When setting out on a process of personal change it is really important that you take good care of yourself. Part of this might be a decision that it would be unwise or unhelpful to approach anyone that you know for feedback. If you think that this will be your decision then you will be pleased to know that there are alternative ways to include the perspectives that other people can provide. There is a well-established tradition of using different approaches in order to bring in what other people might have to say about us. Perhaps the best known is the ‘empty chair? technique used by gestalt therapy. This involves choosing someone to sit in the ‘empty chair? and imagining what they would have to say to us if they were present. In therapy, this is intended to make up for things that were not discussed in the past, but which should have been. In this context, we are suggesting that you could adapt this technique to imagine what feedback someone you trust would give you. As you are imagining what someone might say you have unlimited scope to decide who your mentor might be. You could, for example, take one of the case study subjects and imagine that they are giving you feedback. Alternatively, you could choose someone for whom you have great respect or affection ? even if you do not know them personally. Of unit, this ‘imagined? feedback may be very different from what Shehnaz, or even someone like Nelson Mandela, might actually say to you. The point is that this technique can help you explore ideas from a perspective that will be different from ones you may usually use. If the idea of imagining what people would say to you sounds second best to actually getting feedback from someone, remember that students who do get this sort of feedback still have to decide how to interpret and make sense of such feedback.
In the previous section you gathered evidence about your qualities, knowledge and skills, and some of the activities asked you to think about the case studies. Hopefully, you now have a clearer idea about your learning. However, it is important to recognise that all these activities have asked you to reflect on yourself.
So other people are important. Later in this unit, we will look at how other people may be involved in helping you achieve personal change. However, this process can start with using other people to help you gather information about your current qualities, knowledge and skills.
The advantage of gathering evidence from other people is that they will have a different view of you from the one you have of yourself. Drawing on this perspective can help enrich how you think about yourself. But there?s a ‘health warning? too. Other people?s opinions can make you feel less confident about yourself and may get in the way of creating a clear picture of your strengths. It is really important to choose someone who you trust to have your best interests at heart. Remember that you have scope on this unit to decide if you would find it impractical or difficult to approach someone directly. If this is the case, you will need to adopt the ‘imagined perspective? technique and imagine what your feedback would be.
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