Analyzing Development Self Awareness of Stress Prone and Stress Resistant Personalities

¶ … Self-Awareness of Stress-Prone and Stress-Resistant Personalities

What can be learned from the Tibetan culture about the mind and stress?

The age-old culture of Tibet fostered a powerful and deep integration of practical and spiritual understanding, valuing both facets of humanity's nature, together with their capacity for facilitating healing and good health. Further, Tibetans employed other spiritual customs (which may not be regarded as forms of "meditation"), but could benefit development and promotion of well-being and health, as well as cure illness. Construction of stupas, establishment of huge prayer wheels, hoisting of prayer flags, and pilgrimages are some fine examples of traditions that cure the mind, body and spirit. Even herbal medicine in Tibetan culture combines physical and spiritual healing. Healers constantly chant prayers or mantras while collecting ingredients, preparing medicines, and working on the sick (DharmaHaven, 2003).

What do the views espoused by theorists have in common? Explain your perspective.

Tibetan theorists define stress as the tension between the greater mind and the self, with anticipated outcomes and expectations that point to the tension's specific cause. Frank claims that elements required for dealing with stress entail the ability of choosing one's attitude, which eventually distinguishes individuals who seek meaning. In Dyer's view, worry and guilt represent the two emotional stress-perpetuating elements. Buscaglia is of the opinion that development of self-esteem constitutes a crucial element when managing and resolving personal stress. Lastly, Seligman asserts that positive personality traits, institutions, and emotions make up positive psychology. My personal opinion is that the key element common to the aforementioned theorists' perspectives is positivity, which helps relieve stress (Seaward, 2006).

1. Describe one or more ways to cope with, manage and/or resolve fear.

1. Taking Time out: An individual cannot possibly think clearly under conditions of anxiety or fear. Sweaty palms, accelerated heartbeat, confusion, and panic result from adrenalin. Therefore, the foremost thing one must do is devote time to physically calming down. Some ways to distract oneself from worry include: taking a 15-minute walk in one's neighborhood, taking a shower, or making and having a cup of tea. After physically calming down, an individual will be better capable of deciding on how best to deal with fear (NHS, 2014).

1. Exposing oneself to one's fear: A fear that is avoided gets scarier. If an individual panics when getting into an elevator, doing the same thing the very next day and, in fact, every other day until the fear finally goes away, is an effective coping strategy. Facing fears head-on ought to make them fade.

1. Welcoming the worst: Whenever an individual embraces his/her fears, it facilitates coping. Intensity of fear will decrease each time the fear strikes, until it finally ceases to cause trouble. Imagining the worst-case scenario -- possibly panicking and suffering a stroke -- followed by considering oneself in such a position (which is just impossible) will help. Fears run away if chased (NHS, 2014).

1. Visualizing: Individuals experiencing fear need to close their eyes for one moment and envision a serene and safe place/situation (e.g., strolling along a calm, beautiful beach; a happy childhood memory; or snuggling up with one's pet in bed). Subsequently, they need to allow these positive feelings to soothe them till they relax.

1. Rewarding oneself: Lastly, after effectively coping with fear, an individual must give him/herself a treat (e.g., a concert, massage, candlelit bath, meal out, a walk in the countryside, a DVD, a book, etc.), and reinforce his/her success (NHS, 2014).

1. Describe a minimum of five ways in which you can improve your communication style.

1. Active listening: Individuals tend to concentrate on the things they must say. However, effective communication must focus more on listening than on talking. Effective listening implies understanding the information/words being communicated as well as the speaker's emotions (HG, 2012).

1. Focusing on nonverbal cues: When communicating things one cares about, nonverbal signals are the most important. Body language or nonverbal communication covers the following elements: facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and body movement, tone of voice, posture, breathing and muscle tension. How an individual looks, listens, moves, and reacts to another individual conveys more about his/her feelings than words do (HG, 2012).

1. Checking stress: For effective communication, one must understand and control one's emotions. This entails learning stress management. People under stress are more prone to misreading others, sending off-putting or confusing nonverbal signs, and lapsing into damaging knee-jerk behavioral patterns.

1. Fogging: Instead of arguing back, the aim of fogging is giving calm and minimal responses using placating, yet not defensive, terms, whilst simultaneously not acquiescing and meeting demands. Fogging entails agreeing with possible truths contained in statements, irrespective of whether they are critical or not. Failure to respond in an anticipated way (i.e., by being argumentative or defensive), will make the other individual cease confrontation, since the effect he/she desires isn't occurring (SUN, 2014).