SELF AWARENESS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE CGANING WORLD

Last Saturday, I have shared the idea of bringing out the best in ourselves by getting to know one’s personality profile. Two days ago, I received a lot of emails asking me why should we know our own personality profile and what are its benefits ?

To undergo a Personal Value Personality Profile ( PVPP ) assessment which comprises of 144 assessment questions, one will be able to understand himself/herself better. It can help one to understand his/her fears and desires, strengths and weaknesses, defenses and anxieties, how one react to frustration and disappointment – and more positively, what one’s truest capacities and greatest strengths are so that one can build on it rather than on misjudgments and illusions. We will get the most out of a personality profiling assessment with a spirit of one-ended inquiry, using it as a support for discovering things about ourselves and for seeing how our characteristic issues are played out. As one observe oneself with the help of the system, one will see what he/she is up to again and again, especially how one is fleeing from himself/herself -- and why . One will be able to disco9ver many things that make us comfortable or that do not fit into the self image that one have of ourselves, it is important not to judge or condemn ourselves for what we find.

From the PVPP, we will learn self observation so that we can see our behavior as objectively as possible. We need to increase our self understanding so that we can know the true awareness or presence, which facilitates and deepens the process of transformation, ,Self observation and self observation alone will merely provide us with insight to get us to the threshold of transformation, but it is only through presence and awareness that transformation actually occurs. Without developing the ability to “ show up “ fully, the transformation moments of our lives will have limited effect.

The PVPP is not only about understanding and transforming ourselves, however, it helps us in understanding others, in fostering compassion for them and developing insight into how they think, what they fear and desire, what they value, and that their strengths and weaknesses are. .In short, we more easily appreciate perspectives that are different from our own.

Understanding others profoundly allows us not only to appreciate the good we find in them but also to be more objective and compassionate about things we may not like about them. Although we tend to think that other people are basically like us, it is helpful to recognize that different types think and feel and react quite differently. By understanding personality types, we can see more objectively, connecting deeply with them yet remaining in our own center, true to ourselves. By understanding the PVPP, we paradoxically become both more self possessed ands more capable of reaching out to others.

Significance of PVPP

PVPP assessment helps us to recognize our unconscious tendencies before they become self defeating habits so that we can avoid the tragic consequences of those habits. The PPP assessment can act as an early warning system of potentially harmful behavior, allowing us to do something about it before we become trapped in unhealthy patterns. If our attitudes and behavior did not have potentially tragic consequences, we could think, “ Well, why should I care about self-knowledge ? What difference does it make to know more about myself or my personality type ? “

Attitudes

The answer is that our attitudes and our actions always have consequences, some of which can affect the whole of our lives. This makes acquiring self knowledge and insight into others an extraordinary practical thing to do. Without self knowledge, we can make choices that may turn out disastrously. Without knowing our own motives and not having control over our behavior, we can do harmful things to ourselves, ,our spouse, our children, our friends and acquaintances – even to people we may never meet.

Failed Marriages

Without being good judges of the characters of others, we can be terribly hurt and abused. Many marriages end in bitterness and divorce because people do not know either themselves or each other. How often have we heard somebody say, “ If I had only known what my husband was really like, I would never have married him. “ Or, “ If I had known the PVPP twenty years ago, my life would have been so different… “ We can console ourselves with the thought that at least we know the PVPP now and with its help, we will be much more likely to avoid the suffering caused by our lack of self knowledge and the unwise actions that may result. With insight, we have a much better chance to avoid tragedy and become happier.



An Experience

Awareness can not only change your life, it can save your life. When I was 12 years old, I have witnessed a bridge collapsed at the village where I lived in Bintangor. It collapsed during a heavy storm. Several sections in the middle of the bridge fell into the river, leaving unsuspecting motorists exposed to a life threatening situation in the driving rain and confusion of the storm.

One alert driver, Stephen saw what had happened and was able to bring his car to a stop only a few feet from the edge before he would have plunged to certain death in the river some forty feet below. Stephen risked his life by running toward the oncoming traffic, frantically attempting to alert other drivers to the danger. Almost immediately a carload of five young men come along. They saw Stephen’s frantic attempts to stop them but apparently thought that he was only trying to get help with his own stalled car. Laughing, they made a crude gesture at him and pushed the accelerator to the floor. A few seconds later they plunged off the edge of the bridge into the river below and were all killed.

From my perspective, it could be said that their personality killed them. Contemptuousness, hostility, bravado, unwillingness to listen a lack of compassion, or showing off – any one of a number of related impulses – could have been the cause of the driver’s decisions not to stop. Some habit, some feature of his personality had the upper hand at a critical moment, with tragic results.

What type of personality were these five young men ? These men are hostile to Stephen’s kind gesture to inform the tragedy ahead. They have full confidence in their personal perception; their shrugged behavior were sarcastic, with withering remarks directed at Stephen. They have a compulsive need to understand their feelings, to be understood, to search for the missing meaning of life and to avoid being ordinary. Thus, they moved forward and plunged into the river only to find their eternal life.



Self Knowledge

Self knowledge will help you to understand your own taken for granted assumptions, trigger points, sensitive line, comfort zone, strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge is useful for all of us, not because we can or should change fundamental dimensions or ourselves, but because it helps make our interactions with others more effective and insightful. It also helps us gain a more complete understanding of our potential for contributing value in our future career roles and our special strengths relative to others. It is not unusual for many of us to feel intimidated at some time, for example, by heroic or luminary figures whose success is attributed to charisma, intelligence or style. We feel we are somehow diminished and less able because of what we see in others. Self knowledge allows us to recognize our own special gifts and strengths and to capitalize on our talents.

Being aware of and empathetic towards, the different perceptions, needs and inclinations of other people is a key part of emotional intelligence and interpersonal maturity. Most people, however, have a tendency to interact with individuals who are like themselves, to choose similar people to work with them and to exclude others who seem to be different. This history of human warfare and conflict attests to the fact that differences are usually interpreted as frightening or threatening. Although fostering similarity seemingly makes it easier to interact with other people, especially in a work setting, it also reduces creativity, complex problem solving and the likelihood that working colleagues with challenge the perspective of the authority figure. Research on organizational failure has repeatedly demonstrated that a lack of diversity in the composition of key decision making bodies makes it difficult for them to recognize changes in their environment and to respond in appropriately new and novel ways.



My 33 years of corporate working life is that to help individuals feel comfortable discussing ways in which they are different is by sharing a commitment to focus on differences, not distinctions. We observe differences, we create distinctions., Differences help us to understand potential sources of misunderstanding between people and give is clues to how we can work together more effectively. Distinctions create social barriers between people for the express purpose of establishing advantages and disadvantages. When someone discounts the opinion of a co-worker on the grounds that a person is a member of the old boys club, from marketing, a woman or does not hold an university degree, they are creating a distinction that is not only potentially hurtful on a personal basis but ineffective for the organization.

The creation of such distinctions destroys trust among people, even if the distinctions refer to individuals who are not present. If you apply distinctions that belittle someone in another group, for example that action plants a seed of mistrust in the minds of the people present regarding what distinction you may be privately using to discount them. Recognizing differences is not the same as evaluating distinctions. One is helpful, the other is hurtful. When others feel that self disclosing information could be used against them – that is, they could be placed on the disadvantages side of a distinction – they will be reluctant to participate in any self discovery process, especially one that requires them to share information about their personal characteristics.

Conclusion

Self awareness and understanding differences cannot occur without self disclosures, sharing and trusting conversations. Self knowledge requires an understanding and valuing of differences, not the creation of distinctions. We encourage you to use the PVPP to assess about your own personality type and others to build, grow and value both.