development that an individual can grow and improve his or her relationships, wealth, happiness, health, and careers. Self awareness is a  fundamental  factor at the core of this broad and  significant  pursuit. Widening ones self awareness involves discovering new truths about an individual.  Any kind of  development  whether  personal, economic, geological, political or organizational, demands a  framework  for one to be able to  know  whether  change  has in reality occurred.  For the case of personal development, a person  frequently  operates as the principal judge  of improvement. Corroboration of  objective  improvement requires an assessment which has to be carried out using a standard criterion. Reference list Butterworth, T.1996.Primary attempts at research based evaluation of clinical supervision.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nursing Times Research 1(2):96-112  Ã‚   Burnand, P., 1997. Effective communication skills for healthcare professionals. Cheltenham:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nelson Thornes. Elearn Limited., 2005. Managing yourself. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Johns, H., 2005. Personal development in counselor training. London: Sage Publishers. Moss, B., 2008. Communication skills for health and social care. London: Sage. Pavlina, S., 2008. Personal development for smart people. London: Hayhouse. Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D. Jasper, M., 2001. Critical reflection for nursing and helping  Ã‚  Ã‚   professionals. Palgrave MacMillan.

Gilgamesh Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gilgamesh - Assignment Example The basic epic is primitive or oral, such as Gilgamesh’s epic. The secondary epics include literary or written ones, such as The Aeneid. The Epic of Gilgamesh dates back to 2150-2000 BC and before that there were only two huge Indian epics called the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which date back to 1000-800 BC. There were also two epics of Greeks titled as ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘The Iliad’ as of 900-700 BC, which are older than epic of Gilgamesh (Campbell, 1949). The epic of Gilgamesh dwells on the difference between an animal, a man, and a god. Gilgamesh is both a god and a man. Enkidu is also a man and a god and this is the tale of these two becoming humans as they travel together. Utnapishtim is also called Noah as per the Hebraic myth. He is considered the immortal. Gilgamesh is indeed the hero of the epic. Enkidu is not only an advisor to Gilgamesh but also his friend and also referred to as Hercules in the greek legendary past. The huge massive monster is Humbaba. The story is about the cycle of a hero’s life based on initiation, departure, and return. It is based on Joseph Campbell’s idea of four functions of the heroic cycle. The traits that make a person a hero are to fight against one’s fear, quest for eternal life, facing death, and a lot of suffering dealt with wisdom (Campbell, 1949). Gilgamesh in the epic itself is one-third man and two-thirds god. Gilgamesh is a hero in the epic who is a brave person, beautiful as well and also horrifying as compared to most of us people. Hid attributes, achievements, and desires symbolize our own ambitions and feelings. But, he is mortal too and also must see and experience death like us. The philosophy is that this legend of Gilgamesh is 1/3rds mortal and 2/3rds divine. His huge emotional intelligence and power is great but tyrannize the people of his time. People of that time used to call the gods, the leading god called sky-god Anu is the god of the city. The wild man is known as Enkidu with adequate power to match that of Gilgamesh. Ultimately, the fight between two people makes any of them never succeed. The animosity turned into mutual respect in the end and long-lasting relationship (Campbell, 1949). Now the two newly met friends set on an adventure with each other but finally, the gods were able to murder Enkidu. Gilgamesh seriously weeps for the loss of his friend and a realization struck him that he will soon die too. Therefore, he came to know about Utnapishtim- the immortal. The only global food survivor is called Utnapishtim. Subsequently, Gilgamesh goes all across sea to go for his friend Utnapishtim, who talks about his extraordinary life adventures. The Flood of Gilgamesh is also called Utnapishtim’s flood. When the council of gods came up with the idea to devastate the mankind, the god who created man called ‘Ea’ warned against Shuruppak to Utnapishtim. Shuruppak was a town near Euphrates bank and instructed about the huge boat (Campbell, 1949). This Epic of Gilgamesh is the tale of the King Gilgamesh in Uruk who dominates the people of his town. As a sentence, the god gives him a friend known as Enkidu who became a good friend and a shadow of King Gilgamesh. When they both sets on an adventure together, Enkidu and Gilgamesh challenge the gods by murdering the huge Humbaba, also cutting the blessed forest of cedar which he protected, and killed the Bull of Heaven. The frightening dreams of tyrants’ destiny were seen by Enkidu and then these tyrants became slaves of House of Death. Finally, Enkidu dies because of sickness of gods. Devastated by the death of Enkidu and also perspective of his own death, a quest for the power of immortality was undertaken by Gilgamesh which brought

National Consensus Project Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

National Consensus Project - Term Paper Example Where the patient suffers a terminal illness, it is wise to avoid expensive lifelong therapies which may also be very painful for the patient to undergo. If the patient does not specify prior to their illness/death the preferred treatment method, the family will try to avoid the patient’s death. In allowing doctors to subject patients to lifelong treatments, the family would have unintentionally caused the patient considerable trauma and pain. People should be advised to write wills as early as possible while still healthy enough to do so. Applying Saint Leo University’s core value- community- will make the patient aware of the need to create a socially responsible environment that challenges individuals to listen, learn and serve others. Through writing a will, the patient would have fulfilled the Community value. It is necessary to observe the core values of respect and integrity in convincing the patient to write down the will. Respect demands that the advisor listens and appreciates the patient’s views and beliefs. After the will is drawn, integrity requires the beneficiaries of the will to honor the patient’s desires and also the advisor to keep the previous promises made. Recuperative medical care and palliative care share a host of similarities. However, there are a number of fundamental distinctions between the two. The core distinctions between recuperative medical care and palliative medical care lie in the timing, care location, payment and the manner of treatment (Hospice Vs. Palliative Care, n.d.). Palliative care is offered by a team of professionals in institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals, and extended care facilities while recuperative medical care is offered in the patient’s home. Patients considered terminally ill are the only ones eligible for recuperative medical care while patients receiving palliative care have no time restrictions. Since palliative

(you can choose the paper topic) Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

(you can choose the topic) - Research Paper Example There are several motivations he cites for the call for nonviolent action. To begin with, he cites ways in which can injustice can be discovered and according to him, there was racial injustice against the minority. Further, he notes the prevalence of two types of laws, the just and the unjust. He says that the unjust law leads to unfair treatment of the minority people and goes ahead to state that, such a law is not law at all and therefore, it should be abolished by all means. King goes ahead to express his disappointment in all the people who witness the injustice happening in their midst and chose to remain silent about it. Most of his disappointment is directed to his fellow religious colleagues who he feels have done very little to fight the racial injustices. It is then that he calls for them to help restore equality by telling that they cannot sit idly as Christians and allows their brethren to suffer. His call for action and why it is very important for everyone to unite and fight alongside him has been retaliated all throughout the letter and especially at the end. King’s letter has effectively used major appealing techniques to show the evil of racial injustice and call for action to fight for equality. This paper seeks to show the relevance and credibility of King’ letter in his quest for equality. King’s letter is very appealing especially since his conclusion for the fight of racial injustices involves the call for nonviolent action. He notes that non-violent action is the future for the civil rights movement as it does not aggravate the situation. While the term ‘nonviolent’ action seems to be ambiguous, he goes ahead to explain what exactly he means by nonviolent action and what actions constitute nonviolent action. He provides a list of the nonviolent actions which are intended to provide insights into the questions he poses, â€Å"Why direct action, why sit-ins, marches and so forth?† (King, 1963, p. 214). It is

Boyatzis Theory Of Self Directed Learning

Boyatzis Theory Of Self Directed Learning It was proved by Dr. Richard Boyatzis that medicinal and rehabilitative solutions to addictions do not last permanently and why addicts keep coming back to rehab facilities time to time. What this theory has shown is that adults learn what they want to learn. Other things, even if acquired temporarily (i.e., for a test), are soon forgotten. Students, patients and clients may act as if they care about learning something, go through the motions, but they proceed to disregard it or forget it-unless, it is something which they want to learn. Even in situations where aperson is under threat or coercion, a behavioural change shown will typically extinguish or revert to its original form once the threat is removed. This does not include changes induced, willingly or not, by chemical or hormonal changes in ones body. But even in such situations, the interpretation of the changes and behavioural comportment following it will be affected by the persons will, values, and motivations. Self-directed change is an intentional change in an aspect of who you are (i.e., the Real) or who you want to be (i.e., the Ideal), or both. Self-directed learning is self-directed change in which you are aware of the change and understand the process of change. The description and explanation of the self-directed change process is organized in five sections as shown in the figure below. Each section starts with a point of discontinuity.The persons behaviour may seem to be stuck for long periods of time and then a change appears quite suddenly. The First Discontinuity:Catching Your Dreams, Engaging Your Passion Our aspirations, dreams, and desired states are shaped by our values, philosophy, life and career stages, motives, role models, and other factors. This indicates that we can access and engage deep emotional commitment and psychic energy if we engage our passions and conceptually catch our dreams in our Ideal Self-image. The Second Discontinuity: Am I a Boiling Frog? For normal reasons, the human psyche protects itself from the automatic intake and conscious realization of all information about us. These ego-defence mechanisms serve to protect us. The boiling frog syndrome applies here. It is said that if one drops a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out with an instinctive defence mechanism. But if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually increase the temperature, the frog will sit in the water until it is boiled to death. These slow adjustments to changes are acceptable, but the same change made dramatically is not tolerated. Those forgiving the change, frightened of it, or who do not care, may allow it to pass unnoticed. Our relationships and interpersonal context mediate and interpret cues from the environment. They help us interpret what things mean. You ask a friend, Am I getting fat? To which she responds, No, you look great! Whether this is reassuring to the listener or not, it is confusing and may not be providing feedback to the question asked. Of course, if she had said, No, it is just the spread of age or normal effects of gravity you may not have more useful information either. There are four major learning points from the first two discontinuities in the self-directed learning process: Engage your passion and create your dreams; and Know thyself! Identify or articulate both your strengths (those aspects of yourself you want to preserve) and your gaps or discrepancies of your Real and Ideal Selves (those aspects of yourself you want to adapt or change); and Keep your attention on both characteristics forces or factors-do not let one become the preoccupation! All of these learning points can be achieved by finding and using multiple sources for feedback about your Ideal Self, Real Self, Strengths, and Gaps. The Third Discontinuity: Mindfulness Through a Learning Agenda A learning orientation arouses a positive belief in ones capabilityand the hope of improvement. A learning agenda helps a person focus on what they want to become. This results in people setting personal standards of performance, rather than normative standards that merely mimic what others have done. The Fourth Discontinuity: Metamorphosis Acting on the plan and toward the goals involves numerous activities. These are often made in the context of experimenting with new behaviour. Typically following a period of experimentation, the person practices the new behaviours in actual settings within which they wish to use them, such as at work or at home. During this part of the process, self-directed change and learning begins to look like a continuous improvement process. The Fifth Discontinuity: Relationships that Enable Us to Learn Our relationships are an essential part of our environment. The most crucial relationships are often a part of groups that have particular importance to us. These relationships and groups give us a sense of identity, guide us as to what is appropriate and good behavior, and provide feedback on our behavior. In sociology, they are called reference groups. These relationships create a context within which we interpret our progress on desired changes, the utility of new learning, and even contribute significantinput to formulation of the Ideal. In this sense, our relationships are mediators, moderators, interpreters, sources of feedback, sources of support and permission of change and learning! They may also be the most important source of protection from relapses or returning to our earlier forms of behavior. The major learning points from the fourth and fifth discontinuities critical in self-directed learning process are: Experiment and practice and try to learn more from your experiences! Find settings in which you feel psychologically safe within which to experiment and practice! and Develop and use your relationships as part of your change and learning process! The signposts on the path to self-direct learning are: At the end of self-directed learning approach that we followed, we gave each participant to evaluate him/herself on the below 9 outposts to keep track if they are progressing in the right direction. Has the person engaged their passion and dreams? Can they describe the person they want to be, the life and work they want to have in the future? Can they describe their Ideal Self? Does the person know himself or herself? Do they have a sense of their Real Self? Can the person articulate both their strengths (those aspects he/she wants to preserve) and gaps or discrepancies between their Real and Ideal Selves (those aspects he/she wants to adapt or change)? Has the person help their attention on both Strengths and Gaps- not letting one become the preoccupation? Does the person have their own personal learning agenda? IS it really their own? Can the elements of the plan fit into the structure of their life and work? Do the actions fit with their learning style and flexibility? Is the person experimenting and practicing new habits and actions? Is the person using their learning plan to learn more from their experiences? Has the person found settings in which to experiment and practice in which he/she feels psychologically safe? Is the person developing and utilizing his/her relationships as part of their learning process? Do they have coaches, mentors, friends, and others with whomthey can discuss progress on their learning agenda? Do they have relationships with which they can explore each their new behavior, habits, new Ideal Self, new Real Self, new strengths and gaps as the process unfolds? Are they helping others engage in a self-directed learning process? Cognitive behavioural therapy This is a psychotherapeutic approach, a talking therapy that aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure. Patterns of Cognitive Distortions All-Or-Nothing Thinking You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure. Disqualifying the positive You dismiss positive experiences by insisting they dont count for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences. Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization- You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your goof-up or someone elses achievement), or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities or the other fellows imperfections). This is also called the binocular trick. Should Statements You try to motivate yourself with shoulds and shouldnts, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. Musts and oughts are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When you direct should statements toward others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment. Labelling and Mislabelling This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself: Im a loser. When someone elses behaviour rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to him: Hes a goddam louse. Mislabelling involves describing an event with language that is highly coloured and emotionally loaded. Personalization You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event which in fact you were not primarily responsible for. Guard against these Perfection Syndrome: Everybody needs to be and wants to be successful in life. Everybody in life wants to make it. However in doing so, we go overboard, stretch the limits of our body and return to the same stress levels that we wanted to overcome in the beginning. Entitlement Syndrome: Those inflicted with Entitlement Syndrome show symptoms of being overly-pampered, completely dependent upon others, frequently whining about trivial matters, full of jealousy and rage, excusing themselves out of doing anything difficult, unable to lose or fail gracefully, and they appear to resemble children in adult bodies. The Entitled consistently throw tantrums when they dont get what they want, especially if what they want belongs to the Responsible-Minded. The Entitled will often sue those who disagree with them, especially if they think it will fund their elaborate lifestyles for a long time.The only remedy for this disease is self-control. And the only source of self-control is their God-given moral conscience, which can often be lost altogether if the Entitled do not purge themselves from their enablers early in life. Dos and Donts Only meditation for first one year become aware of your feelings first and , then, to the inner-most thoughts Do not try to explain or apply any of these things to someone elses life Do not try to read anything about psychology, say, for one year

Antisthenes Concept of Paideia :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Antisthenes' Concept of Paideia ABSTRACT: Antisthenes of Athens was an older student of Socrates who had previously studied under the Sophists. His philosophical legacy also influenced Cynic and early Stoic thought. Consequently, he has left us an interesting theory of paideia (reading, writing, and the arts) followed by an even more brief one in divine paideia, the latter consisting of learning how to grasp the tenets of reason in order to complete virtue. Once properly grasped, the pupil will never lose it since it is embedded in the heart with true belief. However, there is a danger of being confused by human learning, which may delay or obviate completing divine paideia. Nonetheless, with the help of a teacher who gives a personal example, like Socrates or the mythical Centaur Chiron, the pupil has a chance of reaching his or her goal. Through a series of myths, Antisthenes gives us the foundations of his logical and ethical theory together. Reasoning is both a way to grasp virtue and also to fortify it. Althou gh he would have chaffed under a modern university educational system, we may learn from him to value concise philosophical studies as a necessary adjunct to basic lessons in liberal arts. Antisthenes of Athens (445-360 B.C.) is remembered for being one of Socrates' older pupils. (1) In fact, he was old enough to have first studied under the sophists, before he met Socrates. (2) He thus stands straddling three important periods in the history of Greek philosophy. As a 5th century philosopher, he copied the rhetoric of Gorgias in his famous Ajax and Odysseus speeches and like the sophists, believed that virtue was teachable; surviving into the 4th century, he was taken seriously by Plato and Aristotle, composing essays in which he propounded an individual logical theory of his own; (3) and as precursor of Hellenistic Cynicism, he composed dialogues, teaching new ethical and social norms that resurfaced after his death in the teaching of Diogenes of Sinope and the Stoa. (4) In this paper, I would like to examine some aspects of Antisthenes' educational theory and his concept of paideia. In at least one of his lost Hercules dialogues, Antisthenes seems to have described Hercules' visit to the Centaur Chiron and subsequently to the Titan Prometheus. (5) Both these episodes ascribe to Hercules a different type of paideia. The first episode is often connected with a the mythological theme of Chiron's school, where the just Centaur was said to have taught heroes and demi-gods various branches of paideia: