Understanding Self Perception

Self perception refers to how you think and feel about yourself. Generally, this is based on your own thoughts and feelings, as well as how you act upon them. For example, you may see an injured animal and feel sympathy for it, decide to help it and think ‘I’m a good person’. Or perhaps you make a mistake at work, feel upset about it and find it hard to get through your workload that day. This scenario might cause you to think that you’re a bad employee.

How you perceive yourself has a knock-on effect. It alters how you behave and how well you perform, this is why negative self perception can be so damaging. It doesn’t just make you feel bad, it can stop you from achieving all that you’re capable of!

Is Reality Not Fixed?

Many people mistakenly assume that perception is fixed and that the way in which they understand and relate to the world is the same as how others experience it. This is far from the truth and this concept relates to much more than self perception.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there have been numerous cases in which colour blind individuals discovered their impairment by accident. One story tells of a man wearing odd socks, one red and one green, he did not perceive this difference until it was pointed out to him. How he understood and related to the world was very different to how others did, yet he was entirely unaware.

Prosopagnosia, from Greek words for ‘face’ and ‘non-knowledge’, is sometimes referred to as ‘face blindness’. It is a condition in which an individual is unable to meaningfully grasp or recall the faces of others. The colloquial term is a misnomer as it has nothing to do with a malfunction of the visual sense. It is a problem related to how the brain receives or possibly stores this information.

Much like colour blindness, evidence suggests that some individuals are entirely unaware that their perception of the world differs from the norm. One such account details a woman shopping for new clothes, she sees another person close by her, who is also standing still. It’s not until she begins to move that she finds this stranger is moving in sync with her. She then realises that it is her reflection in a mirror – she was unable to distinguish between herself and a total stranger.

These examples illustrate how we can have the same experience, yet perceive it entirely differently. The same applies to self perception.

Self Perception Vs How Others Perceive You

Now we understand that we may relate to the world in a completely different way to others, without even being aware, it is easy to see how your self perception may be totally different to how others think of you.

That one time that you stayed late to help a colleague out may be the key interaction that they remember you by, meaning that they see you as a kind and hardworking person. Whereas that deadline you missed might be more present in your mind, making you think of yourself as lazy or inept.

Dr Jan’s BrainTuning System® helps you to change your self perception, encouraging you to focus on positive factors.

Why Is This Important?

As we mentioned earlier, negative self perception can impede your performance in all areas, as well as generally making you feel bad. You can get caught up in a vicious cycle of poor self-esteem, leading to poor performance, which lowers your self-esteem even further. But the cycle can be broken.

Let Dr Jan stop this system of thoughts in its tracks!

Learn More And Get Booked In

To find out more about how we can help you, head over to our website. You can also book your 20-minute complimentary discovery call – this first step will help Dr Jan get to know you, your goals and assess how he can improve your life.

If you would like to learn more about us you can follow our Instagram, and Facebook or watch our YouTube videos.