5

Prepared By :- Rajeev (Trainer)

CONTENTS

5 Life Skills Module

1.Introduction of Life Skills

2.Self Awareness
3.Self Esteem
4.Stress Management
5.Emotion

Delhi Wise Center

 1. Introduction to Life Skills

Define Life Skills

These are "the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the

demands and challenges of everyday life". Life Skills can be taught or learned. They enable us deal with the daily

challenges of life:
Categories of Life Skills
•
a) Skills necessary to have a good relationship with yourself: The ability to cope with emotions, Self-
esteem, Assertiveness, Self-awareness and stress
b) Skills necessary to have a good relationship with others: Good social manners, Friendship formation,
Peer resistance skills, Effective communication, Negotiation
c) Skills necessary for making good decisions: Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Decision making
Problem & solving
•
Benefits of Life Skills
a) They help us to focus and pay attention
b) They can help us have a better awareness of ourselves,
c) They help us develop a stable self-image and appreciate ourselves better.
d) They teach us self-control and self-regulation
e) Help us learn how to take care of our bodies
f) Help us learn how to recognize and express our emotions
g) They teach us empathy, being able to take on the perspectives of others
h) They help us learn to communicate effectively
 i) Teach us how to make informed decisions and how to plan our lives (jobs, career, life, future)
j) They help us learn to accept praise and criticism as well as overcome failure
k) They are also helpful in modeling rational (nonviolent) behavior in conflict situations
• Living Values and our Lives
What are values?
Values describe, and provide a means of talking about, what is important to us. They are ideals we hold that give
significance and meaning to our lives and hence they underpin our beliefs, influencing the decisions we make.

• Relationship btwn Life Skills and Values

To be able to express our values in our lives, we need to develop the skills to behave according to our values. Thus
the shift to a more inclusive world view involves not just

• Define Self-description 2. Self Awareness

Self-awareness is an individual’s ability to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own character.
Realising this will enable one to take actions, make choices and take decisions that are consistent with one’s own
abilities.
• Strength and Weakness
a) Recognize the weak and strong sides of one’s own behavior.
b) Recognize the weak and strong sides of one’s own abilities.
c) Differentiate what one can do or cannot do by her/himself.
d) Recognized things which cannot be changed, and accept them (example: height, size of breasts, etc.).
e) Appreciate oneself - people are not alike, and diversity is a good thing.
f) Recognize one’s own unique talents.

• Personal Values,Beliefs,Goals & Ambitions

The value of a human being; where does my value lie? And how do I discover that I have this value?
What is my value and where does my value lie?

a) The human being has a value that is given; and so it cannot be reduced.
b) The human being does not make himself: if I look at my own experience I cannot deny that the greatest
and most profound evidence is that I do not make myself, I do not give myself life, someone greater
 than me gives me this life, and my responsibility with the help of this someone greater than me is to
take care of myself and most of all acknowledge and appreciate my value as a person
c) Since I am “made” there is a source, an origin of my being, I discover that I am dependent on somebody
greater than me.
d) Beliefs: Assumptions and convictions that are held to be true by an individual or a group regarding
events, concepts, people and things. Beliefs are the assumptions we make about ourselves, about others
in the world and about how we expect things to be. Beliefs are about how we think things really are.
Beliefs tend to be deep set and our values stem from our beliefs.

• Challenges that hinders the attainments of Life Goals

a) Lack of information
b) Lack of skill
c) Limiting beliefs
d) Well being
e) Other people
f) Own motivation
g) Time
h) Money
i) Fear
• Strategies of Overcoming Challenges

3. Self Esteem
• Define Self Esteem
Self-esteem is the way an individual feels about her/himself and believes others to feel. It has been described as
the ‘awareness of one’s own value as a unique and special person endowed with various attributes and great
potential’
• Signs of High and Low Self Esteem in a person
A person’s self-esteem can be damaged or enhanced through relationships with others. High self-esteem tends
to encourage and reinforce healthy behavior. Low self-esteem tends to encourage unhealthy behavior.
• Signs of Low Self Esteem
Low self-esteem will affect how you feel, think and act. It can affect your confidence, how you get along with
others, and how you do at work.
• Effects of Low Self Esteem
Low self-esteem can have devastating consequences. It can:
a) create anxiety, stress, loneliness, and increased likelihood of depression
b) cause problems with friendships and romantic relationships
c) seriously impair academic and job performance
d) lead to increased vulnerability to drug and alcohol abuse
• Factors that Enhances High and Low Esteem
Childhood experiences that contribute to High self-esteem include:
a) Being listened to
b) Being spoken to respectfully
c) Getting appropriate attention and affection
d) Having accomplishments be recognized and mistakes or failures be acknowledged and accepted
Childhood experiences that may lead to low self-esteem include:
a) Being harshly criticized
b) Being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused
c) Being ignored, ridiculed, or teased
d) Being expected to be perfect all the time.
• Importance of High Self Esteem
a) You believe you are worthy of happiness, you feel worthy of respect.
b) Is the first step in believing in you, it builds self-confidence?
c) Your self-esteem has a profound effect on your thinking, emotions, happiness, desires, values, and

goals.
d) You can still feel respect and be proud even if you make a mistake.
e) You have a sense of control and direction and approach problems with a different perspective. Allows

you to make correct choices and take action and be proud.

f) You can take new challenges easily and handle criticism.
g) You consider yourself a valuable person and you live for a reason.
• Values associated with High Self Esteem
The more you like yourself, the more confidence you have. The more you like yourself, the more efficient and
effective you are in each area of your life. Self-esteem is the key to peak performance.

Your self-esteem is so important to your emotional health that almost everything you do is aimed at either
increasing your feelings of self-esteem and personal value, or protecting it from being diminished by other
people or circumstances. Self-esteem, the feeling of liking and respecting yourself, is the foundation principle of
success and happiness. It is vital for you to feel fully alive.
• How to boost Self Esteem
a) Get positive
b) Take care of yourself
c) Fight the inner critic
d) Stop comparing yourself
e) Don’t avoid things
f) Making plans
g) Get the help of others

4.Stress Management
• Define Stress
Stress is a feeling from inside that occurs when a person is faced with a situation or problem that the person
perceives as having no means or resources to solve. In other words, there is a gap between the stressful event and
resources available to the person to deal with the stressful event. Stress has a practical element and an emotional
element. For example, someone who has lost a job may be concerned about what to eat, how to pay the rent
(practical) and at the same time they might feel angry or depressed (emotional).
• Couse’s of Stress
There are 2 different levels of stress:
(a)Primary Stressor: It is the initial disturbing experience or event
(e.g. death of a parent, being sexually abused).
(b)Secondary Stressors: They are experienced as a result of the primary stress
(e.g. dropping out of school after the death of a parent)
 • Effects of Stress
Failure to cope or manage stress can lead to the following changes in youth:
a) Loss of control and self-confidence and a feeling of helplessness
b) Some of it may even show as physical illness which can affect the overall wellbeing of young people
• Copping with Stress
a) Respond to situations before they happen through life skills like decision making, problem solving and
daily activities which build confidence and self-esteem (e.g. cooking, doing laundry, being involved in
daily decision-making in the home, etc.).
b) Understanding the Situation and Consequences
c) Inclusion in the Process: Encourage young people to be involved in the process (if moving, in helping to
pack and finding a new school; in the death of a parent in helping to care for the parent to the level to
which he/she feels comfortable; if parents are having another baby, allow older child to help feed the
baby and tell them about it before the baby is born).
d) Encourage young people to come up with solutions to their problems (this should be age appropriate).
e) Good Exercise, Rest and Nutrition: Eat a balanced meal and find time to play, rest and take care of
yourself.
f) Emotional Support and Counseling: Encourage young people to get emotional support by encouraging
them to talk to a counselor about the problem
• Forms of Positive Stress
Good stress: Eustress
Eustress (pronounced YOU-stress) can be fun, exciting and energizing, especially in the short-term. Face a
sudden danger and resolve the situation safely, and you'll get pumped and excited; like when we are racing to
meet an exciting deadline, getting dressed for our wedding, or flying down a ski slope. It keeps our juices flowing.

Just the right amount of stress is stimulating and healthy. We perform tasks faster and better. Our muscles
strengthen. Heart function improves. Stamina increases. Thinking sharpens. Some experts say eustress even
helps our bodies resist infection!
• Values associated with Positive Stress Management
a) Good Health
b) You’re Looks
c) Increased Productivity
 d) Your Happiness
e) Lower Stress levels

5. Emotions
• Define Emotion
The ability to manage or deal effectively with an emotional situation or problem. Emotions such as fear, passion,
anger, jealousy etc. are subjective responses to a situation. They can result in behavior which one might later
regret. Coping with emotions means to be able to recognize them as such and deal with them to make a positive
decision nonetheless.
• Good and Bad Feeling
a) I am angry
b) I am very sad
c) I am happy
d) I feel scared; and/or
e) I feel nervous
• Courses of Good and Bad Feelings
Good and Feelings
a) Doing the things that you always failed to do.
b) Set realistic goal
c) Clean up the mess to feel good about yourself
d) Quick fixes don't work

Bad Feelings
a) Unmet goals and dreams
b) Fears and worries that you never dealt with
c) Carried over guilt
d) Lack of understanding of your real needs
• Meaning of Emotional Intelligence
a) Emotional intelligence represents an ability to validly reason with emotions and to use emotions to
enhance thought.
b) Emotional Intelligence involves: accurately perceive emotions in oneself and others use emotions to
facilitate thinking, understand emotional meanings, and manage emotions
 c) Why is Emotional Intelligence Important results in :Physical Health, Mental Well-Being, Conflict

Resolution, Success in Leadership

• Feelings which can lead to Risky Behavior

The reason teenagers engage in risk-taking behavior is that it's one way to demonstrate to themselves that they
are capable, grown up, and independent from their parents. Feeling Invincible; Being Vulnerable
• Ways of Coping with Negative Emotions
a) Good self-care is the best medicine
b) Know what anger and frustration feels like to you - both in your head and in your body
c) Take a 10 minute walk. This will clear your mind and may save you from losing your temper.
d) Ask, “What am I afraid of?”.
e) Distract yourself