What is self-awareness?
Self-awareness is from the ancient Greek Aphorism “know thyself”.
Us as humans have two worlds – an outer world and an inner world. Our outer world is a mirror of our inner world. Since everything starts in our inner world, self-awareness is us monitoring our inner world; our thoughts, experiences, emotions, abilities and beliefs.
Our minds are conditioned as we grew up from childhood to an adult. We are influenced by many people and situations and our minds are skilful in storing this information. Self-awareness allows us to be conscious of this conditioning of the mind and frees the mind from this conditioning.
The importance of self – awareness
Human beings are mostly unaware of what is going on around them, especially in the times we are currently living in. Most people are looking at their phones – social media feeds, etc. and we are not present to observe; not only ourselves, but also what’s going on inside and around us. Studies has found that most people operate most of the time on “autopilot”. We are unconscious of what we are doing as our minds wonder all over the place instead of just being present ‘here and now’.
Self – awareness can help us look at ourselves and others objectively by being non-judgemental.
The more self-aware and present we become, the more we will accept not only ourselves for who we are but also others too. Self-awareness can also help us understand our strengths and weaknesses. When we master being self-aware, we will understand all the chatter that happens in our minds (our inner voice) and can put it into proper perspective.
For us to transform who we are, we first need to be aware of who we are – and in order to archive this, we need to practice self – awareness.
Ways to improve your self – awareness
- Allocate a space and set a time daily for you to spend time with yourself – preferably first thing in the morning for 15 – 30 mins or just before bedtime. There must be no distractions and most importantly, stay away from all digital distractions. Spend some time with yourself and enjoy your own company…you may be surprised and find out how awesome you are! Just spend this time being present; you may read, write or just connect with yourself.
- Keep a journal. Writing helps us process our thoughts and helps us feel at peace with ourselves. You can write about anything; your day, your thoughts, your actions, etc. I prefer to write about being grateful. I have a gratitude journal. We always focus and complain about the things we don’t have and we forget about all the blessings we do have. We have so many simple things that we are not grateful for and that we tend to take for granted.
Here are two examples:
• “I am grateful for having clean running water”
• “I am grateful for the warm bed I sleep in every night”
The more grateful we are, the more we will have to be grateful for – I heard this saying somewhere (just can’t remember where) and it is the perfect way to start your day. - Practice mindfulness because mindfulness is the absolute key required to self-awareness. Being mindful means paying attention to everything we do and say (inner and outer). Being present in the moment and living on purpose. Most people are 100% present when they watch and follow a movie. All their concentration is used at that moment on the movie…there is not even chatter in their minds and all they are concentrating on is being at the edge of their seats and the movie they are watching. Now if we can take this state into our everyday lives, we would be surprised how we would improve, not only the quality of our lives, but also the quality of the people we share our lives with. We can practise mindfulness any time of the day just by practising mindful listening, walking, running, eating, etc.
- Be a good listener. Listening is also about being present and paying attention to other people. Listen to their tone, emotions and language and also watch their body movement. By being a good listener, you would never judge and will always understand. Most of us listen to respond and we do not wait to first understand what is being said before responding. When we become good listeners, not only will we understand others and improve our self-awareness, we will also be better listeners to the voice in our own heads.
People that are self-aware are always looking at educating and bettering themselves. They all would have gone on a journey of self-discovery. Most humans that practise self – awareness and master it, are happy humans and are more accepting of themselves and others.
Before we can transform ourselves, we must first understand ourselves.
The more we practise and work on our self-awareness, the better we will get at it.
Good luck on your journey to self-discovery through the practice of self-awareness!
Regards,
If you enjoyed my post and would like to explore this (or any other practice further) then please feel free to contact me on:
fabian@ctrl-alt-renewlifecoaching.com
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