self-awareness examples

Self-Awareness Helps You Be Genuinely Happy - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Helps You Be Genuinely Happy

/ / Consciousness of Self / , , ,

Are you really happy or just pretending? Over many years of providing self-awareness consulting to individuals and groups, I’ve noticed that the less happy people are, the more vociferously they will claim to be happy. It’s as if they feel they have to put up a brave front so that nobody will know how much they’re really hurting inside.

You can’t be genuinely happy in life if you lack self-awareness and walk around with tons of unresolved or conflicting issues rattling around in your head. I’ve met many a “happy” person who is so quick to anger that it’s frightening. When you’re truly self-aware and content, you feel, think and behave in ways that are consistent with happiness, for example:

  • You treat others well.
  • You’re kind to people without expecting anything in return.
  • You don’t feel like you have to beat anyone.
  • You help others succeed.
  • You think and behave with empathy.
  • The various parts of your psyche aren’t fighting each other.
  • You don’t suppress your emotions.
  • You feel a sense of well-being and balance inside.
  • You smile and laugh genuinely and often.
  • You live life as the real you.

True happiness comes from a deep sense of peace and well-being inside you. It means that you’ve built up your self-awareness, worked on your hurts, and healed yourself to the point where pain doesn’t rule your life or you’re not trying to ignore it.

What will you do to to increase self-awareness and be genuinely happy?

Cheers,

Guy

Live the One Life You Have with Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Live the One Life You Have with Self-Awareness

/ / Consciousness of Self, Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness Comes From / , ,

I always encourage people to live the one life they have with self-awareness because it will help them navigate all the challenges they will face. Once you understand your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, you’ll be able to live a deeply fulfilling, meaningful existence.

Perspective frequently makes the difference in the choices you make in life. If you feel a sense of urgency, you are more likely to try to accomplish a task. People motivate themselves in different ways but a key characteristic of those who create movement is a sense that they have to get it done.

You only have one life to live so you might as well make the most of it. Why then is it that people spend incredible amounts of time and effort on everything but what is truly meaningful to them? It’s almost as if someone told them along the way that they couldn’t accomplish what they wanted in life. So they settle for what comes their way, focusing on subsistence rather than growth.

A positive way to improve self-awareness and begin redirecting your thoughts is to ask yourself, “If I only had one week to live, what would I want to do?”

Life is a precious and finite gift. Why would anyone choose to live it without doing something they really love? Think about your own situation and think about what you really want to do in life. Then put some thought into increasing self-awareness and what you can actually do to incorporate your dreams into your everyday life. As you begin working on your dreams, you will begin feeling happier and more balanced because you are connecting with who you really are. Life is just funner when you’re doing stuff you like.

Build in some urgency starting today. What will you do to improve your self-awareness and live the life you really want to?

Cheers,

Guy

The Path to Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

The Path to Self-Awareness

/ / Consciousness of Self, Self-Awareness Comes From / , , , ,

The path to self-awareness reveals itself to you as you’re ready for it. Here are some examples of how you can tell that you’re on your way:

  • You look at yourself without criticism or judgment.
  • You realize that there are things about you that can be improved.
  • You understand that life is a journey rather than a finite goal.
  • You have the courage to examine and continue healing your hurts.
  • You keep growing and learning throughout your life.
  • You see results in your life based on your thoughtful, kind, compassionate thinking and behavior.
  • You actively work on making your dreams a reality.
  • You live life as the real you.

If you do things like these, you know how great it feels to live authentically and share your gifts with yourself and the world; if you don’t, you have a wonderful opportunity to visit many interesting places.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Aren't Afraid of Failure - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware Leaders Aren’t Afraid of Failure

/ / Self-Awareness in Leadership / , ,

Self-aware leaders aren’t afraid of failure because they understand that there is much to be learned from any experience or situation, including the negative ones.

I often work with leaders who set a goal and then pile a bunch of other stuff on top of it and paralyze themselves before doing anything. Then they tell me that they’re afraid of doing something wrong or scared of messing up.

The idea that we do things wrong or mess up comes from inside our own minds and was often put there by our families. We repeat these ideas over and over, even when they lead to negative results. The interesting thing is that messing up is such a relative term because it really depends on your definition of it.

The next time you set a goal for yourself try focusing less on the whole “I’m doing something wrong and what if I fail,” outlook and set yourself up for success. Try the following ideas to let go of the need to be perfect:

1. Set an achievable goal you know you can do.

2. Do one thing at a time and don’t burden yourself with extra things.

3. Celebrate when you complete a task, do something to treat yourself well.

You only fail if you set yourself up for failure or listen to the negative messages inside your head. Success comes from setting realistic goals, completing them and moving forward purposefully.

What will you do to increase self-awareness and use failure as a learning tool?

Cheers,

Guy

Use Self-Awareness to Attract Positive People - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Use Self-Awareness to Attract Positive People

/ / Consciousness of Self, Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness Comes From / , , ,

Self-awareness helps you attract positive people and build fulfilling relationships because, when you know yourself well and are content with who you are, you’re able to connect with people in a genuine, healthy manner.

People often ask me why they keep dating the wrong people. I usually ask the person to do some self-reflection and the answer they most often come up with is that they are looking for people based on mistaken assumptions.

Most of us look for people that create a spark, that excite us into wanting to get to know them better. This method creates an initial euphoria that blinds us to understanding clearly what we want from relationships. We become so intoxicated with romance that we are unable to make rational decisions.

What I try to help people with is building self-awareness. When we understand who we are and what we love and need we tend to make better choices regarding relationships. If we don’t know ourselves very well or don’t like ourselves we tend to attract people that reinforce that. When we understand ourselves better and are healthier we tend to attract more positive people.

There really is no magic to this process. What’s been shown to work time after time is that people who are healthy attract other healthy people. All it takes is some work first on getting ourselves as healthy mentally and physically as possible. Then we attract people who admire us for the wonderful, healthy people we are.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and attract positive people into your life?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Date Successfully Using Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Date Successfully Using Self-Awareness

/ / Consciousness of Self, Self-Awareness / , ,

Great dating is about possessing self-awareness, which helps you understand who you are and how to be treated well. We often go for exciting people rather than those who will treat us well and will become more exciting over time. Think about the following the next time you are trying to improve your dating experiences:

1. Who am I as a person?
2. What do I want out of dating?
3. Do the people I date build me up as a person and make me feel great about myself?
4. Do I date because I’m healthy and happy or do I date to fulfill some other need?
5. Am I doing things to date people who share my interests and dreams?

Dating doesn’t have to be serious and boring, it can be very exciting when you find people who really share your interests and who treat you well. Always keep in mind that you deserve to date people who make you feel great and let you be who you are.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and date successfully?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Thinking about Others - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Thinking about Others

/ / Consciousness of Self, Self-Awareness Comes From / , , , , ,

Perhaps you’ve met individuals who assure you they possess self-awareness and then trample all over other people. It’s like the boss who says she’s wonderful and caring and shouts at her employees or the husband who says he’s a great guy but does things that deeply hurt his spouse.

When you have a high level of self-awareness you naturally think about others. The more comfortable and knowledgeable you are about what drives your thoughts, feelings and behaviors, the more likely you will be to feel happy and balanced and treat other people in a caring, compassionate way. If you solely care about your money, your power, your own success, your immediate needs, your safety, or your own point of view, you’re less likely to think about other people.

The key to living a genuinely fulfilling, happy life is to realize that you can take care of yourself and others, not just one or the other. As you become healthier and more tuned in to who you are deep inside, you’re much more likely to help others do the same. What will you do to keep building your self-awareness and thinking about others?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy