Helen Keller Her Self Awareness example essay topic

Michelle Eels The Road to Self- Awareness According to Miriam-Webster's dictionary the definition of self-awareness is an awareness of ones own personality or individuality. "The top level of consciousness is self-awareness, cognizance that personally experienced events have an autobiographical character" (Zimbardo Phillip, Gerrig Richard, Psychology and Life (188) ). My earliest memory is of me waking up and seeing that my mom was still sleeping from our nap. I was about two years old. Outside I heard some girls playing, and I wanted to join them. I got out of bed, and went to the front door opened it and walked outside.

I spotted the girls and took off after them. I did not think about the fact that if my mom woke up she would be worried about me not being there. I just assumed she would know. In my mind we were one, she would know at all times where I would be. Boy was I mistaken.

The girls that I had been playing with took me home after I had fallen and injured myself. By that time my father was home, the police had been called, and my mother was a hysterical mess. I remember this very clearly, because I could not understand why she didn't know where to find me. We were one weren't we? Helen Keller stated, "When I learned the meanings of "I" and "Me" I found that I was something" (220). I learned that I was a separate individual.

I knew that physically I was my own person, but emotionally I was not self-aware yet, not until that moment. When I saw my mother crying thinking I was lost, I understood the consequences of my actions. I would like to say, in that moment I understood fully that I was a separate individual, but it took many years to become fully conscious of that fact. Helen Keller stated "Our impressions grow and change unnoticed, so that what we suppose we thought as children maybe quite different from what we actually experienced in our childhood". (221). To define the exact moment that we become self-aware is a next to impossible task.

Self-Awareness is a gradual process, as we grow we learn that we are autonomous to our parents. Through the years we learn that we are individuals, the influences our parents have on us grows weaker. We might learn right from wrong and the consequences of our actions. However this might not be a conscious thought at a young age. We do realize at a young age that if we behave in a positive manner then we will be rewarded with positive feedback, this leads to understanding our actions cause a reaction. Building our self-awareness and individualism.

Now that I am a mother, I see the changes that my children are going through every day. They have gone from being completely dependent on me as babies, to becoming more independent as little ones. Does this mean; I am watching them become self-aware? I am not sure.

Do they know that they are becoming more independent and at what age will this occur? One thing I feel is that the self-awareness cycle is a sub conscious continuum, and never changing except for the age at which it occurs. For Helen Keller her self-awareness did not come about through what we think are conventional means, by the time a child is six years of age, most know that they are individuals, with thoughts and feelings of their own. It wasn't until Anne Sullivan came into Helen's life and freed her from her "no-world" (219) did she realize that she was a person with feelings and thoughts. Her self-awareness was awakened.

She had at last found her identity (221). What an awesome experience that was for her. To be able to point out the exact moment in her life when she became aware that she was a person with thoughts, feelings and ideas. Not many of us can lay claim to that fact. In conclusion unlike Helen Keller whose self-awareness and identity was not realized until meeting Anne Sullivan and then sort of all at once.

Mine came to me gradually and through no specific thought process other than living life as a "normal child". I believe my self-awareness started to develop around the age of two with the scare I gave my mother and father. I became aware of my self-identity only after I grew older and more educated. Even now as an adult I am discovering more about myself that I never knew I was capable of, maybe self-awareness is a continuous process that lasts through our whole existence. Zimbardo, Phillip G., Gerrig, Richard J. - Psychology and Life 15th Edition. The Road to Self-Awareness Zimbardo, Phillip G., Gerrig, Richard J. - Psychology and Life 15th Edition.