Many people live each day on autopilot. Going from task to task, not giving much or any attention to their thoughts, emotions, behaviors and actions. It’s like walking around with a blindfold on, ignoring who you are and how you are, completely unaware of yourself and the impact you have on others. Some people have never been taught how to reflect and learn about themselves and their experiences and others are more comfortable living in denial. Self awareness is the ability to monitor and observe and notice your emotions, thoughts, behaviors and actions. It’s having a solid understanding of yourself! Practicing self awareness isn’t always easy, it means being completely honest with yourself.
Truly getting to know yourself at the deepest levels can seem scary, until you experience the benefits.
10 Benefits of Self Awareness
- Know your emotional triggers
- Recognize patterns
- Change habits and behaviors
- Practice self discipline
- Learn from your mistakes
- See how your behavior impacts others
- Identify problems
- Builds self esteem
- Develop a growth mindset
- Know your strengths and challenges
The benefits of self awareness help create a life of stability and overall wellbeing. It gives you the ability to manage your emotions in a healthy way, experience better communication with others and foster healthy coping skills. In addition, you can quickly recognize when you’re experiencing physical, emotional or mental discomfort or pain and do something productive about it instead of ignoring the distress you experience.
5 Types + Examples of Self Awareness
Awareness of Thoughts
Noticing negative and positive thinking (general thoughts), along with all or nothing thinking, jumping to conclusions, should and shouldn’t statement.
Awareness of Emotions
Recognizing and understanding your own emotions, knowing your triggers and how you react to challenging events.
Awareness of Body & Sensations
When you’re getting nervous, you notice sensations such as how your heart beats faster or your palms sweat. Or, when you’re angry, you might notice a knot in your stomach.
Awareness of Habits
Noticing both your healthy habits and those you might like to change, helps you achieve lifestyle goals regarding your career, health and relationships.
Awareness in Relationships
How you treat others and how they respond to you. This awareness helps you foster self confidence and clear communication
**When practicing self awareness you are in a present state and become an objective observer of yourself. Noticing how you think, speak, feel, respond and navigate your life. Studying, exploring and accepting yourself without judgment or criticism.
5 Ways to Cultivate Self Awareness
Being present with your emotions, thoughts and sensations are all examples of self awareness. Practice connecting with yourself using one or more of the methods below:
Journaling
Explore and reflect on your thoughts, emotions and experiences to gain insight into your behaviors, habits and patterns.
- Notice your emotions throughout the day (with an objective point of view) and write down what you notice.
- Notice your thoughts throughout the day (with an objective point of view) and write down what you notice.
- Notice physical sensations in your body throughout the day (with an objective point of view) and write down what you notice.
Meditation
Notice your body, mind and spirit through mindfulness. Shift awareness from the outer world to the inner world. Try my Body Scan meditation using self awareness:
Yoga
Practice Body Awareness. Explore and accept yourself through movement and breath awareness.
Transpersonal Energy Healing
This is one of the healing modalities I use to help my clients, a combination of Body Mind Counseling and Hands on Healing. This helps to uncover negative core beliefs, release stored emotions in the body and balance and relax the energy and nervous systems. Learn more about Transpersonal Energy Healing here!
Bach Flower Therapy
This is another healing modality that I use to help my clients get to the root cause of negative emotions and limiting beliefs. I offer 1:1 sessions, but the Bach Flower Remedies were created as a self help system so anyone can access and use them with ease. Learn more about individual remedies on my YouTube Channel.
Don’t know what Bach Flower Remedies are? Check out my 8 minute video, What are Bach Flower Remedies?
Self awareness is a foundational part of a healthy growth mindset. I can’t express how important it is to your overall health and wellbeing to practice this empowering skill. It’s not something we’re born with, it’s a muscle that is built overtime… an ongoing process of learning about yourself and growing so you can thrive in all areas of your life.
“Gaining self-awareness moves you into a more conscious state of who you are, your emotions, your fears, your thought patterns, destructive behaviors and insecurities.” – Melinda Fouts
