Diet Talk - Self-Awareness

DIET TALK is a series of 56 topics addressing the psychological and social aspects of successful, long-term weight management. DIET TALK is based on my NPR series. This lecture addresses self-awareness.

Transcript

Self-awareness.

An important aspect of self-discovery is learning about yourself.

And you have three selves.

There is the public you,

The actual you,

And the ideal you.

All of these interact to help you make decisions.

And any one of the selves can take priority during a specific situation.

Problems arise when the discrepancy between any of the three selves is too great.

It is difficult to know who you are if the selves aren't at least somewhat compatible.

In order to get to know yourself better,

You need to begin describing each self,

The public,

Actual and ideal.

Then you will determine how they are different from each other and how this causes you stress.

And lastly,

You will decide how you can go about bringing these selves together.

By doing this you will understand why you had,

At times,

Inner conflicts regarding decisions,

Perceptions and behaviors.

And with this knowledge you can begin working toward being the one self that is at peace with him or herself.

This will give you the freedom to practice your newly acquired habits and attitudes about food without having to cope with inner conflicts.

Let's get started.

List 10-12 words or phrases that describe your public self,

That is the you that others see.

Next,

List 10-12 words or phrases that describe your actual self,

That is your personal opinion about who you are.

After doing this,

Determine in what ways your public and actual selves differ and think about how this causes you stress.

Then,

List 10-12 words or phrases that describe your ideal self,

That is the you who you'd like to be.

Then determine in what ways your actual and ideal selves differ and how this causes you stress.

And lastly,

Determine how you will go about bringing these selves together.

Some examples are changing some of your self-imposed demands,

Altering unrealistic expectations,

Getting rid of irrational beliefs,

And becoming more assertive.

Reviews

I've got a lot of work ahead of me! I know I'm unbalanced. Thank you!