Part 1 & 2
The title of this article reflects an intention for African Women to shift their perspective to a more helpful focus to support mental wellness.
For this activity, the use of your imagination is very important. Persuade and convince yourself for a moment that at birth everybody is given an imaginary friend called a “Self.” I have my Self and you have your Self.
A Self is the most influential figure you’ll ever meet. She impacts you through urges, thoughts, and compulsions.
Here are tips that range from techniques to increase Self-knowledge to putting yourself in a position to promote you to be your best Self.
1. Allow self-awareness.
Self-awareness is your ability to bring attention to or know about your thoughts, needs, desires, and emotions. Accepting or observing without judging thoughts is a helpful mindset.
You need to try looking at your thoughts rather than through them. Be aware of aspects of your gender and race and resist the temptation to allow that to be the sole lens from which all experience is perceived. Selves are quick learners and gain their knowledge through experiences. Your Self compels you to act in accordance with your values, beliefs, and experiences. You can increase your self-awareness by…
Monitoring Self-talk or recording your thoughts (i.e. journaling). This can help with identifying negative, unrealistic, or harmful thoughts.
Identifying values and beliefs. This can help with knowing what is important to you and why.
Observing who you follow, what you like, and your search history. This can help identify what you are attracted to.
Practicing mindfulness. This can help with awareness of your internal state and environment
Eliciting feedback from others. This can help with identifying areas in your blind spot and also how other people perceive you.
Tip 2 Putting yourself in a position to succeed
At some point, you might learn that like everyone else, your Self isn’t right. Because nobody else can see her it’s hard to get your Self-help but you know she needs it. Here’s a little secret though… this may not be a mental health problem, perhaps it’s a location problem.
Simply put, if your Self is in a position where the people around her don’t value her, she may learn to devalue herself, and this can influence you to behave in a way consistent with poor Self-worth. Here are a few tips for putting yourself in a good position:
Increase clarity of Self-direction: When you have a destination, your actions are more purposeful and goal-directed. When an individual lacks a purpose, they are more likely to be influenced and distracted by external factors.
Engage Self with positive influences: This includes people or messages that encourage you to align your strengths and values with your behavior. It is possible that these positive influences may not include your family or the people you currently call friends.
Educate yourself through skill development: Skill acquisition is a relatively low-cost way to increase your value. It also helps increase feelings of autonomy by decreasing reliance on others.
Increase displays of Self-compassion and Self-acceptance. This starts with recognizing areas of pain, hurt, and suffering and responding to it with understanding and kindness.
Protect yourself from threats. This can include avoiding harmful influences and other barriers that negatively impact your ability to participate in healthy outlets.
Source: Thrive Works
