Personal Awareness

Self-Awareness and Finding Meaning in Your Life - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Finding Meaning in Your Life

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Many people who lack self-awareness never find meaning in their lives, even when they actively search for it. If you’re on a quest to find meaning in your life here are some ideas to help you find your own answers:

  • Find meaning in yourself, that’s where it lives.
  • Get to know yourself first.
  • Don’t look on the outside for meaning, it’s inside you.
  • Meaning is the same as fulfillment and fulfillment is doing the things that resonate inside you.
  • You’ll find more meaning if you’re willing to look deep inside yourself and deal head-on with the hurts you carry.
  • Don’t let other people tell you what’s meaningful, you decide.
  • Spend conscious and deliberate time doing things that speak to the deeper part of you. In other words, do the things you love each day.
  • Listen to your heart. It will tell you if you are moving toward a meaningful work life or not.
  • Meaning seldom comes from money or power.

Think about these ideas the next time you are searching for ways to live meaningfully. You’ll find that you already have many of the answers inside you if you’re willing to listen. What will you do to develop self-awareness and find meaning in your life?

Cheers,

Guy

The Peace of Mind of Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

The Peace of Mind of Self-Awareness

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Self-awareness can bring you amazing peace of mind if you let it. The challenge is being able to let go of all the noise and obstacles that get in the way of learning about yourself and living authentically. A lot of people struggle with the idea that there is a different way of living where they get to be themselves and enjoy the results they get from thinking, feeling and acting naturally.

You can start increasing your peace of mind and self-awareness by taking time each day to think about your strengths and areas for improvement. Celebrate the wonderful things about you and also work on one thing you’d like to improve. Repeat the process and, along the way, you’ll discover more and more about your amazing gifts. What will you do to increase your self-awareness?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Dating

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A recurring question my consulting clients ask me about dating is: “Why can’t I find anyone who is a good fit for me?” My response is often something along the lines of, “In what ways are you ready to find someone wonderful?” The idea in dating is to look at yourself and build self-awareness so that you’re as healthy as possible and ready to attract great people. Let’s look at a few dating conundrums and possible things you can do to move in a different direction:

1. I keep going out with bad boys/girls. Different direction: I get myself healthy enough to recognize that it’s OK to treat myself well and go out with positive people.

2. I feel lonely. Different direction: I actively work on things that resolve why I am lonely and emphasize learning about myself before dating.

3. Where can I meet people? Different direction: When you get yourself healthy and do the things you love you move in circles where you attract people who are like you.

4. All men/women are terrible. Different direction: There are a lot of great people out there we just need to learn to accept them into our lives and be healthy enough to encourage good people to go out with us.

Dating is ultimately what you make it because you have a lot of control over where it goes. When you’re aware of how your thinking and behaviors affect your dating approach you’ll be able to connect with amazing people rather than repeating the same patterns. What will you do to build your self-awareness and improve your dating life?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Encouraging Creativity in Your Workplace - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Encouraging Creativity in Your Workplace

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The daily challenges of running an organization have a way of diminishing creativity and producing a reactive work environment. Many well-intentioned leaders who lack self-awareness get so stuck in survival mode that they’re unable to take a breath or make even the smallest adjustments. They forget that creativity offers them the opportunity to move in any direction they want to, at any time. Here are three ways you can use your self-aware leadership skills to encourage creativity in your workplace:

Welcome the Future

Anticipate situations that might come your way and develop strategies to deal with them rather than running around putting out fires. Creativity is your gateway to the future because it helps you see things before they happen. Take the time to brainstorm regularly and use creativity to develop new ideas and solutions. Build a group of key people who meet regularly to brainstorm ideas to deal with any existing or potential challenge. Encourage them to think expansively and without limitations.

Value Your Employees’ Talents

Access your employees amazing talents and energy by letting them take on new challenges and do work that is meaningful to them. Provide them opportunities to acquire more education and skills and to broaden their horizons. Let go of the need to control people and trust that they are perceptive individuals who can come up with their own solutions. Ask for their input regularly. When employees are encouraged to use their brains they feel important and are more likely to share ideas to benefit the organization.

Seek Connections

If you’re isolated you can’t connect with others who might be able to help you become stronger. Creativity helps you connect with any individual or organization you want because you’re open to interacting and you’re not bound by preconceptions or self-imposed limitations. When you’re open to making connections you’ll meet people who appreciate what you do and can help you move forward.

As a leader, you get to decide how courageous and open to new possibilities you are and whether you decide to think expansively or not. Creativity is a valuable tool that can help you shift from lamenting limited choices to enjoying unlimited opportunities. What will you do to develop self-awareness and encourage creativity in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Healing Yourself - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Healing Yourself

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When people have an injury of some kind they immediately look for ways to heal it. This approach doesn’t apply the same way to psychological injuries, but self-awareness can help you gain insight into your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, and help you move forward positively.

A huge number of people walk around with unresolved mental pain. One of the great benefits of building self-awareness is that it offers you the opportunity to take a careful look at yourself and identify the areas in your life that need healing. Take some time to think of questions like the following so you can live a healthy, fulfilling personal or professional life:

  • What unresolved issues do I have in my life that bring me pain?
  • What issues do I have that affect my ability to live an authentic life?
  • What issues might I change so I can be happier?
  • How do my hurts affect others?
  • How would my life be different if I healed my hurts?
  • What am I willing to do today to heal myself?

When you examine who you are and what makes you tick, you’ll discover amazing strengths as well as areas that need some care. Healing psychologically is not an easy process but it’s deeply rewarding because your pain won’t hold you back any longer. What will you do to develop self-awareness and begin to heal?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Become Self-Aware - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Become Self-Aware

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People frequently ask me how to become self-aware. Here are five things you can do to start building your self-awareness:

  1. Make a list of all the things you do that lead in a positive direction.
  2. List the things that hold you back or lead in a less than positive direction.
  3. List the emotions you most commonly feel. Subdivide this list into the emotions you have an easy time feeling and those you have a difficult time feeling.
  4. Make a list of the things you really want to do in life, only list the things that are deep inside your heart, not the stuff you think you should do or others say you should do.
  5. Write about who you really are as a person, who the real you is and what dreams that person has.

The important thing to remember is that self-awareness doesn’t happen all at once, it’s a process that takes time and deliberate effort. Take the time to thoroughly think about and work through each of these five steps and don’t move on to the next one until you’ve finished the one before it. The areas that you have the most difficulty with are the ones that you will benefit from spending more time on. By completing these steps you will learn about yourself and start identifying who you really are and what you want to do with your life.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Helps You Build Self-Esteem - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Helps You Build Self-Esteem

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People with strong self-awareness feel better about themselves. Self-esteem grows when you are doing things you love and taking steps toward your goals. Every time you complete an action or reach a goal you have a reason to feel great about yourself. The more small steps you take, the more opportunities you’ll have to feel great about who you are. The key is to keep working on things that are meaningful to you and don’t forget to celebrate as you go along.

Here are some things you’ll notice as you build your self-awareness and, by extension, your self-esteem:

  • You feel better about yourself.
  • You move past your fears.
  • You heal the damage inside you.
  • You learn to love yourself.
  • You’re able to list that things that are great about you.
  • You work on being the best version of you possible.
  • You don’t worry about what other people say, think, or do.
  • You follow your own path in life.

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy