Self Awareness And Cultural Awareness

As I read through the first section of the book "Helping Skills", I found two things that stood out above the rest. The first was self-awareness and the second was cultural awareness. Self-awareness goes deeper than the surface and explores the beliefs and feelings of oneself. Where cultural awareness is knowing and understanding those around you. Both are extremely beneficial and needed by one another, especially in the process of counseling. As I evaluated myself, I came to the conclusion that self-awareness is at the core of what I need to focus on to become a better helper. If I understand myself and I can understand others and the background they are coming from then I will be better prepared for various situations of therapy. In everyday …show more content…
Culture is made up of anything from age, disabilities, ethnicity, heritage and gender, to origin, and religion. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, culture is defined as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time” When I first thought about culture I thought of all the different countries and origins, but it is so much more specific than that. It could be as simple as the differences between a group of people such as musicians or athletes. I have experienced the separation between the two living on the campus of Arizona Christian University. Acknowledging the differences between the way the athletes see the school, or the way that the musicians see the school and each other. There are few rare cases where an athlete will be a musician, but their life is still substantially different. Given that culture pervades everything we think and do, we need to become aware of who we are and who our clients are culturally and what both parties bring to the helping process.” …show more content…
Being completely open to the opinions and beliefs of others but also standing firm in our own. We aren’t required to conform, but we are asked to listen and try our best to understand where the other person is coming from. We will never become so widely ranged in different cultures that we will reach an end point, but we can aspire to get to that point and continually learn along the way. Everyone’s culture impacts them differently and recognizing the differences will make communicating that much easier. God works in incredible ways and even in the simplest of things he can use us to impact his