In my book; “Happier”, I write about what I call “The 13 Happiness Factors”.
Self-awareness is one of those and I thought I’d share an excerpt about it in this blog;
If you Google ‘What is self-awareness’, this is what it will tell you:
“Self-awareness is the ability to understand your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and how they influence your actions.
It also involves being aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and how you appear to others.
Here are some benefits of self-awareness:
- Improved relationships: Self-awareness can help you understand how you relate to others, and how your actions may impact them.
- Increased productivity: Self-awareness can help you be more intentional and productive in your life.
- Greater confidence: Self-awareness can help you build confidence and contentment.
- Sense of control: Self-awareness can help you feel more in control of your life.”
All good stuff right?
And that’s just for starters.
Fundamentally, the reason I start with Self-awareness is because many of the other tributaries to your River of Self-Worth can’t – and won’t – flow without self-awareness.
Self-awareness is literally about you being tuned into you.
It’s about being connected to yourself, who you are, what you want and don’t want, etc
It’s about being connected to how you’re feeling, and understanding why you’re feeling that way.
In today’s busy world, it’s all too easy to be disconnected from ourselves.
And with that disconnection, we lose our self-awareness.
We often just switch into auto-pilot and move through life in an almost mechanical way.
Auto-pilot mode serves no-one, especially not ourselves.
Auto-pilot mode is what gets us to a place where we suddenly look back and wonder what the hell happened.
What happened to;
Our dreams.
Our goals.
Our aspirations.
Our big plans.
Our health.
Our sanity.
Our relationships.
Our job.
Our business.
Our career.
Our life!
To state the absolute obvious here, without awareness, nothing can or will change.
Awareness is the starting point.
That’s why it’s first on my list – the first of our tributaries.
In order for anything to change, you must first become aware that things are not how you want them to be.
You must become aware that you want something to change.
In my book, I’ll be sharing with you HOW you can develop your own self-awareness (however good or bad you think it might be right now).
In the meantime, take a few moments to consider these questions;
- How would you describe yourself in three words? Why do you think those words resonate with you?
- What patterns or habits do you notice in your behaviour during stressful situations?
- When do you feel most connected to who you truly are? What are the circumstances or factors?
- What triggers strong emotional reactions for you, and what might those reactions be teaching you about yourself?
- How do you typically make decisions—instinctively, rationally, or emotionally? What does this process say about your self-awareness?
How well-developed do you feel your self-awareness is?
Karolyn
Click HERE to read some of my other blogs
