Table of contents
I developed the initial framework from the Co-design workshop, where participants were asked to brainstorm "Important aspects of self-introspection and internal development" and "Things we need to know about ourselves". I carried out secondary research to look at relevant theories about introspection, self-awareness and the other resources within the personal development industry.
While trying to find explanations of Belief and Value, I came across an ethic toolkit:
Immigration Advisors Authority, https://www.iaa.govt.nz/for-advisers/adviser-tools/ethics-toolkit/personal-beliefs-values-attitudes-and-behaviour/
This graph presents the underlying logic of how ethical actions are taken place. The idea of the chain reaction inspired me: nothing in the world is isolated. Our experience, thoughts are all results of something else that happen before our current discoveries. The world itself is a complex, interconnected structure with individual components creating forces that impact each other. We tend to position ourselves as one entity that collides with various "components" in the world, but we forget that we are also a miniature of the world. Ourselves function just as how the world operates. One component impacts another as if a shockwave spreads out its influence.
Each "component" has its seed and fruit, but we often pick out the fruit and question why it is rotten or tastes strange? Then we may look for others' help trying to make the fruit itself healthier again while ignoring its stem and seed. This mode of operation perfectly illustrates the current situation within the personal development industry and how many people fail to grow from it. If we only look at a part of an entity, how are we supposed to know its shape, texture, the size of its wound or the speed of deterioration? How will we fix it, and how will we expand with the best efficiency or highest momentum?
After research synthesis, I came out with the first version of the framework:
Beginning by breaking the introspection process into internal and external, internal refers to our understandings of ourselves and external refers to our understanding of how others view us. The other two sections are known and unknown- what we aware of and unaware of about ourselves.
The chain reaction starts with triggers. They are the influential factors of our character formation, who we are deep inside that cannot be swayed or changed easily (Self Image). An example can be how one's educational background fosters the way one interprets the world.