Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness and Moving Past Hurt

When you possess self-awareness, you’re much more likely to enjoy life rather than feeling miserable. Living in hurt is something that countless numbers of people know all too well. They may not consciously understand what they’re doing, but they experience the results of their subconscious minds compelling them to behave in negative, unproductive, and counterintuitive ways.

The legacy of hurt is powerful. It can travel over generations and influence people in its proximity. Hurt people routinely destroy themselves, others, their nations, and the planet. Throughout many years of helping individuals and groups build self-awareness, I’ve noticed that the most genuinely happy people are those who have dealt directly with their hurts. This means they’ve done the hard work necessary to examine themselves and heal the wounds of the past.

Moving beyond pain or trauma is difficult. It requires a higher level of self-awareness and a commitment to improving oneself. Very few people do it, but those who embark on the journey are rewarded with a richer, multifaceted, healthy, expansive life.

What will you do to increase self-awareness and reduce the hurt in your life?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Negative Beliefs

When you possess a high degree of self-awareness you tend to bypass negative beliefs because you have a more complete understanding of what’s really going on inside and around you and how you can move things in a positive direction rather than staying stuck in fear, superstition, inaction or inauthenticity. Here are some ideas to help you reduce the negativity:

  • Realize that you can’t possibly control everything around you.
  • Work actively on understanding yourself on a deeper level.
  • Take action each day to do things that are meaningful to you.
  • Believe that your perception of the world doesn’t have to be negative.
  • See the big picture rather than getting mired in endless detail.
  • Focus on what’s going well.
  • Learn to redirect negative feelings and replace them with positive alternatives.

Negative people and events can’t hold you back if you don’t let them. You have many options available to you rather than despairing or giving up, what will you do to increase your self-awareness and get rid of negative beliefs?

Cheers,

Guy

Rigid Thinking Means Lack of Self-Awareness

Rigid thinking reflects a lack of self-awareness and often leads to unhappiness and imbalance, yet many people hang on to one set of thoughts and behaviors throughout their entire lives. They do this because they’re unwilling or unable to consider any other point of view other than their own, usually because they feel that something negative will happen if they consider other options. Some people genuinely believe that they’ll look weak if they change their minds, others are afraid that their carefully constructed world will come tumbling down.

It can be daunting when you realize that your former views don’t fit the situation you’re facing or that you don’t have the tools to deal with new circumstances. Thankfully, human beings are able to raise their self-awareness, change their thinking patterns and acquire new information. Here are some ideas to help you expand your thinking:

  • Actively research and read from many sources.
  • Learn about other points of view.
  • Challenge yourself to look at a situation from a different perspective.
  • Tell yourself the world won’t end if you change your thoughts.
  • Become stronger by learning new things.
  • Listen to what others say and consider their views.
  • Be optimistic that new views can be beneficial.
  • Welcome change into your life.
  • Consider thinking in a way that brings you joy.
  • Think in ways that add to your self-awareness and help you grow.
  • Identify ways to build bridges.
  • Think compassionately.

When you think openly, it helps you find a point of view that brings you genuine, deep happiness and fulfillment rather than covering up your warts or enabling you to barely make it through the day. New ideas and information can help you thrive and succeed in ways you might have not even imagined before. What will you do to improve your self-awareness and think optimistically and openly?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Being Creative

When you possess self-awareness you’re able to explore your creativity. Being creative requires courage because you have to put yourself out there and expose your ideas to scrutiny and criticism.

Creativity simply means coming up with something that didn’t exist before, it requires a sense of optimism and daring, a willingness to challenge the status quo or prevailing wisdom.

We all have the ability to be creative but some people have been programmed to believe that it’s difficult or even dangerous, some even go as far as holding on to the same way of doing things no matter what the results are.

The great thing about human beings is that we have the ability to generate new ideas and bring them to fruition. We don’t have to stay stuck and we can forge a world based on kindness and compassion instead of fear and suspicion.

People who value self-awareness and being creative are able to pioneer bold movements and envision new solutions to the issues we all face.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and explore your creativity?

Cheers,

Guy

Using Self-Awareness to Take Care of Yourself at Work

Self-awareness can help you take care of yourself at work. We’re not always taught how to look after ourselves at work. We pack our work lives full of activities and tasks but we don’t take the time to nurture ourselves. Building your self-awareness and taking care of yourself is important because it makes you more effective in all areas of your work experience and helps you recharge your batteries.

Try these ideas to bring some balance into your work life and smooth out some of the bumps.

  1. Stop. Take a moment during your day to do nothing and just relax. Lie down, take a nap, go for a walk or just look outside. The idea is to just stop and enjoy a slower pace.
  2. Breathe. Take deep breaths, slow and controlled. Inhale fully and exhale. Think of yourself inhaling serenity and exhaling stress.
  3. Think of something joyful and fun. Sweep aside all the garbled noise that clutters your brain and focus on thinking of something that makes you feel great.
  4. Find a way to vent. Find someone who will listen to you without interrupting and who will simply be there for you to talk about whatever you want.
  5. Celebrate yourself. Do nice things for yourself that don’t cost money. Give yourself a pat on the back and give yourself kudos for the things you’ve accomplished.

The key to taking care of yourself at work is to forget about others and focus on you. Try the ideas we’ve discussed here to introduce some calm into your work life and heal yourself. You deserve it.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and take care of yourself at work?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Definition

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

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

The Self-Awareness Guy