Awareness of Emotions Archives – Page 2 of 15

Self-Awareness and Being Nice

November 1, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-awareness leads to being nice because the more comfortable you are with yourself the less you’ll get your stuff on other people. It’s really easy to get caught up with the things going on inside your head and acting out on others in an unconscious manner. Maybe you’ve seen a boss fly off the handle at someone or a significant other shout at her partner. These are examples of actions that aren’t self-aware because people are doing them automatically rather than with careful forethought.

Self-awareness means that you’ve taken the time to know yourself so well that you don’t do things unconsciously. You’re happy, balanced and able to treat yourself and others kindly. There’s a myth in our society that being nice is being weak when it’s actually a positive sign that someone is healthy and balanced. Please keep in mind that I’m not talking about the syrupy-sweet niceness of someone who really isn’t happy or is trying to manipulate others, I’m referring to the kind of niceness that comes from someone who feels genuinely and deeply great about themselves. What will you do to be authentically nice?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships

October 2, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

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

Self-Awareness Helped Me Become the Person I Am Now

June 24, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

I wasn’t always into self-awareness. The person I am now is very different from the one I was years ago. I used to be driven by the need to feel superior, obsessed with what others thought about me; the kind of person who would put other people down to feel better about himself. At the same time, I stuffed my feelings deep inside, tried to ignore them and, consequently, felt horribly unbalanced and unhappy most of the time.

I grew up in a competitive family where you had to fight to be seen and heard. I was not encouraged to acknowledge or work out any of my inner conflicts, I simply had to hold them in and try to appear invincible. My family was ill-equipped to deal with anything emotional. Sure, we knew how to be angry, or sad, or fake happy, but not how to really deal with the core issues that were troubling us. The only way I got any attention was to be dramatic or clown-like because everyone else was so busy sucking all the energy out of everything they touched. This environment taught me to keep things to myself.

When was in my teens, I was an insecure mess who didn’t know how to deal with himself or others. I was hurting constantly but was not allowed to talk about it. I didn’t know how to build positive relationships. In my twenties I had no idea who I was and treated myself poorly because of it. People on the outside would probably say that I was affable and outgoing, but inside I was a mess. I hurt a lot of people in my teens, twenties, and thirties because I didn’t know who I was.

Somewhere along the way I realized that I felt uneasy and disjointed because I wasn’t living life as myself. I had learned to conform to the wishes of my family or friends but I hadn’t learned to listen to my own inner voice. As soon as I discovered I could be myself, I started shedding all the garbage that had piled up on me and became a kinder, more empathic, more whole person. I pursued my own goals in life and worked hard to live genuinely. Gradually, I began building my self-awareness and healing the hurts from my past.

The person I am now barely resembles the one I used to be. I love being this person and hope it helps build a better world instead of one filed with strife and sadness. What kind of person are you right now?

Cheers,

Guy

People with Self-Awareness Understand That Feelings Are Normal

June 4, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

A big part of self-awareness is realizing that feelings are a natural part of being human. It’s normal to have feelings, although countless numbers of people do everything possible to avoid them. This leads to individuals who only allow themselves to feel certain things and try to ignore the remainder.

I knew a person years ago who had a really tough time admitting any vulnerability or fear. He lived a life where he seemed invincible but was falling apart inside, and it eventually began to show. He gradually fell apart, behaving erratically and distancing himself from others. He thought he was protecting himself but he was really isolating himself from meaningful human interaction, all because he was avoiding feeling fear.

Feelings are a normal part of life, no matter how difficult they may appear to be. They are signals from out minds and bodies that something needs attention. They tell us how we’re doing. When I have uncomfortable feelings of any kind, I try to acknowledge them and feel them fully. I honor what my body is telling me and experience it as much as possible so I can heal and move forward positively.

We can only be truly happy in life when we have the self-awareness necessary to be at peace with all our emotions. What will you do to increase your self-awareness and get in touch with your feelings?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and the Common Good

April 15, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

When you’re actively building self-awareness you understand how important your mental health and well-being are to promoting the common good. The more balanced you are, the more you empathize with others and treat them with kindness and compassion. Healthy, happy people tend to relate to others well because they don’t have the garbage that gets in the way of positive interactions, such as:

The need to control others.
The need to dominate.
The need to win.
The need to be better than others.
The need to get the last word in.
The need for power.
The need to be right.

These types of behaviors create divisions and adversarial relationships rather than mutual caring and collaboration. The key to building a kind community is for its members to be happy, balanced, fulfilled individuals who are able to treat others well. What will you do to be part of the common good?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Treating Yourself and Others Well

January 11, 2024 - The Self-Awareness Guy

As you build your self-awareness, you’ll likely understand that how you treat yourself often predicts how you will treat others. If you feel horrible about yourself, chances are you’ll treat others the same way. There are countless cautionary examples of people who don’t feel healthy inside and the destruction they wreak on their own psyches, the people they interact with, and the world. If you feel great, then you’re bound to create good vibes in the world, which is what happy, balanced people do.

A great way to feel wonderful about yourself is to increase your self-awareness by consciously looking deep inside and deciding who the real you is. Who are you at your very core? What do you really want to do with your life? Once you answer questions like these you can start doing things to live authentically. As you become a more fulfilled and balanced person, you’ll naturally treat yourself and other people wonderfully for all the right reasons.

How do you treat yourself and others?

Cheers,

Guy

People Who Lack Self-Awareness Crave Power and Control

December 17, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

There is an emptiness to power and control that many people in positions of affluence and influence experience when they increase their self-awareness and realize it doesn’t matter how much they dominate others when they themselves don’t feel balanced and happy inside.

A lot of people seek power and control even though it doesn’t provide them with deep, abiding fulfillment. Sure, it can produce temporary, superficial gratification, but that doesn’t feed the need for meaning. The only way to be truly happy in life is to have inner power and control by healing one’s hurts and being as healthy as possible toward oneself and others.

A lot of people think having power and control means subjugating or dominating others; qualities that are dramatically different from inner peace and balance. The key to living a genuinely happy life is to be so self-aware that it radiates outward and helps others grow and succeed. What will you do improve your self-awareness instead of craving power and control?

Cheers,

Guy