Ryculture Health and Social Innovation hosted a Mentorship & Coaching session on the Art of Self Mastery on 26th October 2018 at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) at iPIC Building from 2:00pm.
Guest Speakers were:
Mr. Collins Mutuma – A Mentor and Business Development Strategist with NOPE International Institute. He is the Founder, Arise African Child Foundation and Kwachu Mentorship.
Dr. William Kiarie – An independent consultant focusing on Human Resources for Health, Organizational Development and Strategic Planning in the health sector.
Program Director: Onyango Michael, Managing Director – Ryculture Health and Social Innovation
Delegates performing a dance as an energizer during the session.
The event was attended by 83 delegates most of whom were Bachelor of Pharmacy students in the university.
Scope:
The session covered self awareness and personal development with special interest in;
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Being in terms with oneself
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Determining ones’ purpose in life
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Setting of a goal in life
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Creativity and innovation
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Teamwork; dependence, interdependence and independence
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Pessimism and Optimism
Self-mastery is the ability to comprehend oneself in totality spanning strengths, weaknesses and limits and gauging the same with consideration of ones’ surrounding i.e. embracing reality, acting with integrity, exercising responsibility and having clarity of purpose. Most often we are made to veer from our paths in life and take different course as suits the circumstances under which we live and impede our progress towards realizing our full potential. This is the basis upon which we felt it wise to have a session where young people could engage amongst themselves with guidance from individuals considered to have discovered their purpose and paths in life.
Collins Mutuma being a young person was an ideal guest at this stage as he both understood the audiences’ perspective and view of the next phase in life upon graduation. This is usually a challenging point in life which comes with quarter-life crisis for young people as the anxiety and pressure to be someone in the society is overwhelming with comparable challenges along the way. Most young people fail to plot a course for themselves and for those who do, it takes time for them to do this out of lack of guidance. Mr. Mutuma was bound to tackle issues around this area which he did well.
Dr. Kiarie William having worked with GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational company and resigning to start his own practice on consultancy and a hotelier was in a better position to open up the narrative on employment as most of the young people are keen on employment at a time when the opportunities are limited. Having him as a guest was to shade light for our students to see the prospects of running the different cycles in life with positivity and culminating the life journey by doing what one truly loves.
Our goal was to help the young people become self-conscious and aware, to figure themselves out and discover their passions/purpose in life and work towards giving their best in that pursuit.
Dr. William Kiarie giving his talk after the video presentation.
The tenets for the session were:
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Everything was created for a purpose
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Form defines function
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Lack of knowledge of purpose leads to misuse
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Knowledge of purpose leads to improvement and fulfillment in life.
Collins Mutuma elaborated on the stages of human development as follows:
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Physical Quotient- desire for food, clothing, shelter etc.
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Intelligence Quotient- discovery and cultivation of what one is good at or a career path
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Emotional Quotient – discovery of the need for other human beings, i.e social aspects of life
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Spiritual Quotient – who you are, why you were born, why you suffer, what happens after death
He challenged the audience to figure out at what stage of development they were and whether they had stagnated at a certain stage. He also elucidated the following steps in development;
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Dependence – one needs others to survive and provide for them
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Independence – at this point one realizes the importance of self-reliance and strives to achieve it.
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Interdependence- an often neglected but important step in which one acknowledges that human beings need each other to survive, even though they are independent.
He also shared his life story and what it took for him to overcome difficulties and achieve his goals. This was impactful for the delegates who were looking out for something to look up to and relate with in such a context. At that point, his guidelines for achievement of one’s goals (having a timeline, having purposeful friends) were strengthened.
Dr. Kiarie’s presentation centred on the need to believe in oneself and be confident enough to take a risk of showcasing one’s talent. He projected Steve Harvey’s video on Taking Limits Off God to emphasize the same. Having a dream and believing it is possible to achieve it. He pointed out that most of the innovations we have today started out as dreams, such as the smartphone and aeroplanes. That succeeding despite the odds needs a positive outlook to life. He even gave a test that showed attendees where their personal perspective rested.
Participation from the audience was super and the quality of questions asked showed people’s interest in the subject.
*Refreshments were provided by the JKUAT School of Pharmacy under the stewardship of the Dean, Dr. Alex Kigundu.