what is self-awareness

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

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

Self-Awareness Definition

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Self-awareness is a state of being where you consciously manage your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. It’s a deeper insight into who you are as a person so you can live on purpose rather than unconsciously. It helps you understand how your thinking, feelings and behaviors affect you and others so you can live positively.

When you understand who you are on a deeper level, you can move your life in any direction you want. You become a more effective, balanced, thoughtful and successful person.

Some of the benefits of self-awareness are:

  • Increased ability to modulate your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
  • Better interpersonal relationships.
  • Living a happier life with less internal and external conflict.
  • Ability to discover who you really are deep inside.
  • Living a life of meaning and purpose.

What would you add to this list?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Are Open-Minded - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Are Open-Minded

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People who possess self-awareness tend to be open-minded because they are able to examine, reflect upon, and even critique themselves. When you’re open-minded you do things like:

  • Examine yourself.
  • Welcome new points of view.
  • Change your mind.
  • See things from various perspectives.
  • Venture into the dark side as well as the light.
  • See each day as an opportunity to explore something.
  • Share your deeper self with the world.

If you’re closed-minded you do the opposite of these things and you live a very different kind of life. One of the reasons I love providing life guidance, workshops, and retreats for people who value self-awareness is that they are receptive to new and interesting ways of seeing things.

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Being Nice

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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

What Are the Benefits of Self-Awareness? - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

What Are the Benefits of Self-Awareness?

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A lot of people ask me, “What are the benefits of self-awareness?” Here are some examples:

  • You know yourself better, you understand your strengths and areas for improvement.
  • You live as the real you, not someone else.
  • You heal the hurts from your past.
  • You live consciously, following your true path in life instead of just letting things randomly happen to you.
  • You learn how to emphasize the positive aspects of your personality.
  • Your thoughts match your actions and move in a positive direction.
  • You live courageously instead of fearfully.
  • You avoid making the same mistakes over and over.
  • You get along well with other people and enjoy more fulfilling relationships.
  • You do nice things for others.
  • You’re open to a wide range of ideas and experiences.
  • You make the world a better place.
  • You shine.

If you think about it, self-awareness just means that you know yourself so well that you become amazingly happy and balanced, which in turn allows you to live a wonderful life.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Treat Others Well - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Treat Others Well

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A big part of self-awareness is to be so happy with yourself that it influences your interactions with others positively. It means that you’re healthy, balanced and able to treat others well. When people are unhappy they tend to put their problems on others and interact in less than optimal ways. The better you feel about yourself, the better you’ll treat others and the more positive results you’ll experience.

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

The Self-Awareness Guy