Supplemental Module 1: Self-awareness, Values Development and Servant Leadership

In assuming the role of citizens, an essential requisite is the improvement of one's characteristics and
personality to enable individuals to become an asset to the family, community and the nation as a
whole. In so doing, defining self-concept is fundamental step in the process.

Your image of who you are is called self-concept. As cited by Chauhan (2002), it is composed of your
feelings and thoughts about your strengths and weaknesses, your abilities and limitations. Your self-
concept develops from three sources: 1. other's images; 2. social comparisons; and 3. one's
interpretations and evaluations as depicted in the illustration below:

Other's Images How do significant others see me?

Self Concept

Social Comparisons Your interpretations and evaluations

Your interpretations and evaluations How do I evaluate my own feelings and behaviors? Source:
Joseph A> Devito. Human Corernunocollons rhe 1,100( Source. New 11. lonemon. 7907 70

The Concept of Self-Awareness

Deepening on self-concept development increases your self-awareness. The more you understand why
you view yourself as you do, the better you will understand who you are. Gaining self-awareness may be
aided by understanding the Johari Window.

The Johari window explains that there are four selves that represent a person, to wit.

The Open Self – this represents all the information, behaviors, attitudes, feelings, desires, motivations,
ideas and so on, that you know about yourself and that others know about you.

The Blind Self. This represents information about yourself that others know but you do not.

The Unknown Self. - this represents those parts of yourself about which neither you nor others know.

The Hidden Self. This contains all that you know of yourself but keep hidden from others.

Overdisclosers tell all, keep nothing hidden about themselves or others.

Underdisclosers tell nothing. They will talk about you but not about themselves.

Self-awareness opens doors to spiritual and personal growth. We have all the answers to the questions
about our lives and what we have to do is to learn how we can have an access to our wisdom.

It begins with self-awareness by paying attention to our many senses, thoughts, feelings and intuition.
We should go deep into our emotions to tap their sources. We should see our thinking and how it
creates our reality. Then we can discover our deepest essence.

Increasing our level of self-awareness therefore, empowers us to make different choices. Not that it will
automatically do things differently. After all, some habits can be avoided. But over time, as we build up
these levels of catching ourselves doing wrong things, we will have the choices to alter our behavior,
eventually, before the next decision-making comes.
So, in order to assess what we do, we must first become aware of where we place our inner intention,
what we are feeling and thinking about. The more frequently we do this, the more natural and habitual
it will become, and the more we will give ourselves the chance to truly change our behavior.

What is Self-awareness?

According to Goleman, perhaps the most important emotional competence is self-awareness - knowing
one's internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions. Another psychotherapist puts it as "bringing
to the conscious mind our understanding of the compulsion that pushes us around".

Marilyn vos Savant, simply calls it, "the art of waking up", or realizing what you really are and why you
do the things you do, in the way you do them.

The following poem illustrates the continuing search of man for himself: (Palispis). Assess how you
picture out yourself in this concern.

Who Am IT

Who am 1? Who am I? My clothes? My look? My mode? Am I just a thing? No!

Am I my parents? Brothers? Friends? Am 1 they? I think I am different from them Just who am I? Am I
my name? My face? My bones? My breath? My feelings? My thoughts? And memory? Each of them is
part of me. But not me.

Who am I really? What is the truth? I'm alive, enthusiastic, free and unique Above all, like God, I live.
All this I am - my innermost being. Who am 1?Who am I?

What are the key areas of self-awareness?

Human beings are complex and diverse. To become self-aware, we should develop an understanding of
ourselves in many areas which includes the following:

Personality. An understanding of our personality can help us find situations in which we will
thrive/survive, and help us avoid situations in which we will experience too much stress.

Values. Values are qualities that we cherish as reference for our actions and behaviors in particular
situations.

Habits. These are the behaviors that we repeat routinely and often do automatically. Although we would
like to use them to help us interact effectively with and manage others, we can probably identify at least
one of our habits that decrease our effectiveness.

Needs. (connect Maslow's hierarchy of needs and other psychologists' psychological needs) Needs cause
motivation, and when needs aren't satisfied, they can cause frustration, conflict and stress. One of the
advantages of knowing which needs exert the strongest influence in our own behaviors is the ability to
understand how they affect our interpersonal relationships.

Emotions. Understanding our own feelings, what cause them, and how they make an impact on our
thoughts and actions are indications of emotional self-awareness.

How does Self-awareness make an individual more effective?

Self-awareness helps individuals identify gaps that promote skills development. Identifying these gaps,
the following can be improved and enhanced:

1. skills development;
2. knowing one's strengths and weakness;
3. developing intuitive decision-making skills;
4. stress management-our coping with stress effectively;
5. self-motivation;
6. leadership

We can become more self-aware by using or applying the following means:

1. seeking feedback from the people who know us;

2. completing self-assessment surveys like questionnaires; and
3. hiring an expert like professional counselor or executive coach.

What are Human Values?

Human values give worthiness and respect to life. The five human values are righteousness, peace, love,
truth and non-violence. These elevate the individual as well as the society of which one is a part.

Understanding Filipino Values

Values are often associated with what an individual believes that he had acquired and nurtured in life.

Horacio de la Costa S. J. (in Bonoan, 1971), a historian, wrote on the principles and values embodied in
the Filipino national tradition which were fashioned by Filipinos who viewed the culture and society
from within and not from without. This Filipino national tradition is composed of:

1. Pagsasarili or the principle of self-reliance which means to be oneself, to be a person in his own
right, to be able to make up his mind, and to do his thing. It also connotes the concept of private
property and the wider distribution of property, so that every Filipino will have the means to
develop himself as a responsible human being.
2. Pakikisama, or sharing with one's fellow both the burdens as well as the rewards of an activity.
Thus, there is the equitable sharing of goods and services among all who help in their
production. The ideal is to share, to have the give-and-take that goes with living together in a
society, whether in the family or local community organization.
3. Pagkakaisa or national unity. This is brought about through a process of a free discussion and
the exercise of a certain reasonableness in building an articulate national community.
4. Pagkabayani. The essence is patriotism or the total dedication to the nation and the readiness to
put the common good of the nation above the private interest, whether of one's own person,
group or class.
5. Pakikipagkapwa-tao, or human solidarity. This refers to the dedication to one's own nation, so as
to enable one to participate on free and equal terms.

Other Intermediate Values Related to Socialization

1. Smooth Interpersonal Relations (SIR). Smooth interpersonal relations or SIR, in short, connotes the
facility of getting along with others so as to avoid outward signs of conflicts, even under difficult
circumstances (Lynch 1970:10).

a. Pakikisama is the mechinism used to maintain SIR, the use of the go-between, and euphemism. It is
the folk concept of good human relations and implies giving in or yielding to the wish of the majority
even if it contradicts one's own ideas. According to Randolf David (1997), pakikisama is an important and
highly valued quality.

b. Reciprocity or Utang na Loob which is another aspect of SIR is a universal form of behavior. It is a
principle where every service received, solicited or not, demands a return, the nature and proportion of
the return determined by the relative status of the parties involved and the kind of exchange at issue
(Hollnsteiner, 1970:65).

2. Closeness and Security in the Family. A much vaunted trait in the Filipino society is the so-called close
family ties or family solidarity. This is one of the values discerned by Bulatao (1966:26) in his study of
groups of Filipino workers. The family is seen as a defense against a hostile world and a unit where one
can turn to in case he has a serious problem. A prodigal son or daughter can readily return and be
welcomed with open arms. From infancy to old age, a pattern of interdependence with family members
in economic, social, spiritual and emotional aspects is developed. Emphasis is placed on loyalty and
support. Older children must make sacrifices for the young ones. In old age, the children serve as some
kind of a social security system. The family is a stable unit for security and support. The members stick
together and reside near each other, if possible. It was only in recent years that members of some
families left for other countries in search for greener pastures. A strong family tie is a factor for the kind
of leaders follow close on the heels of their elders to continue their wealth, if not the political power.
The super ordination of the family over the concern for the common interests and good can lead to
nepotism.

3. Respect for elders. A value inculcated early in the socialization process. Children are taught to kiss the
hands of their parents and other kin or made to do what is commonly called "bless". Children are made
to say "po" or "opo" in talking with elders, although this practice is now waning. Title of respects like
"Mang" or "Aling" or "Kuya", "Manang" or "Ate" abound in the Filipino languages. The essence of
respect for elders is obedience. Studies of child rearing practices, (Lagmay, 1983: 55„ Mendez, et al.
1984-27) show that obedience is a noteworthy behavior pattern developed among the children by
incentives such as praise and the giving of money and other material traits.

4. Personalism. In personalism, major importance is attached to the personal factor, which ensures
intimacy, warmth and friendship in getting things done. Kinship and friendship play a crucial role in the
reciprocal relationship between interacting parties. Bonifacio (1974) points out that personalism is
rooted in our basic and moral commitment to family and kin which extends to compadres (ritual kin in
baptism, confirmation or marriage), neighbors, friends, or even suki (a regular customer or patron).

5. Hospitality. Foreigners who come to our country often remark about Filipino hospitality. This is shown
in our generosity and kindness in treating our visitors. In most cases visitors are lavishly entertained in
parties and fiestas. We go out of our way to entertain our guests. We accommodate them, make them
feel at home, and share what we have with them.
6. Patient Suffering or Pagtitiis. It is shown in the attitude that certain frustrating forces whether
poverty, injustice, sickness, or anything else are too powerful to be overcome (Bulatao, 1962:78).

7. Panindigan. With the emphasis on Filipino indigenousness, Enriquez (1977:3) initiated a new way of
looking at Filipino values, which truly represent the Filipino culture. Commitment and conviction
approximate the value panindigan. Subsumed in panindigan are respect and concern (paggalang at
pagmamalasakit), helping in times of crisis or distress (pagdamay), understanding the limitation of
others (pagpuno sa kakulangan), sensitivity and regards for others, rapport and acceptance, and human
concern (pakikipagkapuwa).

As man in his finite world is repeatedly forced to cope with the same object, the repeatedly evoked
cognitions, feelings and response disposition become unified into unified and enduring system for man
is an organizing and conserving animal. This entire "package" of particular beliefs, feelings, and response
tendencies is henceforth always there, on the ready whenever the individual is confronted by
appropriate object. In other words, he now has an attitude towards the object. And as the individual
acquires more and more attitudes as he "assimilates" more and more objects in his world his
improvisations towards these objects and his fresh examinations and interpretations of them decrease.
His actions become stereo typed, predictable and consistent and social life becomes possible. The social
actions of the individual reflect his attitudes enduring systems of positive or negative evaluations,
emotional feelings, and pro or co action tendencies with respect to social object. Attitudes differ in their
social action according to their primary characteristics (Krech, Crutchfield, and Ballachey, 1962).