Personal Development Plan and Reflection
A personal development plan is a framework for identifying individual weaknesses and strengths by evaluating past experiences and reflections in order to capitalize on future goals (Grit et al., 2016). Since I enrolled for a course in psychology, I have learnt a lot both in class and outside class. In my first year at Middlesex University, I only viewed psychologists merely as counsellors. However, I came to realize that there is more in psychology than just counselling. I have also not been flawless in my study as a psychologist student. Therefore, I intend to be a better psychologist in the future, both as a student and an expert. This paper is a personal development plan and a reflection of my past experiences in the study of Psychology. The Gibbs reflective cycle shall be applied when reflecting on my past experiences. The Gibbs reflective cycle is a reflection model that allows one to make sense of their experiences (Williams et al., 2012).
My description of my most critical experiences in the undertaking of this course concerns the theory of psychodynamics. According to Criswell (2010), the theory of psychodynamics entails the psychological forces behind human behavior, moods, spirits, emotions, and reactions to environmental changes. This theory fits the description of the need for self-awareness. When I first enrolled for “The Counselling relationship” class, I was prepared to learn how to become a counsellor judging from the name of the subject. However, to my amusement, we were taught about self-awareness. I wondered what the relevance for studying self-awareness was while we literally know who we are. Sincerely, I did not see the point of studying self-awareness.
While self-awareness is the understanding of individual personality, I thought otherwise (Morin, 2011). I thought that because I understood my surroundings, my body, and my lifestyle: I was well aware of myself. The truth is I confused self-consciousness with my individuality. I was never in touch with my feelings, I never understood my thinking pattern, and lastly, I was not aware of my behavior at all. These personalities: thinking patterns, feelings, and behavior are critical components of a persons’ individuality (Ugur et al., 2018). They are the elements for self-awareness.
In my evaluation of this experience, I realized how much I did not trust myself, how much I could not relate with my feelings, and that I was not mindful of my individuality at all. This was bad because it also affected the people around me, including my daughter. My failure for self-awareness made me lack compassion for others. I could not even help my daughter whenever she had Down syndrome. According to (Henriques, 2014) self-awareness is essential for good mental health and relations with others; thus, it is a necessary requirement for all psychologists. Every psychologist ought to know their individuality and personality in order to separate their feelings and thoughts while trying to help their clients (Hayes, 2011). The realization of my lack of self-awareness and my confusion of personality for self-consciousness ignited my desire to learn about by behaviors, thinking patterns, and to be mindful of myself and others around me. In a positive sense, I became compassionate to the people around me.
In analyzing my experience above, I established that there is a relationship between mindfulness, self-awareness, compassion, and empathy. Mindfulness can be referred to as the ability to relate to other people with utmost kindness, acceptance, and compassion (Fulton, 2018). As I studied about self-awareness, I realized that I became more and more mindful of my mental health and those of the people around me. Post-self-awareness, each moment I was emotional, I would meditate or sometimes sing together with my daughter as therapy for any emotional experience. Additionally, each moment my daughter was stressed or suffered Down syndrome, the singing would help calm her down. Self-awareness helped me to be more compassionate of others. It changed the way I used to treat my daughter. To date, my relationship with my daughter is better and I can now understand her feelings better than I used to. I am more responsive to her.
Conclusively, I learnt about compassion and its derivation from self-awareness. Through self-awareness, I learnt to be compassionate to myself, my daughter, and other people, including the parents, to other students at the school where my daughter attends. I started to listen to the opinions of other parents and also practiced healthy learning, wherein; I study when I am comfortable and rest in times that I feel tired (Stueber, 2013). In terms of what I would have done differently, it appears that I had a problem with my preparation for “the counselling relationship class.” To curb this act of unpreparedness, I would conduct a preliminary investigation or even read ahead of the lecturer to known what to expect from a “counselling relationship” class. I would have known why self-awareness is an essential part of “the counselling relationship class” and also manage my expectations of that specific class.
In the future, it would be prudent to conduct a background check of the topics in every course and understand the essence of each topic in both theoretical and practical aspects of psychology. I would also tend to live a life full of harmony in the future and enhance the mental wellbeing of the people around me, including my daughter. Living such a life, in harmony, requires self-compassion and personal wellbeing (Thornton, 2011) I also intend to establish a good relationship with others and help them live a harmonious life with their families as well as is the calling in this field of psychology. Lastly, in the future, I would try and maximize my strengths and turn my weaknesses into strengths so as to achieve my medium and long term goals.
On my SMART goals, I intend to practice how to write academic papers efficiently, learn about more psychological theories, and learn how to analyze psychology data using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for the short term. However, in the long term, it is my hope that I will graduate with a minimum of a second class upper division in my undergraduate psychology study. I also plan to secure a relevant industrial exposure in the field of psychology and, lastly, help people in need of counselling and other psychological services within my capacity.
References
Criswell, W. (2010). Psychodynamics. Juvenile Court Judges Journal, 7(1), 29-33. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-6988.1956.tb01735.x
Grit, R., Guit, R., & Sijde, N. (2016). Managing Your Competencies. Routledge.
Williams, K., Woolliams, M., & Spiro, J. (2012). Reflective writing. Palgrave Macmillan.
Morin, A. (2011). Self‐awareness, part 1: Definition, measures, effects, functions, and antecedents. Social and personality psychology compass, 5(10), 807-823.
Uğur, H., Constantinescu, P. M., & Stevens, M. J. (2015). Self-awareness and personal growth: Theory and application of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 15(60), 89-110.
Henriques, G. R. (2014). Psychology defined. Journal of clinical psychology, 60(12), 1207-1221.
Fulton, C. (2018). Self-Compassion as a Mediator of Mindfulness and Compassion for Others. Counseling and Values, 63(1), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1002/cvj.12072
Hayes, N. (2011). Psychology. London: Hodder Education.
Stueber, K. (2013). Empathy. International Encyclopedia of Ethics.
Thornton, L. (2011). Self-compassion: a prescription for wellbeing. Imprint, 58(2), 42-45.