I M Rothmann Consultancy

Blog #4

IDENTITY EDUCATION
One goal of identity education must be to help people understand how they have acquired their current self-image and to appreciate their own unique position and value even when others do not.

If people can gain an understanding of how they can build and support their own values, it will help significantly in the primary prevention in terms of feeling community and belonging.

-When you feel safe and comfortable, it is easier to be curious and open in the relationship with others, which makes it easier to create good relationships.

This understanding supports prevention work in relation to many personal and interpersonal problems.

It is natural that people want to be accepted, but if the view of yourself depends too much on how others rate you, it will be very difficult to act independently, to resist peer pressure, to take risks, to defend a position and especially to deal with criticism and rejection.

The work with identity is therefore at the heart of healthy growth and development and will contribute to many areas of people's lives.

-Marianne

Blog #3

SELF-ESTEEM
Self-esteem is a concept used to convey the positive action you have for yourself.

It is based on your assessment of your own value and significance.

Self-esteem is essential for everyone regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Today, there are very many people with poor self-esteem who consciously or unconsciously do not think they are good enough or deserve to be well, which makes it more difficult to perceive the environment as friendly and accepting.

Self-esteem is affected by the interaction with others.

It reflects the messages received and is received about itself from "significant others" whether these messages are explicit or implicit, verbal or non-verbal, valid or invalid.

It is important to realize that people tend to accept without a doubt most of what they learn about themselves.

Most of the time, one cannot distinguish between valid and invalid criticism and many people first believe in the negative messages they receive.

Developing self-esteem begins with self-reflection and self-awareness.

Self-reflection is a process of communicating internally with oneself.

You take time to think about your own character and behavior in order to be able to talk to yourself about your actions and experiences.
This provides an opportunity to develop an awareness of their own way of working.

Self-awareness is an understanding of one's own personality or individuality.

You consciously know and understand your own character, feelings, motives and desires to perceive ourselves as unique and separate individuals.
This provides an opportunity to build on our strengths and make positive changes.

Reflection and Awareness give us a basic sense of how we value ourselves.

This is what we call SELF-ESTEEM

It affects WHO WE ARE - our IDENTITY.

-Marianne

Blog #2

'US' vs.'THEM'

Living in a multicultural society contributes to misconceptions and misunderstandings of ideologies by all members involved in these environments.

Incoming people can feel confused concerning the different cultural values, norms, and beliefs that they are exposed to in the new and foreign environment.

Members of the host nation can feel fearful of the new and unknown ideologies that are brought into their space; ideologies that can potentially jeopardize their own original cultural heritage.

These conflicting differences can create environments filled with discrimination and even hatred, which contributes to the compromising of both individual and collective identities on either side.

A discrimination that can intensify society’s categorization of its members and perpetuate the dichotomy of 'us' and 'them'.

Ultimately, how people comprehend and function in their environment will depend on how they understand themselves individually and collectively.

Thus, creating positive and productive education and dialogue is essential for all members of a society to engage in, in order to uphold societal harmony and to not perpetuate the dichotomy of 'us' and 'them'.

-Marianne

Blog #1

IDENTITY
We all strive to make sense of WHO WE ARE in the particular world in which we live.

However, currently, it is getting more and more difficult for us to understand ourselves due to the environments in which we live.

Much of this difficulty is contributed to the fact that we are more often than not living in environments where we are intermixing with multiple diverse people and groups.

People and groups we do not always understand.

When we do not understand our environment, our identity is being compromised because where we live contributes to the qualities, beliefs, personality, and the overall appearance that creates the understanding of our self-image, self-esteem, and individuality.

Therefore, as we strive to make sense of WHO WE ARE, it is necessary to both individually and collectively take into consideration where we come from, where we are now, and where we want to be in the future.

-Marianne