what is self-awareness

What is self-awareness, at The Self-Awareness Guy.

Self-Awareness Means Looking at the Difficult Things in Life - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Means Looking at the Difficult Things in Life

A lot of times self-awareness is about looking at the difficult things in your life. These are the areas that perhaps you don’t want to bring up or examine. The challenge is to find a way to deal with the difficult issues in your life so you can move past them and live without their influence. It’s like finally healing a wound that’s been hurting for a long time.

The vast majority of people live their entire lives without resolving the pain from their past. This limits their ability to grow and succeed. Think of how amazing your life would be if you became self-aware to the point that you genuinely loved yourself and were able to live as the real you. Too many people get stuck living a life that they settle for instead of doing the hard work necessary to live a conscious, fulfilling life. Self-awareness requires effort but it allows you to let go of all the junk that holds you back.

If you’re afraid of looking at the difficult things in life, that’s normal. The choice you have is whether you decide to move past those things or you let them dictate what you should do. Self-aware people choose to deal with the challenges so they can live wonderfully healthy and expansive lives.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Your Quality of Life - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Your Quality of Life

Your level of self-awareness greatly affects your quality of life. The more you’re in touch with why you think, feel and do the things you do, the more consciously and happily you can live. Consider these two examples of people with different perspectives:

  1. Person A goes through life appearing to be confident, is outwardly successful, seems to have everything anyone would dream of having but is deeply insecure and realizes it’s all a mirage.
  2. Person B lives life with confidence, sometimes has doubts and shows vulnerability, but when he (or she) looks in the mirror, he knows he’s looking at a real person who is living authentically.

The difference between these two examples is that one person has to pretend to be someone else. Genuine fulfillment and happiness arise from looking at your strengths and areas for improvement and continuously working on being the real you inside and outside. What will you do to live a quality life?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Develop Self-Awareness: A 10-Step Plan - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Develop Self-Awareness: A 10-Step Plan

Here is a ten-step plan on how to develop self-awareness:

  1. Decide that you’re willing to look deep inside yourself. Don’t start this process if you’re not committed to being fully honest and working hard on developing self-awareness.
  2. Make a list of all the great things about you.
  3. Make a list of the things you feel, think, or do that are detrimental to your well-being.
  4. Make a list of all the things you’d like to improve.
  5. Pick one item from your list of things you’d like to improve and decide on one action you’re willing to take to work on it.
  6. Take action and then evaluate what benefit it had on the thing you’d like to improve. If it worked, move on to the next thing you’d like to improve; if it didn’t, choose another action.
  7. Once you have found the appropriate action to resolve the issue, start the process again. It’s important to do this because your lists will change whenever you change in some way.
  8. Keep working continuously, one item at a time. Don’t overload yourself by trying to do several things at once. Choose one thing and work on it deliberately.
  9. Whenever you resolve an issue in your life, celebrate and praise yourself for the great work you’ve done.
  10. Continue to identify and resolve issues throughout your life.

Developing self-awareness doesn’t happen overnight, it requires sustained attention and effort over time. Try this ten-step process and, as you do it, you’ll be gaining insights into yourself and living a healthier, more balanced life.

Cheers,

Guy

Developing Self-Awareness to Get Rid of Fear Instilled by Parents - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Developing Self-Awareness to Get Rid of Fear Instilled by Parents

As you build self-awareness you’ll find it easier to leave behind some of the negative beliefs your parents may have instilled in you. Many well-meaning parents project their fears onto their children by offering “helpful” guidance and suggestions about what they should do with their lives. This leads to many kids growing up doubting themselves and following career paths that make them miserable.

Parents want their children to succeed and not get hurt but these caring instincts often stifle creativity, squash dreams, and force people to live inauthentic lives. Thankfully, you can pursue your bliss regardless of what your parents say now or have said in the past.

It isn’t just parents who limit our horizons, it’s other caring people like teachers or good friends, all of whom project their own fears onto us and make us second-guess whether we can pursue our dreams. The irony is that it doesn’t matter what anyone else says, you get to follow your dreams if you so desire.

The key to living with self-awareness and enjoying a fulfilling, meaningful life is to kindly thank people for their advice and then do what you really want to do deep inside. Chart your own course and live as you wish.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and move past the fear instilled in you by your parents?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Treating Yourself and Others Well - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Means Treating Yourself and Others Well

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

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

Self-Awareness and Prioritizing

When you’re working on developing self-awareness it’s important to prioritize. You get to decide what’s most important to you and what actions you want to take. You have a lot of power to move your life in any direction you want by choosing to work on things that will create positive results. Spend less time on minor details and focus on what really matters and you’ll be on your way to success. For example: Would you rather heal one of your inner hurts so you can be genuinely happier or do something superficial that just puts a band-aid on everything?

Prioritizing means that you get to choose what you work on and when. A big part of self-awareness is knowing yourself well enough that you can tell the difference between meaningful and superficial work. I always recommend that people work on the deeper things in life, the ones that will bring them meaning and fulfillment rather than just getting by or pretending things are okay. What will you decide to do today?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Retirement

Retirement can be both an exciting and challenging time in life but you can retire with self-awareness and foresight. The key to living the next faze of your life meaningfully is to ask yourself questions like:

  • Will I continue working?
  • What is my passion in life and am I pursuing it?
  • What unresolved issues do I need to fix in my life?
  • How is my relationship with those I love?
  • What are my skills and talents?
  • What will I do with the rest of my life.
  • What brings me great joy and am I doing that?

Take a moment to think about who you really are as a person and what you want to purposefully do with your life. When I coach people, I help them clarify what they want out of life and plan for the future. I’m always amazed at the wonderful things that people can do when they follow their dreams.

As you think about retirement, try to include things you love and that have great meaning to you. Retirement can be a wonderful time to show the world who you are and leave your mark as the great person you are.

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy