The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-Awareness Leads to Emotional Intelligence - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Leads to Emotional Intelligence

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When you have a high level of self-awareness you naturally build up your emotional intelligence because you’re able to:

  • Feel your full range of emotions.
  • Think of emotions as a natural part of life.
  • Be in touch with the four basic emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, and fear.
  • Be comfortable when other people show their emotions.
  • Value and appreciate being touchy-feely.
  • Heal your own emotional wounds.
  • Be conscious of your emotions instead of letting them rule you unconsciously.
  • Use your emotions to move toward positive results.
  • Use your emotions to build a better world.

A huge part of self-awareness is being so comfortable with your emotions that you do positive things for yourself and others. So many problems occur because people don’t have any emotional intelligence, imagine what the world would be like if people knew what to do with their sadness, anger, and fear. Self-awareness leads to emotional intelligence because once you know yourself well, you naturally are comfortable with the amazing range of emotions that are part of you.

Cheers,

Guy

Why Are People Not Self-Aware? - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Why Are People Not Self-Aware?

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Why are people not self-aware? Because they’ve never been taught how to be or had an example in their lives of how to do it. When you’ve never been exposed to something, your likelihood of knowing anything about it is nil. In my experience, the vast majority of people have only the most basic self-awareness; they understand that they’re alive and that they want certain things but not much beyond that. The key to developing deeper self-awareness is to do things like the following:

  • Discover who you really are deep inside and follow your true path in life.
  • Heal your hurts so they won’t affect how you treat yourself and others.
  • Learn how your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors affect you and others and do everything in your power to move them in a positive experience.
  • Be comfortable in your own skin.
  • Be truly happy because you’re living a kind, honest, deeply fulfilling life from your very core.
  • Treat people with empathy and compassion.
  • Make the world a better place.

Self-awareness doesn’t just happen, it requires moving past the basics of simply existing to living a life of consciousness and deliberateness. You’ll know you’re self-aware when you no longer just barely make it through each day but rather live with great joy, kindness, and fulfillment.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Fear of Emotions - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Fear of Emotions

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When you have self-awareness, you’re probably more comfortable with your emotions than most people. Much of our culture is based on a fear of emotions, except for the approved ones: anger and fake happiness. We worship the strong silent type who doesn’t say much or the sports hero who just goes out and does his thing in a physical way. The challenge with not acknowledging the full range of human emotions is that you stay stuck at a certain point of your development, and you still experience them whether you want to or not.

People who possess self-awareness understand that life is brimming with swirling feelings and that we all have vast reservoirs of emotion and pathos. I’ve consistently noticed over years of training and consulting for others that the strongest people aren’t those who pretend to be strong by acting stoic or aloof, it’s the ones who face the full range of human emotions head-on rather than trying to pretend they don’t exist.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and welcome emotions?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Writing Your Story - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Writing Your Story

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When you have self-awareness you’re able to consciously write your story instead of being subject to the experiences in your past or the limitations you’ve placed on yourself. At any moment in your existence, you can change your narrative but it requires being wide awake and ready to welcome change and growth into your life. Here are some ideas to help you begin writing your story:

  • Get to know who you really are deep down inside.
  • Be willing to live your life as the real you.
  • Have the courage to let go of the voices in your head that hold you back.
  • Welcome the opportunity to heal your past wounds.
  • Be open to changing past behavior patterns that don’t work.
  • Be creative, there are no limits to the story you can create.
  • Don’t worry about outcomes or whether people will like your story.
  • Be authentic and honor who you really are.
  • Live a life of conscious happiness and fulfillment.

The more you know yourself, the better able you’ll be to live your life on purpose. You get to choose when you start and what you work on. What story will you write?

Cheers,

Guy

11 Ways to Improve Your Life Right Now with Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

11 Ways to Improve Your Life Right Now with Self-Awareness

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There’s a big difference between letting life happen to you and having he self-awareness to consciously choosing what you think and do. You can live a happy, meaningful, and fulfilling life at any time by deciding that you’re going to do it. If you’re not quite sure how to begin, here are ten ways to improve your life starting right now:

  1. Let go of the need to control events and other people.
  2. Think and behave positively.
  3. Love yourself and others unconditionally.
  4. Heal your hurts, especially the ones you don’t want to look at.
  5. Help others without expecting anything in return.
  6. Discover what you really want to do in life and take daily small steps to make it happen.
  7. Experience all your feelings and learn how to guide them in a positive direction.
  8. Spend time doing the things that matter in life; like working on your dreams or hugging your significant other.
  9. Surround yourself with people who appreciate the real you.
  10. Be open to increasing your self-awareness throughout your life.
  11. Be yourself.

Improving your life requires commitment and effort. Try these ideas and, over time, you’ll improve your quality of life because you’ll be more self-aware and thinking and behaving in ways that lead to deeper happiness. Remember that you don’t have to everything at once, start with one item and then move on to the next.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and improve your life?

Cheers,

Guy

Characteristics of Self-Aware Leaders - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Characteristics of Self-Aware Leaders

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Leaders who possess self-awareness also tend to be enlightened because they understand themselves at a deeper level and are able to lead effectively without destroying or dominating people. Here are some characteristics of self-aware leaders:

  • They feel comfortable with themselves.
  • They let go of ego.
  • They’re collaborative instead of competitive.
  • They understand how their own thoughts and behaviors affect others.
  • They treat others with compassion, kindness, and respect.
  • They’re comfortable with their own and other people’s emotions.
  • They don’t have a need for dominance, power, or control.
  • They are able to see the big picture as well as details.
  • They get out of the way and let others shine.
  • They communicate well, emphasizing active listening.

If you’ve ever worked for a leader like this, you know how enjoyable it is to interact with someone who isn’t out to make himself or herself look good and who understands that other people matter. What have you noticed about self-aware, enlightened leaders?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Taking Action - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Taking Action

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A major element of self-awareness is understanding what motivates you and actually doing things to create positive movement in your life. I’ve consulted for and trained a lot of people over the years and I’ve noticed that there is often a disconnect between what they say they want to do and what they actually do. People mean well but very often they don’t know how to follow through to reach their goals. The missing ingredient is taking action.

In order to do anything in life it’s important to actually do stuff. If all you do is think about things, you’ll live a great imaginary life but not get a lot done in the physical world. Achievements don’t just appear out of thin air, they require deliberate and conscious effort. You have to actually move from thinking about things in your head to doing things in the outside world.

People who value self-awareness tend to understand the process of working hard each day to get to know themselves better and continue moving in the direction of their dreams. What are your thoughts on taking action?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy