Self-Knowledge

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

Self-Awareness and Being Creative

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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 - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Using Self-Awareness to Take Care of Yourself at Work

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

Self-Awareness and Being Nice

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Self-awareness leads to being nice because the more comfortable you are with yourself the less you’ll get your stuff on other people. It’s really easy to get caught up with the things going on inside your head and acting out on others in an unconscious manner. Maybe you’ve seen a boss fly off the handle at someone or a significant other shout at her partner. These are examples of actions that aren’t self-aware because people are doing them automatically rather than with careful forethought.

Self-awareness means that you’ve taken the time to know yourself so well that you don’t do things unconsciously. You’re happy, balanced and able to treat yourself and others kindly. There’s a myth in our society that being nice is being weak when it’s actually a positive sign that someone is healthy and balanced. Please keep in mind that I’m not talking about the syrupy-sweet niceness of someone who really isn’t happy or is trying to manipulate others, I’m referring to the kind of niceness that comes from someone who feels genuinely and deeply great about themselves. What will you do to be authentically nice?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Treat Others Well - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Treat Others Well

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A big part of self-awareness is to be so happy with yourself that it influences your interactions with others positively. It means that you’re healthy, balanced and able to treat others well. When people are unhappy they tend to put their problems on others and interact in less than optimal ways. The better you feel about yourself, the better you’ll treat others and the more positive results you’ll experience.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Dismissing the Difficult Questions in Life - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Dismissing the Difficult Questions in Life

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Many people who lack self-awareness make a habit of dismissing the difficult questions in life like:

  • Why am I here?
  • Who am I?
  • What do I really want to do in life?
  • What is the meaning of life?
  • Why do I have to die?
  • What happens when I die?
  • What brings me deeper meaning in life?
  • What issues do I need to heal to live more fully?
  • How do I find inner peace and balance?
  • What kind of a person am I?
  • How can I help resolve the formidable issues facing humanity?

When people are confronted with daunting, complex, challenging questions that make them uncomfortable, they often stick their heads in the sand. Some individuals spend their whole lives avoiding even thinking about these issues, not realizing that it’s crucial to find the answers in order to live meaningfully and happily.

The more you know yourself, the easier it is to contemplate even the most mystifying conundrums because you can draw upon a deep reservoir of inner knowledge, understanding, and insight which allows you to think creatively and expansively. What will you do to answer the difficult questions in life?

Take care

Guy

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

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When you possess a high level of self-awareness you’re able to step outside your comfort zone more easily because you understand your strengths and abilities as well as your areas for improvement. The reason so many people have a difficult time with change is that they only know how to do things one way and don’t realize that there may be other equally or more viable options available to them. Here are some tips to build your self-awareness and move in a positive direction:

  • Recognize that you’re uncomfortable.
  • Remind yourself that you can handle anything.
  • Remind yourself that you have options.
  • Make a list of positive alternatives to what you are doing right now.
  • Pick one of the alternatives and start working on it.
  • Practice your new approach until you get good at it.
  • If you run into another wall, repeat the process.

Discomfort often comes from not realizing that there are many other opportunities available to you. The next time you feel like you can’t do something or it’s too daunting, take a deep breath and deliberately walk yourself through this process instead of doing what you’ve always done. What will you do to begin consciously stepping outside your comfort zone?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships

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Have you ever had a relationship that isn’t going well and you have no idea how to improve it? Do you have a pattern of relationships that are permeated with discomfort and conflict?

In order to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships, it is vital to to start building up your ability to deal with and manage your own emotions, as well as how you relate to other people’s emotions. Here are some examples of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships:

  • One person gets angry and the other person recognizes that there is an emotion under there and simply listens to the other person talk about it.
  • Something stressful is happening in the relationship and both individuals are able to identify their emotions and use them to improve the situation.
  • An emotion comes up and the other person doesn’t feel threatened and doesn’t react or fight back.
  • Both individuals in the relationship are comfortable with their own emotions and each others’.
  • Both individuals have empathy for the other.
  • Both individuals are able to reason and problem solve because they can manage their own emotions.
  • The relationship has a natural, calm, safe, healthy feeling.

Imagine how you would feel if the examples above were a part of your relationships. How many of these things do you currently do? Most people don’t have relationships like this because they haven’t learned how build self-awareness and use their emotions positively. Here are some ideas on how to start being self-aware, comfortable with your and other people’s emotions, and create more enjoyable relationships:

  • Learn to identify and name the emotion you’re feeling, and do the same for other people.
  • Shift from seeing your emotions as a threat or something to be avoided and start feeling them and using them to move in a positive direction.
  • Learn how to experience your emotions and see them as a normal part of life.
  • Learn how to deal with and manage your emotions so you can make positive decisions.
  • Stop reacting to other people, let them experience their emotions without getting in the way or making it about you.
  • Stop thinking that other people are trying to harm you with their emotions.
  • Learn how to just observe and listen when other people are experiencing an emotion. Ask open-ended questions like, “What are you feeling?” or “What’s going on?” and just be there for them.

The key to building self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships is to practice feeling what’s going on inside you, be there for the other person when he/she is feeling something, and then using your self-awareness and emotions to take action in a positive manner. This process requires practice but, over time, you’ll enjoy much deeper, stronger, happier relationships.

What will you do to increase the self-awareness and emotional intelligence in your relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy