INTRODUCTION TO SELF MASTERY

Self-mastery endeavors to help build the foundations of a well-lived life by strengthening

Self-Mastery

1. Whole Brain Thinking and Learning

The Whole Brain Thinking and Learning explores the fascinating and myriad facets of
the thinking brain, how it is configured, how it learns and how it grows. To fully realize
our human potentials, we must expand our learning horizons to maximize the neural
pathways of our mind. We can learn through our senses and beyond our senses. We
can examine the way we think and improve upon it.

The topic is anchored on the scientific studies of Drs. Roger Sperry, Paul Mclean, Ned
Hermann and Howard Gardner. Finally, it revisits the theories of Carl Jung and the
adaptations of Drs. Myers and Briggs. These men and women unlocked “the beautiful
mind” lodged in each and every one of us for we have been created in “the image and
likeness of God”.

The course probes on our capacity to think using our left and right brain hemispheres,
our triune brain, our quadrant brain, our multiple intelligences and our sixteen
personality types.

2. Learning to Think

The human brain governs all facets of our being: our ability to think, to sense, to intuit,
to feel, to do things and to communicate with one another. It is the most powerful and,
yet, the least understood organ of the human body. It was only in the 1960s when the
work of Nobel laureate, Dr. Roger Sperry, and his colleagues revealed the thinking
dichotomy between the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. Their post-surgical
observations of epileptic patients concluded that the two halves of the brain functioned
differently. The right hemisphere thinks in visual and spatial patterns and grasps the
 whole picture. The left half preferred sequential, logical, verbal and mathematical
thinking and tends to appreciate the parts that compose the whole. Subsequent
experiments by scientists confirmed the findings of Sperry, but they discovered that
both hemispheres can actually learn to think in many ways. There is just a preference
for each half to function in a certain manner. An impaired left or right brain can learn
to take on the qualities of the opposite half.

3. Learning to Intuit

The standard definition of intuition is “to know without the use of reasoning”. Intuition
comes from the Latin word “intueri”, which means “to see within” or “to look upon”. It
is knowing without exactly knowing how you know. Intuition has been defined in many
ways because it comes in many forms. It is the instant recognition of the right answer
to a complex question. It is the discernment of a pattern of human behavior within a
very short span of time and with very little interaction. It is the rapid analysis and
synthesis of facts and figures that would otherwise take long to figure out. It is an
emotional state of certainty that something is very wrong or very right about a situation
or a person. It is a physical sensation or a bodily response to yet unknown internal or
externals stimuli. It is a revelation of the subconscious self to the conscious self during
a period of personal illumination, whether through deep and reverie. It is the
precognition of things to come. It is the stroke of genius that discovers laws of nature,
brilliant musical compositions and creative works of art. It is a spiritual bliss and
enlightenment. More mundanely, it is a hunch, a gut feel.

4. Learning to Feel

Learning to feel is to grow “in wisdom and in grace”. In general, older people become
wiser. They are not wiser because they have gained more intellectual acumen but
because they have learned to tame their emotions in making critical decisions. They
have accumulated more knowledge but this knowledge naturally comes in the context
of human experience wherein relationships and values are always present. Wiser
people are able to make better judgments not solely on the basis of logical reasoning
but, more and more so, because they have gotten a deeper appreciation of human
feelings.

5. Learning to Do

Doing things well can be systematically learned. What needs a lot of systematic doing
is the doing of new projects and programs or the launching of new products or
services. It is the doing of untried things that requires organizations and individuals to
put substantial emphasis on the three phases of doing. These are:
 First Phase – Learning Before Doing
Second Phase – Learning While Doing
Third Phase – Learning After Doing

For endeavors that have been completed and terminated, the third phase of Learning
After Doing would, obviously, suffice. For existing projects, programs or products, the
second and third phases would be relevant. However, for future activities that involve
significant changes in operations, then all three phases should be applied.

6. Learning to Communicate

The art of effective communication flowered in ancient Greece. Politicians and citizens
brought important matters for discussion in the agora or the marketplace. It was in the agora
where democracy flourished. Free and open speech gave the Greeks the gift of the golden
tongue. In their courts of law, the citizens of Greece pleaded their own cases. If they were not
as gifted in their oratory skills, they employed professional speakers trained in rhetoric. Today,
these professional speakers are our modern lawyers, many of whom do not really
communicate as well as they should. They may know the law but many have lost the art of
effective communication.

7. Learning to Lead

There is considerable debate on whether leaders are born or made. For those who
argue that leaders are born, they cite the qualities and traits of leaders that have to do
with their personality and character. Some of these traits seem to be innate, like a
person’s charismatic appeal or ability to assert one’s self and make other people follow
in crisis. They say that these cannot be learned in school. For those who argue that
leaders are made, they believe that a person’s personal circumstances, experiences
and lessons in life are responsible for eliciting leadership qualities and traits. If this is
so, then these circumstances, experiences and lessons in life can be re-created to
evoke “acts of leadership.” If done often enough, these acts can become habitual and
lead to character transformation.

What differentiates leaders from followers is easy enough to describe. Leaders are
outstanding individuals who have the ability to elicit the respect, loyalty, support and
commitment of people. Leadership is not merely about gathering followers, because
people in positions of authority can command their subordinates to obey. Leaders are
heralded because they have higher levels of competency in a particular field of human
endeavor (e.g. leaders in sports, academic institutions, scientific societies). Leaders
can also be hailed if they possess higher levels of moral ascendancy and legitimacy.
 For certain constituencies, these are quite important. Finally, followers praise leaders
who are altruistic and self-sacrificing rather than self-centered to ensure that the
greater good of the group is attained.

8. Learning to Be

Learning to be the best person that you can ever become is a lifetime challenge. The
paradox in this quest is knowing that the better you become, the farther you are from
your best. There are millions of possible you, all promising to be the best you, but the
more you discover a great you, the more the others present themselves. The person
who is continuously discovering a new self is the one who will encounter a plethora of
personal possibilities.