INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SKILLS

 WHAT ARE SKILLS?

A skill is the ability to perform a task or activity effectively and efficiently, often developed through training, practice, or experience. Skills can be physical (like swimming), mental (like problem-solving), or interpersonal (like communication) . Hence, the qualities that individuals can develop to lead a successful life are known as life skills.

WHAT ARE LIFE SKILLS?

World Health Organization defines Life Skills as “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individualsto deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”.Here ‘adaptive’ means that a person is flexible in approach and is able to adjust in different circumstances and ‘positive behaviour’ implies that a person is forward looking and even in challenging situations, can find a ray of hope.

CORE LIFE SKILLS

1. Social Skills: Self-Awareness, Empathy, Effective Communication, Interpersonal Relationships
2. Thinking Skills: Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Problem Solving
3. Emotional Skills: Coping With Stress, Coping with Emotions

1. SOCIAL SKILLS

Self-Awareness focuses on valuing oneself, including our personality, attributes, tastes and distastes. By developing attributes like self-awareness, we will be able to comprehend the amount of stress or pressure a person is in. It is important to develop self-awareness to eventually develop empathy, effective communication, and interpersonal relationships.

Empathy is one of the major tools needed to form a positive relationship among our loved ones and our society. The value of imagining one’s life from their perspective can be learned by empathy. Empathy is important because it improves our communication with others and can help us understand and accept others better. Empathy can also drastically improve social interactions, especially between multicultural individuals and societies.

Interpersonal relationships help us to relate in positive ways while interacting with people and being able to make and keep friendly relationships that are of great importance for our mental and social well-being. It may mean maintaining good relations with family members who are the most important source of social support. It may also mean an ability to end relationships constructively.

Effective Communication means that we are able to express ourselves, both verbally and non-verbally, in ways that are appropriate to our cultures and situations. This means being able to express opinions and desires, and also needs and fears. And, it would also mean being able to ask for advice and help in time of need.

THINKING SKILLS

Critical Thinking is the ability to analyse and interpret information in a systematic manner. Critical thinking is highly responsible for influencing and recognising behaviour that can be used to lead a well-balanced life.

Creative Thinking is a novel way of seeing or doing things that is characteristic of four components-fluency (generating new ideas), flexibility (shifting perspective easily), originality (conceiving of something new), and elaboration (building on others’ ideas).

Decision-making helps us to deal constructively with decisions about our lives. It teaches people how to make decisions about their actions in relation to a healthy assessment of different options and what effects these different decisions are likely to have.

Problem-solving helps us to deal constructively with problems in our lives. Significant problems that are left unresolved can cause mental stress and give rise to accompanying physical strain.

EMOTIONAL SKILLS

Coping with Stress means recognizing the sources of stress in our lives, recognizing how they affect us, and how we acting a way that helps us control our levels of stress by changing our environment or lifestyle, and learning how to relax.

Coping with Emotions means recognizing emotions within us and others, being aware of how emotions influence behaviour, and being able to respond to emotions appropriately. Intense emotions like anger or sadness can have negative effects on our health if we don’t respond to them appropriately.

WHY LIFE SKILLS?

Life skills are a set of important tools to ensure that an individual leads a fruitful life. This set of tools can be used by everyone across all age groups, especially by adolescents because of their vulnerability to health problems.

HOW TO DEVELOP LIFE SKILLS

Developing Life Skills is a life-long process that helps individuals grow and mature; build confidence in their decisions taken on the basis of adequate information and thought, and discover sources of strength within and outside. It is noteworthy that, from times immemorial, every culture and society has invested in educating and empowering its younger generation to lead fulfilling and responsible lives. For example, the ‘Panchatantra’ stories from India have very important lessons in Life Skills enhancement that remain relevant to all generations.

References: 
1. American India Foundation. (2018). Handbook of activities on life skills

2. Hanbury, C. (2008). The life skills handbook. Erişim Tarihi, 10, 2016.