Life Skills

Life skills are behaviors that enable us to adapt and deal effectively

with the demands and challenges of life.

10 Core Life Skills:

Self Awareness - Recognition of the self, our character, our strengths and weaknesses, desires and dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help us to recognize when we are stressed or feel under pressure. It is often a prerequisite to effective communication and interpersonal relations and for developing empathy with others

Empathy - To have a successful relationship with our loved ones and society at large, we need to understand and care about other people’s needs, desires, and feelings. Empathy is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person. Without empathy, our communication with others will amount to one way traffic. Empathy can help us to accept others who may be very different from ourselves. This can improve social interactions, especially in situations of ethnic or cultural diversity.

Critical Thinking - The ability to analyze information and experience in an objective manner. Critical thinking can contribute to healthy interactions by helping us recognize and assess the factors that influence attitudes and behavior, such as values, peer pressure, and the media.

Creative Thinking - Creative thinking is a novel way of seeing or doing things that are characteristic of 4 components: 1) fluency - generating new ideas; 2) flexibility - shifting perspective; 3) Originality - conceiving of something new; and 4) elaboration - building on other ideas.

Decision Making - Helps us to deal constructively with decisions about our lives. It can teach us how to actively make decisions about our actions.

Problem Solving - Helps us to deal constructively with problems that are left unresolved, which can cause mental stress and give rise to accompanying physical strain. It is the process of identifying and resolving conflicts or problems. It involves breaking a problem down into its component parts, thinking about possible solutions, and then choosing the best one. It is an important skill for everyone because it helps us identify and solve problems in our lives, work, and communities.

Effective Communication - Means we are able to express ourselves verbally and non-verbally. This means being able to express opinions and desires, as well as needs and fears. It may also mean being able to ask for advice and help in a time of need.

Interpersonal Relationship - Skills help us to relate in positive ways with the people we interact with more and keep friendly relationships healthy, which can be of great importance to our mental and social well being. It may also mean being able to end relationships constructively.

Coping w/ Stress - Being able to cope with stress is vital. Stress is a natural part of life, but it can be overwhelming unless managed. We can build our resilience by facing and overcoming challenges. Understanding stress is beneficial to creating effecting coping strategies. Breathing techniques are one of the simplest and most effective ways of dealing with stress. Knowing and practicing controlled breathing is a proven way to manage moments of anxiety.

Coping w/ Emotions - Emotions similarly to stress, can be overwhelming. Poor emotional management can lead to mental health problems and negatively impact our relationships. Emotional management strategies start with being able to identify and label emotions. Next, once the emotion is identified, it can be managed through exercise (such as going for a walk), distraction / expression (for example writing in a journal) and improving self-talk (such as using positive affirmations to build self-confidence).