The following is a four-step process that continues
throughout life: constructing
perceptions of yourself, accepting these perceptions, undertaking these
perceptions based on new information.
Constructing Mental Pictures
Actively taking charge of your psychological health begins
with constructing a mental picture of what you’re like. Use the most recent and accurate information
you have about yourself-what is important to you, your values, and your
abilities. To construct this mental
picture, set aside a period of uninterrupted quiet time for reflection.
Before proceeding to the second step, you also need to
construct mental pictures about yourself in relation to other people and material objects; including your residence and
college or work environment, to clarify these relationships.
For example, after graduating from college with a degree in
fine arts, Allison moved to a large city to become a jewelry designer. Two years later, her small business was
thriving and she was living in a spacious loft apartment with room for her
studio. Still, Allison felt that
something was missing. She constructed a
mental picture in which she saw herself as a resourceful, creative, independent
person who was comfortable in her new surroundings. However, Allison realized that she wanted a
partner to share her success and her life.
Accepting Mental Pictures
The second step of the plan involves an acceptance of these perceptions.
This implies a willingness to honor the truthfulness of the perceptions
you have formed about yourself and other people. For example, Allison acknowledges her
professional success and her artistic ability, and she also accepts that she
has been unable to establish a satisfying long-term romantic relationship.
Emotional development is rarely a passive process. You must be willing to be introspective (inwardly reflective) about yourself and the world around you.
Undertaking New
Experiences
The next step of the plan is to test your newly formed
perceptions. This testing is accomplished
by undertaking a new experience or by reexperiencing something in a different
way.
New experiences do not necessarily require high levels of
risk, foreign travel, or money. They may
be no more “new” than deciding to move from the dorm into an apartment, to
change from one shift at work to another, or to pursue new friendships. The experience itself is not the goal;
rather, it’s a means of collecting information about yourself, others, and the
objects that form your material world.
For instance, Allison volunteered to teach art therapy
classes to chronically ill patients at a local hospital. This work was enjoyable and fulfilling for
her, and she formed friendships with a few of the other hospital
volunteers. Allison also met and began
dating Mark, a staff physical therapist.
Reframing Mental Pictures
When you have completed the first three steps in the plan,
the new information about yourself, others, and objects becomes the most
current source of information.
Regardless of the type of new experience you have undertaken and its
outcome, you now in a position to modify the initial perceptions constructed
during the first step. Then you will
have new insights, knowledge, and perspectives.
Allison reframed her mental picture in light of
the changes that had taken place in her life.
Her volunteer work gave her a renewed appreciation for art. Also, she now say herself as part of a circle
of friends and a partner in a long-term relationship with Mark. With her proactive approach to life, Allison
had created challenges for herself that allowed her to change and grow.
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