The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program

You are now ready to begin Step 1.
Step 1: Increasing awareness of how you typically experience
and express your 'Self' in daily life
Reflect. What is it like to be me? How would I characterize
the kind of person I am as I go about my normal daily activities --
what kind of person do I present to the world? What kind of
person do I perceive myself to be?
In this first step, quietly reflect on what it is like to be you while
traveling your high-speed "super-highway" in daily life. How would
you describe yourself when you are on "automatic pilot" or "cruise
control"? (In a later step you will be listing these attributes/qualities on
your Worksheet.) Reflect on the past week. It is easier to identify
components of the "super-highway" you take in daily life if you reflect
on a specific period of time. By reflecting on the week prior to beginning
the 3-S program you can identify patterns that occur across a variety of
roles and activities (for example, you might find that you are "a worrier"
or a "perfectionist" regardless of whether you are alone, or at work, or
with family and friends). By reflecting on the week prior to beginning
the 3-S program, you will also have a point of reference from which to
subsequently examine any changes you make.
Rehearse (visualization). It is often easier to characterize other
people than to characterize ourselves, so in order to gain the necessary
psychological distance, imagine that you are seeing an image projected
on a movie or TV screen. You see an actor playing the role of YOU as
you typically were last week when going about your daily activities,
thinking, feeling, and behaving in the way you typically thought, felt,
and behaved last week. In general, what kind of person do you see
projected on the screen? What overall impression is the actor making.
Consider what the actor would need to look like, sound like, behave
like, to play the role of YOU as you were last week? Is the actor smiling?
frowning? Do you see a person who is calm, happy, compassionate? Or,
do you see a person who is anxious, sad, selfish? How does this person
respond to the environment (to other people, places, things)? When the
actor speaks, notice the tone of voice, the use of certain repetitive
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