Saturday, November 16, 2013

LS Lesson 3 Life skills core definitions

Self-awareness includes recognition of ‘self’, our character, our strengths and 
weaknesses,  desires and dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help us to recognize 
when we are stressed  or feel under pressure. It is often a prerequisite to effective 
communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy with others.

Decision making helps us to deal constructively with decisions about our lives. This 
can   have consequences for health. It can teach people how to actively make decisions
about their actions in relation to healthy assessment of different options and, what
effects these different  decisions are likely to have

Problem solving helps us to deal constructively with problems in our lives.
Significant problems that are left unresolved can cause mental stress and give rise to
accompanying physical strain.

Effective communication means that we are able to express ourselves, both 
verbally and   non-verbally, in ways that are appropriate to our cultures and situations.
This means being able to express opinions and desires, and also needs and fears. And
it may mean being able to ask for advice and help in a time of need

Interpersonal relationship skills help us to relate in positive ways with the people 
we  interact with. This may mean being able to make and keep friendly relationships, 
which can be of great importance to our mental and social well-being. It may mean 
keeping, good  relations with family members, which are an important source of social 
support. It may also mean being able to end relationships constructively

Critical thinking is an ability to analyze information and experiences in an objective 
 manner. Critical thinking can contribute to health by helping us to recognize and assess
 the factors  that  influence  attitudes  and  behaviour,  such  as  values,  peer pressure and the media.

Creativity is a novel way of seeing or doing things that is characteristic of 
four components - fluency (generating new ideas), flexibility (shifting perspective
easily), originality (conceiving of something new), and elaboration (building on other ideas).

Empathy - To have a successful relationship with our loved ones and society at large, 
we  need to understand and care about other peoples’ needs, desires and feelings. 
Empathy is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person. Without 
empathy, our communication with others will amount to one-way traffic. Worst, we will 
be acting and behaving according to  our  self-interest  and  are  bound  to  run  into 
problems. No man is an island, no woman either! We grow up in relationships with
many people - parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, uncles and aunts, classmates, friends
and neighbours.When we understand ourselves as well as others, we are better prepared to
communicate our needs and desires. We will be more equipped to say what we want people to 
know, present  our thoughts and ideas and tackle delicate issues without offending other 
people. At the same   time, we will be able to elicit support from others, and win their 
understanding.Empathy can help us to accept others, who may be very different from ourselves.
This can improve social interactions, especially, in situations of ethnic or cultural diversity

Coping with stress means recognizing the sources of stress in our lives, recognizing 
how  this affects us, and acting in ways that help us control our levels of stress, by 
changing our  environment or lifestyle and learning how to relax.

Coping with emotions means involving recognizing emotions within us and 
others, being  aware of how emotions influence behaviour and being able to respond to 
emotions appropriately. Intense emotions like anger or sadness can have negative 
effects on our health  if we do not respond appropriately.

source; http://www.cbse.nic.in/cce/life_skills_cce.pdf

 International models of life skills:

There are taxonomies of generic life skills for categorising and arranging a wide range of life 
skills. Barrie Hopson and Mike Scally of the Counselling and Career Development Unit, Leeds 
University, use an analytical approach to categorising life skills. 





















David Brooks, professor of counselling and guidance at Syracuse University, uses an empirical approach to classify life skills.Each of these categories has a comprehensive list of descriptors for each of three stages of life: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Normative age ranges are provided for the
descriptors, indicating the approximate age at which the skill is usually acquired. Life skills
develop in and apply to the contexts of home and family, school, work and the community.




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