Cultivating Positive Identities

Personal identity is essential in the human experience. Identity is complex and can be broken down into two main groups: introspective identity, and bodily identity. Introspective identity is based off of the groups, mentalities, or beliefs that you align yourself with, and bodily identity is based off of the physical side of yourself. Whether physical or introspective, your identity impacts every action you take. Whether choices ranging from what colors you prefer to which college you want to attend are primarily based off of your introspective identity, which is a combination of both memory and consciousness, physical identity impacts how others perceive you. Consciousness is mainly the awareness of bodily identity as well as continuous introspective identify, while memory is awareness of introspective identity. These two different facets of identity are imperative in the distinction between bodily identity and introspective identity. In means of personal identity introspective identity (which is evident in memory), is essential, while bodily identity (based partially in consciousness) has less credit.

The artist of Fetishized Identities, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, is a Chicano (Mexican American) performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. Gómez-Peña has created work in multiple media, including performance art, experimental radio, video, and photography and installation art.

“Cultivate Positive Identities.” Laura M. Roberts. How to be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact. Jane E. Dutton and Gretchan M. Sprieitzer. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2014. 54-63.

He offers practical, long lasting, and viable solutions to people experiencing challenges. He shows us how to achieve successful positive thinking using various scenarios as examples. The key element of his teachings involves the combination of positive mental attitude, thinking of possibilities, and embracing the power of positive thinking. This book is important for any research involving positive thinking

In order to be successful at handling people this book states that there are 3 rules to live by; don’t criticize, condemn or complain, give honest as well as sincere appreciation and lastly, arouse in the other person an eager want. Throughout part one of this book the author Dale Carnegie gives many examples through history and his life that these rules are proved to be true due to some of our nations biggest leaders and influences abided by them. Carnegie wisely states that criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s pride, and hurts their sense of importance, which, in time causes resentment toward the person who made the criticism. B.F Skinner conducted an experiment to prove this.

     There are many aspects of identity in the poem “Sex without Love,” by Sharon Olds. I can relate my own thoughts to how the author views the subject that she talks about in this poem. There has been a situation in my own life where I was thinking to myself, just as the author was, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?” (Olds 740). Having been raised as a well-rounded and disciplined person, as well as religious, I know the discouragement of having premarital sex. It’s not just the immorality that these characters are experiencing that the author is talking about, but they probably have personal issues that have to do with a their self worth and identity. These

The common topic of the first article addressed the practice of developing a powerful positive perspective. . Leaders have great influence and the power to create the change they want to see. Therefore, they should surround themselves with positive people and use their voices as leaders to help cultivate a powerful positive perspective.

With a positive start in self-concept, individuals will hold an advantage over their peers as they will not be as susceptible to

Everyone has their own delusions they enjoy being a part of, well, at least for a while. How long can we live them out until we must come to terms with those inner demons? I’ve always told others and myself, honesty is the most valuable asset anyone can have, but then I live out my lie. There have been countless times I’ve put up this act of might, knowing it 's all a ploy to hide something from the rest of the world. It’s comical in a way to look back at all the energy wasted: running from myself. Everyone to a certain extent is afraid of not being accepted and putting those feelings in words seems to be impossible. But, as a Hemingway said, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know”. As tough as it is to admit, I am gay. If I could, I would change in a heartbeat; yet the cold hard truth is that I can only accept it. Hiding my true self from the world made me create a false sense of identity, which has wreaked havoc on my well-being. Like the saying goes, “real eyes, realize, real lies”, it took the eyes of the perfect woman to see through it all.

Nowadays it is not uncommon that almost everyone has at least one profile on some sort of social networking site. The reason? To not feel left out. We post online to share what we are doing and how we are feeling. However, social media has influenced us in ways that were not initially planned. Our identities, the concept of what makes you, yourself. Identities are constantly evolving due to social media. We are posting online to make good impressions on the people who follow us. We snap photos and add filters to make ourselves look and feel better. Maybe someone will comment! What if nobody does? Do I delete it? These are constant questions and concerns that go through peoples’ minds during the time they post content. I know those questions run through my head each time I click the share button. It’s almost like we need validation from others for us to be ourselves. When I post, I wait to see the reaction of others, will they like it? When others post, I am constantly comparing myself to them. We are constantly comparing and evolving. Exactly like our identity. Our lives are increasingly more public now more than ever.

African people have been under oppression for a long period of time. They have been treated like slaves and an image of what it is like to be a beautiful, smart and important person (light skin tone) has been portrayed by the society (especially media) which is exactly opposite of what African people are like. This has resulted in low self-esteem among African people that then causes psychological terror and puts their rich culture at risk. For example, in the movie “ Race and Identity” part 4, girls in Brazil are embarrassed of their natural hair and are ready to sacrifice their uniqueness and follow the societal trend by straitening their hair.

The issue of whether identity is socially constructed or an innate characteristic remains a contested one. For some, identity is a product of the society, interactions, influence, and practices while for others, it is biological or rather primordial. At the very basic, identity is an essential personal characteristics as it encompasses the membership to different groups, including religion, gender, and ethnicity, the traits people show and what others ascribe to them (Newman 126). Identity locates people in the social world and influences all their actions, thoughts, and feelings. Several renowned thinkers and philosophers offer their

Robison, J. (Ed.). (2013, September 11). The Power of Positive Psychology-BUSINESS JOURNAL. Retrieved September 30, 2015, fromhttp://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/1177/power-positive-psychology.aspx

Many people question themselves, what is it exactly that makes them unique? What is it that defines them as a unique person that no one in the world possesses? In philosophy, these questions do not have just one answer, and all answers are correct depending on which theory appeals most and makes sense to you. In general, there are two ways people approach this question, some say that a person’s identity is the “self” that carries all of their experiences, thoughts, memories, and consciousness (ego theorists), and some say that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences and events that a person has been through in their life, these people deny that the “self” exists (bundle theorists). In this paper, I will be arguing that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences, denying the self and the memory criterion.

While childhood seemed like a breeze, my adolescent years were anything but that. Adolescence, the transition between childhood and adulthood beginning with puberty, is a time full of physical and psychological changes both positive and negative. During this time individuals are in search of their identity, a task that can yield a lot of confusion. The question of who am I lingers in the back of adolescent minds and the answer anything but simple. This struggle for an identity and one’s place in society can lead to stress. Through exploration and soul searching, however, one might find their identity. For me, this question seemed impossible to answer, however, I always had a strong desire to fit in and be liked by others. Reading through the different developmental theories in the text, I started to compare them to events in my own life and noticed many significant similarities.