Consciousness of Self

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

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When you possess a high level of self-awareness you’re able to step outside your comfort zone more easily because you understand your strengths and abilities as well as your areas for improvement. The reason so many people have a difficult time with change is that they only know how to do things one way and don’t realize that there may be other equally or more viable options available to them. Here are some tips to build your self-awareness and move in a positive direction:

  • Recognize that you’re uncomfortable.
  • Remind yourself that you can handle anything.
  • Remind yourself that you have options.
  • Make a list of positive alternatives to what you are doing right now.
  • Pick one of the alternatives and start working on it.
  • Practice your new approach until you get good at it.
  • If you run into another wall, repeat the process.

Discomfort often comes from not realizing that there are many other opportunities available to you. The next time you feel like you can’t do something or it’s too daunting, take a deep breath and deliberately walk yourself through this process instead of doing what you’ve always done. What will you do to begin consciously stepping outside your comfort zone?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships

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Have you ever had a relationship that isn’t going well and you have no idea how to improve it? Do you have a pattern of relationships that are permeated with discomfort and conflict?

In order to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships, it is vital to to start building up your ability to deal with and manage your own emotions, as well as how you relate to other people’s emotions. Here are some examples of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships:

  • One person gets angry and the other person recognizes that there is an emotion under there and simply listens to the other person talk about it.
  • Something stressful is happening in the relationship and both individuals are able to identify their emotions and use them to improve the situation.
  • An emotion comes up and the other person doesn’t feel threatened and doesn’t react or fight back.
  • Both individuals in the relationship are comfortable with their own emotions and each others’.
  • Both individuals have empathy for the other.
  • Both individuals are able to reason and problem solve because they can manage their own emotions.
  • The relationship has a natural, calm, safe, healthy feeling.

Imagine how you would feel if the examples above were a part of your relationships. How many of these things do you currently do? Most people don’t have relationships like this because they haven’t learned how build self-awareness and use their emotions positively. Here are some ideas on how to start being self-aware, comfortable with your and other people’s emotions, and create more enjoyable relationships:

  • Learn to identify and name the emotion you’re feeling, and do the same for other people.
  • Shift from seeing your emotions as a threat or something to be avoided and start feeling them and using them to move in a positive direction.
  • Learn how to experience your emotions and see them as a normal part of life.
  • Learn how to deal with and manage your emotions so you can make positive decisions.
  • Stop reacting to other people, let them experience their emotions without getting in the way or making it about you.
  • Stop thinking that other people are trying to harm you with their emotions.
  • Learn how to just observe and listen when other people are experiencing an emotion. Ask open-ended questions like, “What are you feeling?” or “What’s going on?” and just be there for them.

The key to building self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships is to practice feeling what’s going on inside you, be there for the other person when he/she is feeling something, and then using your self-awareness and emotions to take action in a positive manner. This process requires practice but, over time, you’ll enjoy much deeper, stronger, happier relationships.

What will you do to increase the self-awareness and emotional intelligence in your relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

Choosing Safety or Self-Awareness and Courage - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Choosing Safety or Self-Awareness and Courage

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Do you choose safety in life or self-awareness and courage? Your decision will have a major impact on how your life will unfold.

A lot of wonderful people don’t pursue their dreams because they’d rather feel safe than experience heartache and setbacks. Sticking your neck out and showing the world your talent, no matter what happens, is one of the most difficult things for anyone to do. It takes an amazing amount of self-awareness and courage to be who you really are and share it confidently with everyone, including critics and detractors.

If you live for safety you’ll always take the route that leads to maintaining a feeling of being comfortable, and that’s rarely a creative or fulfilling path. If you’re actively striving to make your dreams come true, you know that it can be challenging but at least you’re proving that you have the courage to keep moving forward regardless of what anyone says or any obstacle that presents itself.

The difference between safety and courage is that playing it safe keeps you stuck and unhappy, often for a lifetime. Thankfully, you can always choose to build up your self-awareness, understand your strengths and areas for improvement, and take action each day to make your dreams come true. What will you do to choose self-awareness and courage instead of safety?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Looking Inside Yourself - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Means Looking Inside Yourself

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Self-awareness means looking inside yourself rather than relying on outside influences, entities, or events to make you happy in life. Countless people spend inordinate amounts of time living based on what some outside person or entity tells them to do, or reacting to whatever circumstance they find themselves in, rather than charting a course based on who they are deep inside and what they find meaningful and fulfilling. The key to being truly happy in life is being able to look inside yourself and:

  • Define who you really are.
  • Discover your true inner voice.
  • Determine what you really want to do in life.
  • Figure out what you need to do to live authentically.

When you do these things you’ll live life based on what’s inside you rather than always reacting to outside people and situations. It’s up to you whether you live life consciously or passively. What will you do to look inside yourself?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Quotes - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Quotes

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Here are a few quotes about self-awareness from some wise people:

Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.
Abraham Maslow

Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love not what you are, but what you may become.
Cervantes

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
Aldous Huxley

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl Jung

You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself.
Beryl Markham

In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.
John Gottman

You’re cordially invited to browse this site to learn more about self-awareness.

Cheers,

Guy

A Practical Definition of Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

A Practical Definition of Self-Awareness

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Here is a practical definition of self-awareness: The process of gaining understanding of who you are and how your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors affect you and others.

A lot of people think that self-awareness is something negative or scary that will force them to face things they don’t want to. That perspective in itself indicates a lack of understanding of how important it is to be able to look at yourself so you can live consciously instead of repeating the mistakes of the past.

Proactive, forward-thinking people use self-awareness as a tool to treat themselves and others well rather than living in perpetual inner and outer discomfort or conflict. Remember, life is so much more enjoyable and fulfilling when you experience it wide awake.

Cheers,

Guy

When You Feel Like Giving up, Use Self-Awareness to Keep Moving Forward - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

When You Feel Like Giving up, Use Self-Awareness to Keep Moving Forward

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It’s natural to sometimes feel like giving up. When it happens, you can use self-awareness to keep moving forward. Self-awareness helps you stay positive because, when you understand who you are deep inside, including your strengths and areas for improvement, you’re better able to keep striving to succeed.

One of the most important elements of getting to know yourself is the idea of not giving up. A lot of people embark on a self-awareness journey only to find that it’s more difficult than they anticipated. It’s hard to create change in your life because modifying your behavior requires long-term commitment and practice. It’s not a quick fix.

The key to gradually building self-awareness is to keep trying even when you think it’s not making a difference.

There will be plenty of times when you feel you’re treading water but you’ll actually be making progress. Stick with it, don’t give up, and you’ll eventually see the results. You’re worth it.

What will you do to not give up and use self-awareness to keep moving forward?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy