Blink for self-awareness

A bit behind the times, so please forgive me, but I just finished "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. Good stuff for the arsenal of self-awareness and recognition of the power of our unconscious. What I find most fascinating is the opportunity that it provides those seeking development of their personal leadership style. What better information can we receive than to know that we actually do make immediate judgments in most (all?) situations! Armed with that information...I'm clearly in a WMD mood...one can make a conscious decision on how he/she wants to show up, and adjust accordingly. Now, there may be some absolute, fantastical unconscious that is our current "true-self" -- as evidenced by the work demonstrated by John Gottman that is able to predict divorce with frightening accuracy -- but for the majority of business and personal situations, the awareness of the physical manifestation of our feelings can be used to enable our desired response.

I know, I know...isn't our natural response our true self? I don't think so. We've all been engrained with bias through our experiences and interactions and that betrays our conscious intent. I want to be a better person...that is, not discriminate on any level, judge people or their business intellect by their appearance, etc., etc., but I do it. Recognizing this natural condition, slowing down a bit, looking inward, we can then generate our TRUE self. Who we want to be.

I'm also glad that I'm over 6 feet tall.

Comments

[Kara]

I have struggled with this concept myself...isn't my natural reaction or my emotions...truly me? Upon much thought and some discussion, the conclusion that I am coming to is no, your true self considers all of that stuff.. responds emotionally, makes judgements and then takes action. There fore I do believe you can choose how you show up. Alot of the idea of creating possibilities for your self reflect this thought. The possibility I created for myself and my life is the possibility of being courageous. So I often think how do I need to act or speak in this situation so that I am courageous. I am chosing to be courageous there fore I am courageous.
Hope the ramblings make sense.. Would love to talk to you about my other possibility sometime... living with integrity...talk about a difficult journey.