Self-Awareness Archives – Page 51 of 54

Do You Limit Your Self-Awareness?

January 29, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

A lot of people limit their self-awareness because they’re afraid of looking at their hurts and admitting that they might benefit from making some changes. Here are some examples of thoughts and actions that hinder self-awareness:

The belief that you don’t have to work on yourself.
Thinking that you’re just fine as is, even when everything is crumbling around you.
Saying you don’t have time for all that touchy-feely stuff.
Acting like you know everything.
Living superficially.
Refusing to examine the things you might want to improve so you can become a more effective version of you.
Trying to control things so people won’t find out how insecure you are.
Not wanting to go to therapy.
Living life reactively instead of proactively.
Doing the same thing you’ve always done.
The belief that life is hard and you can’t do anything to change it.
Fear of change.

A lot of people stay stuck because they refuse to take an honest look at themselves and learn about what would help them move forward. They literally live their entire lives being miserable. The good news is that you don’t have to be unhappy, just work on figuring out who you are and you’ll be on your way to enjoying a self-aware life.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Being Insecure

January 28, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

When you enjoy a high level of self-awareness you tend to be less insecure because you understand who you really are and you don’t compare yourself to others. Countless people wander through life measuring themselves against some arbitrary standard set by someone else rather than becoming healthy and happy on their own. The first step in moving past insecurity is to acknowledge it. Here are some signs to look for:

You compare yourself to others.
You try to be perfect.
Deep down inside, you don’t like yourself.
You’re not living your own life.
You don’t treat yourself or others well.
You seldom practice compassion.
You’re always trying to beat someone else.
You revel in power and control.

When you do these types of things, it doesn’t mean you’re a terrible person but, rather, that you may not have yet really gotten in touch with the person you really are deep inside. Take the time to get to know who you really are and live your life based on your true joys and passions and you won’t have to worry about what others think or compare yourself to anyone but yourself. What will you do to reduce your insecurity?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Being Yourself

January 28, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

There are a lot of miserable people walking around because they’re doing what their families tell them to do, what their friends want them to do, or what some external being compels them to do rather than focusing on building self-awareness and living authentically.

The true key to happiness is to be yourself and live as the real you. Over many years of consulting for individuals who value developing self-awareness, I’ve noticed that people cause themselves all kinds of unnecessary grief and tension because they don’t live in a way that reflects who they really are inside.

When you’re the authentic you it opens all kinds of doors, you meet people who understand where you’re coming from and what you’re doing. You project positive energy when you’re following your passion. Since I let go of being someone I wasn’t and became a poet, I feel better about myself and connect with people who value what I do. I really like it when people like the real me instead of some artificial persona.

What do you do to be yourself?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Family Functioning

January 27, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-awareness is a major component of healthy family functioning because, the more people understand themselves, the easier it will be for them to get along with each other and interact positively. We’ve been led to believe that families are about order, control, hierarchy, respect, tradition and other words that put people in boxes rather than encourage them to be themselves and live joyfully. People in restrictive families are often asked to do things like:

Keep secrets.
Sublimate their own identity to fit the group.
Follow rules, no matter how unreasonable or arbitrary.
Be in constant conflict and call it love.
Occasionally do nice things for each other.
Have no effective problem-solving or conflict resolution mechanisms.
Talk only about approved subjects.
Blindly defer to people who may not know what they’re doing.
Only express approved emotions.
Negative behaviors are tolerated.

These types of actions are common in many families but don’t lead to celebrating individuals and helping them discover who they really are deep inside. When family members possess a high level of self-awareness they likely promote behaviors such as:

Talking openly about difficult subjects.
Building one’s own identify and being accepted.
Worrying less about rules and more about critical thinking.
Treating each other with kindness and empathy.
Consistently doing nice things for each other.
Understanding how to fix problems and resolve conflicts.
All conversation topics are valid and important.
Everyone is equal.
All emotions are welcome.
Positive behaviors are the norm.

There is a vast difference between the type of interactions that result from the first list and the second. The higher your level of self-awareness is, the more likely you are to move away from power and control to encouraging everyone to be his or her amazing self without restrictions or conditions. What will you do to improve your family functioning?

Cheers,
Guy

Self-Aware People Are Kind, Sensitive, and Creative

January 27, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

I love connecting with kind, sensitive, creative people who value self-awareness because they tend to spread positive vibes that help build a happier, more compassionate and enlightened world.

So, why would anyone want to be this type of person? Because it leads to greater joy and fulfillment. Kindness means behaving in a way that demonstrates empathy and care for something or someone else. It’s a peaceful state of being that creates harmony. Sensitivity means dealing positively with your own feelings and being attuned to others’ emotions as well. Creativity means that you have the courage to think differently and challenge conventions. When you mix these three qualities you have a person who possesses self-awareness and is able to live a deeply satisfying, positive life and have a beneficial impact on his or her environment.

Imagine a world where people treat each other with kindness, are sensitive to their own and each other’s feelings, and create beautiful things. It’s a very different state of being than what we’ve been led to believe is the way things should be (competitions, strife, jealousy, brokenness). Having self-awareness means that you’re able to rise above pettiness and self-centeredness and behave in ways that benefit the greater good.

What will you do to practice self-awareness and be a kind, sensitive, creative person?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Seeing the Big Picture

January 27, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

A lot of people think that working on their self-awareness is a selfish pursuit but they may be missing the point. When you deeply understand why you think or act the way you do, you move from being someone who lives unconsciously to someone who understands the implications surrounding their thoughts and behaviors. For example: If you get mad at friends or family all the time, you’re behaving in a way that is specific and limited, whereas if you take the time to think about what you’re doing and how you can move in a positive direction, you increase your ability to see things from a wider perspective.

You can choose to live life based only on what you think, feel and do in the moment but you’ll be much happier and fulfilled if you pause and think about all the other options available to you. What will you do to use your self-awareness to see the big picture?

Take care

Guy

Self-Awareness Helps Get Rid of Bigotry

January 26, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Bigotry is about as far away from self-awareness as you can get. It means living a closed, scared, reactive life that doesn’t do anybody any good, including the person being a bigot. I thought I’d write on this difficult subject because I really care about people being able to love themselves and others. There is a lot of hurt in our world and there are countless valuable individuals who are literally living in fear, pain, and rage instead of enjoying their time on this earth. I hope this article will help someone out there feel better about himself or herself and decide to live a life of joy. To start off, here are fifteen ways to tell you’re a bigot:

You can’t stand when someone disagrees with your beliefs or views.
You get angry or violent toward people who aren’t like you.
You live constantly angry at other people.
You have difficulty being vulnerable around other people and are trying to keep them from seeing the real you and hurting you.
You hate people who are different from you.
You prejudge people before you get to know them.
You hate people because of any number of things including how they look, talk, dress, worship (or not), or any other number of reasons.
Only your opinions matter.
You have difficulty accepting everyone.
You feel powerless inside and act super tough to cover for it, or try to take away other people’s power.
You feel threatened by others.
You have seen people give you a scared look when you tell them about your views.
You believe in striking first before they strike at you.
Conflict seems to find you.
You don’t ever really feel happy inside, even if you say you are.

The reason this subject means so much to me is that I’ve personally seen so many wonderful people give their lives away to hate and toxicity. They go from being human beings full of potential to angry creatures who hurt others. The good news about bigotry is that it’s not a lifelong commitment, you can choose to move in a more positive direction at any time by doing things like:

Building self-awareness by understanding where your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors come.
Healing the hurts from your childhood.
Living a life of love and compassion.
Getting to know as many different kinds of people as possible and enjoying everything they have to offer.
Realizing how great life is when you’re free of fear or hate.
Understanding how much you matter and how important it is for you to find what makes you happy deep inside instead of living a life where you’re constantly getting angry at outside things.
Having the courage to go see a therapist to help you along the way.
Surrounding yourself with people who are soft, kind, compassionate, caring, accepting, and who will value the new you.
Taking action to do nice things for others every day.
Resolving to help build a better world for everyone.
Doing the things you really love in life.
Discovering the real you and celebrating yourself.

Look at both these lists and honestly ask yourself which one might feel better. In my experience, its the path of love and kindness that always leads to better results. It will take a lot of work to shift your old emotions, thoughts, and behaviors but the reward is that you’ll get to live a life of self-awareness, peace, and happiness. I wish you all the best on your journey, I know you can do it.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and move past bigotry?

Cheers,

Guy