Personal life - Citizendia

The home often reflects many aspects of one's personal life

Personal life (or everyday life or human existence) is the course of an individual human's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's personal identity. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Identity is an Umbrella term used throughout the Social sciences to describe an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete separate entity It is a common notion in modern existence – although more so in more prosperous parts of the world, such as Western Europe and North America, where there are service industries designed to help people improve their personal lives via counselling or life coaching. Psychotherapy is an Interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living This article refers to the act of coaching people For other uses of the word see Coach (disambiguation Coaching -a definitionProminent

1 Historical view
2 See also
3 References
4 Further reading

Historical view

In the past, before modern technology largely alleviated the problem of economic scarcity, most people spent a large portion of their time simply attempting to stay alive. Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Scarcity (also called paucity) is the problem of Infinite human needs and Wants, in a world of Finite Resources In other Survival skills were necessary for the sake of both self and community; food needed to be harvested and shelters needed to be maintained. Survival skills are techniques a person may utilize for an indefinite duration in order to survive a dangerous situation (also see Bushcraft) There was little privacy in a community, and people were identified by their social role. Jobs were assigned out of necessity rather than personal choice.

Furthermore, individuals in many ancient cultures primarily viewed their self-existence under the aspect of a larger social whole, often one with mythological underpinnings which placed the individual to relation to the cosmos. ^[1] People in such cultures found their identity not through their individual choices — indeed, they may not have been able to conceive a choice which was purely individual. Such individuals, if asked to describe themselves, would speak of the collective of which they were part: the tribe, the Church, the nation.

Even now, survival issues are still dominant in many countries and societies. For example, the continents of Africa and Asia are still largely mired in poverty and third-world conditions, without technology, secure shelter, or reliable food sources. Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life including food clothing shelter and safe Drinking water, and Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically In such places, the concepts of a "personal life," "self-actualization," "personal fulfillment," or "privacy" are largely unaffordable luxuries. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in Psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, which Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively

The notion of a personal life, as now understood, is in part a creation of modern Western society. In the United States, especially, privacy is highly valued. Since the colonial period, Americans have been noted for their individualism and their pursuit of self-definition. Indeed, the two central American documents — the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — explicitly raise the pursuit of happiness and the expectation of privacy to the level of rights. The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. "Life Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. Expectation of privacy is a concept which is crucial in the defining of the scope of the applicability of Privacy laws A subjective expectation of privacy is an A right is a legal or moral Entitlement or Permission. Rights are of vital importance in theories of Justice and deontological ethics

In modern times, many people have come to think of their personal lives as separate from their work (see also Marx's theory of alienation). Marx's theory of alienation ( Entfremdung in German) as expressed in the writings of young Karl Marx, refers to the separation of things that naturally Work and recreation are distinct; one is either on the job or not, and the transition is abrupt. Employees have certain hours they are bound to work, and work during recreational time is rare. This may be related to the continuing specialization of jobs and the demand for increased efficiency, both at work and at home. The common phrase "Work hard, play hard" illustrates this mindset. There is a growing trend, however, toward living more holistically and minimizing such rigid distinctions between work and play.

Life's progression from birth to death is not a mere succession of moments. Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a Human Pregnancy or Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living Organisms It refers both to a specific Many people give definition to their lives by clarifying their life purposes, and separating their actions toward the achievement of these into discrete strands: their "intellectual lives", their "working lives", their "family lives" and their "sex lives". An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason" is a person who tries to use his or her Intelligence and analytical thinking, Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display The religiously inclined may have "spiritual lives" or "religious lives" intertwined with their everyday activities; many also expect an afterlife, which they may see as more important than temporal concerns. Spirituality, in a narrow sense concerns itself with matters of the Spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and Faith, a transcendent reality A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos AfterLife is a film drama set in Scotland directed by Alison Peebles made in 2003 about an ambitious Scottish journalist forced to choose between In the interim, those who can afford to pause and to do so may adopt a lifestyle or assess their quality of life. The term lifestyle was originally coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929 Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people Exceptional lives may, at least in part, find literary reflection in a biography, an autobiography or a memoir. A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" for other uses see Memoir (disambiguation As a literary Genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire Some outstanding lives merit hagiography or a vita. Hagiography ( is the study of Saints. A hagiography, from Greek (hağios (ἅγιος "holy" or "saint" and graphē (γραφή

An individual who is inclined to be introspective may second-guess his or her life choices. Introspection is the self-observation and reporting of Conscious inner Thoughts desires and Sensations It is a conscious mental and usually One may be told by friends and acquaintances to "get a life" - in the sense of promoting fuller participation in socially approved activities, often outside the private sphere. More broadly, certain modern cultures, some defined by state or corporate agencies, encourage individuals to submerge the personal identity in a greater whole: communism or other totalizing ideologies, mass movements, and even sports fandom are manifestations of this phenomenon, though differing vastly in degree. A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral political or social outlook that stresses human Interdependence and the importance of a Collective, rather than Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based In this way, the ancient sensibility, which viewed collective identity as more important than personal identity, is returning to prominence in contemporary life.

References

^ Percy, Walker. In Philosophy, personal identity refers to the essence of a self-conscious person that which makes him or her unique Identity is an Umbrella term used throughout the Social sciences to describe an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete separate entity The human condition encompasses all of the Experience of being Human. Human ecology is an academic discipline that deals with the relationship between Humans and their natural social and created environments Lifeworld (German Lebenswelt may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given a world that subjects may experience together Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in Psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, which The physical quality-of-life index (PQLI is an attempt to measure the Quality of life or well-being of a country Purpose is the Cognitive Awareness in Cause and effect linking for achieving a Goal in a given System, whether Quality time is an informal reference to Time spent with loved ones ( e The expression " work-life balance " was first used in the late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual's work and personal life Personal finance is the application of the principles of Finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" Faith and rationality are two modes of Belief that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility Henri Lefebvre ( 16 June 1901 &ndash 29 June 1991) was a French sociologist, intellectual and Philosopher Michel de Certeau ( Chambéry, 1925- Paris, 9 January 1986) was a French Jesuit and scholar whose work combined Psychoanalysis Walker Percy ( May 28, 1916 &ndash May 10, 1990) was an American Southern author whose interests included Philosophy Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000. pp. 109-112. (see also the discussion of how this contrasts with contemporary life, on the following pages)

Contents

Historical view

See also

References

Further reading