Self-Mastery
A Tribute to St. Marie Eugenie
EDUARDO MORATÓ, JR.
Philippine Copyright, 2007 by EDUARDO MORATÓ, JR.
No portion of this book may be copied or reproduced in books, pamphlets, outlines or notes, whether printed, mimeographed, typewritten, copied in different electronic devices or in any other form, for distribution or sale, without the written permission of the author except brief passages in books, articles, reviews, legal papers, and judicial or other official proceedings with proper citation.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2012 Eduardo A. Morato, Jr.,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0954-2
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Dedication
To my dearest friends,
Six strong-willed and spiritually-rooted women in development and management
Ruth Callanta
Carmen Dawson
Marietta Goco
Gina Lopez
Cecile Manikan
Sylvia Ordonez
May your causes and advocacies reside in the hearts of generations to come.
Introduction To Self Mastery
People dream about what they can become during their lifetimes. People think in terms of their careers, their roles in society, their family, their personal ambitions and their altruistic contributions. The biggest propeller, as well as inhibitor, to achieving life’s personal goals is the person himself or herself. Character, attitudes, values, motivations, capabilities, competencies, will and drive are the vital elements of a person’s mettle. These elements make or break a person in his or her quest for meaning.
It is ironical, therefore, that there is not that much emphasis, either from the school system or from the parents, to grow and nurture a person to achieve Self Mastery.
Parents drive their children to achieve good grades in school, to choose the most promising career, to marry the right spouse and to become somebody in society. However, they seldom guide and accompany their children while they are searching for their true selves. They don’t empathize enough. They don’t listen well. They don’t talk heart to heart. They do not focus on the “spirit” of the child because they are mostly monitoring the child’s explicit behavior and not the child’s inner development. Seldom do the parents bother to find out what their children’s passionate desires and greatest fears are all about. Oftentimes, this is because the parents themselves are too busy providing for the basic needs of the family. Those who are well off are too busy trying to “ensure” the future of their children, when what is important is the total nurturance of the child on a day to day basis.
Schools are more concerned about teaching subjects rather than teaching students. They would like students to learn mathematics, writing, literature, physics, biology, algebra, and accounting. Many teachers focus on transmitting knowledge and assigning exercises which test the memorization of knowledge. Teachers who develop the mathematical, reading, writing and science skills of students often fail to impart how these skills could be relevant to solving life’s problems or seizing life’s wonderful opportunities. That is why many adults, when asked to explain natural phenomena like lightning, global warming and evolution, will answer very much like children do. Their understanding of science has not grown beyond answers vaguely learned while in school.
Teachers tell children what to memorize and quiz them on it but they do not teach children how to memorize better. They teach children to solve quadratic equations but they do not bother to show how these can be productively used in their future careers. They teach names, dates and events in history but they do not challenge students to figure out the significance of the Holocaust, the forcible opening of Japan to the world, the Opium war in China, the storming of the Bastille and many others to the way we live our lives, run our businesses and govern our countries today. Skills are taught in isolation of their many applications, their relevance to our workaday world and their ability to improve our social, political, ecological and technological conditions.
If teachers wanted to teach students rather than subjects, they would concentrate on the growth and development of the students given their multiple intelligences and their intellectual or emotional brain preferences. In fact they would do more mentoring rather than lecturing. They would do more coaching rather than telling. They would prefer discussion learning, interactive games, field trips, computer simulations, reflection papers, case analysis, project experiments and creativity seminars over traditional lecture methods. Teachers would allow students to discover their talents and potentials. They would try to bring out the best from each and every student rather than overemphasize who is the best among them, given certain exams. The competitive spirit is a good thing to activate in the classroom but not to the detriment of the collaborative, cooperative and cohesive spirit. A drive for individual excellence is commendable but not to the extent of sacrificing the building of a strong team and the nurturance of those who are trying to catch up.
Self Mastery is a lifelong endeavor. One never quite masters the self. Opportunities abound, however, every single day to improve the self. Every minute, every second can be a significant learning experience. The learning person should just be constantly mindful that learning is happening every moment. This ever-present state of awareness that the self is undergoing a learning experience already optimizes learning.
There are seven self mastery skills identified by the author that are needed to attain personal excellence. These are: Learning to Think; Learning to Intuit; Learning to Feel; Learning to Do; Learning to Communicate; Learning to Lead; and, Learning to Be. Each of these seven self mastery skills is tackled one by one in the seven chapters of this book. The author’s own thoughts, experiences and insights elucidate the seven learning topics. The personal opinions and research findings of experts in the seven fields further elaborate on the self mastery skills. The book is filled with examples and suggestions on how to hone the seven self mastery skills in order to facilitate learning and to encourage daily personal application.
Dr. Eduardo A. Morató, Jr.
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