Being self-aware means being able to monitor our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and stress. Self-awareness is crucial because it can be perhaps the most important mechanism for influencing personal development.
Without self-awareness, our lives have the capability of getting out of control quickly. We need to learn to manage and monitor the circumstances in which our emotional nature can become triggered.
How to Increase Self-Awareness
Achieving self-awareness requires extensive self-examination. Be honest, be aware, and be non-judgmental in your analysis. This can be easier said than done as we tend to be hard on ourselves for any failings.
We all have “good” and “bad” traits but tend to be mostly unaware of them. To get accurate self-awareness, we have to have open hearts and minds. Most importantly, we need to be able to forgive ourselves for any shortcomings or imperfections.
Why Self-Awareness Matters
If you wonder why self-awareness even matters in the first place, it is because it can be a predictor of good life success. A self-aware person often knows when an opportunity is a good fit and how to make that specific enterprise work to their benefit.
The simple fact is that the majority of us are working on autopilot. We don’t know why we fail or succeed or act how we do. The daily chatter of life can be enough to keep self-reflection at bay.
Building Self-Awareness
There are more than a few ways to build self-awareness. Walking in a quiet setting can be a great way to focus the mind and keep it from wandering. We can often reflect on social situations and relationships with friends and family in quiet and solitude.
There is also the practice of mindfulness. It is similar in that both direct our thoughts inwardly to become more aware. Mindfulness can focus your attention on whatever is happening, quieting the mind in the process.