3. SESSION – Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

(based on The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden)

Welcome to your third session of Personal Growth module, online version.

Objectives:

1. To develop mindfulness, self-acceptance, assertiveness, sense of responsibility and purpose.

2. to show the value of being honest towards oneself and others.

3. to build Participants’ self-esteem by making them realise how much depends on them.

Learning outcomes:

After this session, Mothers will become aware of  how much being assertive helps them be in control of their life. They will appreciate the importance of being in harmony with themselves and of being in control of their  life. 

Scenario:

The participants answer/discuss the following questions. 

Tip to the trainer: in order to keep the focus, each question should appear on the screen separately, you or one of the participants read it aloud.  It is up to you whether to refer to the terms of the Pillars at the beginning, or only after the questions referring to them are discussed, The order of the questions asked should be as given below.:

Pillar One: Living Consciously

  1. How much do you think about what is happening now, not about what happened or what will/may happen?

  2. What have you noticed about yourself and the people/world around you since you got up today morning?

Pillar Two: Self-Acceptance

  1. You are worth it!  What do you like about yourself and why do you think you deserve your own love and respect?

  2. We are all not perfect.  What imperfections should you accept about yourself and which of them could you try to fight with?

Pillar Three: Self-Responsibility

  1. Do you accept responsibility for what you do and what you decide?

  2. If something goes wrong, do you look for reasons in yourself or you  blame the others?

Pillar Four:  Self-Assertiveness

  1. Do you tell other people clearly when you disagree with them or don’t accept something, or rather you stay silent?

  2. Could you say about a situation when you stood up for yourself, said: „No, I won’t do this!”?

Pillar Five: Living Purposefully

  1. Do you set goals for yourself every day?   

  2. What are your goals for today? 

For the coming week?  

For the year ahead? 

For you life?

Pillar Six: Personal Integrity

  1.  Are you always honest with yourself?  

  2. How important do you think it is to be honest  with yourself and with other people?

Then, the participants do the following activity:

For a few minutes consider a feeling or emotion that you do not easily deal with, e.g. anger, humiliation, fear. Once you choose the feeling, focus on it and see it as closely as possible. Then try to breathe in through the nose and then breathe out through the mouth, followed by breathing in through the mouth and breathing out through the nose.  Repeat this ten times, trying not to judge the feeling but fully accept it. Say to yourself: I feel (name this feeling) and fully accept it. At first it may be difficult, but focus on your breath and try to relax your muscles.

Homework: a) prepare your speech for 3 minutes- one  situation in my life that changed everything for the better