Meaning and Importance of Self-Awareness

Understanding Self-awareness

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”  C.G. Jung

 *Who am I, really?

*What worries me most about the future?

*How will I live, knowing I will die?

*What do I need to change about myself?

*What do I want most in life?

*Does it really matter what others think about me?

*To what degree have I actually controlled the course of my life?

 How often do you ask such questions to yourself? Allow me to re frame my question, do you even ask these things to yourself?

Whenever you ask people around you that, how much time do they spend in self introspection? The answer that will receive from most of the people and even me is ‘we are way busy’.

However, the truth is we are scared to face our real self. The mistakes that we committed, the questions that are still there somewhere back inside our head unanswered. We are afraid, how negative and pessimistic a person we might be. As I always say this quarantine has given us an ample amount of time and no matter how much we try to ignore, some or the other day we will find this thing knocking on our door. Waiting for us to open it and make us see the scars that we have given to it.

I hope the topic of discussion might be clear by now but still I would like to state it again ‘Self Awareness’.

 My thoughts

Before diving ahead into this ocean, I would like to share my experience. What I felt when I finally decided to see my imperfections and faults, in short, my real self. To portray it in a better way, I would like to share a poem that I wrote regarding the same…

                         My real self

People said; if you genuinely want to be happy you should spend enough time with yourself.

She tried to abide, but sooner realized, as a person she did not want to be around herself ..

The whole day she tried to find ways to hide from herself but forgot that, at the end of the day we all are sitting alone. In front of the window, counting the stars, being what we actually are..

And hence she got to know that we can’t run from anything..

Sooner or later we have to face it even if it’s something you have been running from forever ..  Muskan

What is self-awareness ?

Although we are aware of the basic meaning of self-awareness which is looking into ourselves. Taking a note of all the deeds that we did (includes both good and bad). How it changed us as a person. However, it will be better if you will know the literal meaning.

  In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one’s own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one’s environment and body and lifestyle, self-awareness is the recognition of that awareness.  Self-awareness is how an individual consciously knows and understands their own character, feelings, motives, and desires. (wiki)

 Importance of self-awareness…

“Until you close your eyes, you can’t feel the pain deep inside”.

According to a research conducted in 2013, it is found that we have more than 50,000 thoughts floating in our mind. Out of which 50% are negative and 90% are repetitive which are consuming our mind space. These negative thoughts are something we are not aware about consciously and hence letting it hamper our ability to think clearly…

I hope from the above reference it might be clear to you that no matter how difficult it might be, if we truly want to grow, we need to get rid of these thoughts. All this negativity, pessimism and stuff which is pulling us down. The floating thoughts in our mind are something which needs to be controlled so that they do not stop the flow of sensibility and creativity.

 Ways of self awareness

There can be ample ways through which you can know yourself. Every person is different, every requirement is different. But here what I can do is suggest , you the ways that helped me with a belief that it might provide you a way to tackle your issues…

*Take a 30 Min walk in nature once a week (the time and days can vary according to you. But once a week should be must)

*Take some time out from your busy day. Sit in a calming place with some light music on and try to listen and ponder upon your past and present deeds.

*Make a habit of waking up 30 mins early from your actual time. This will help you to start your day in a relaxed manner and will also provide you time to think properly regarding your actions committed the day before. And also, will provide you time to figure out the work you need to do today.

*Once a week sit down and try to make sense of your dreams. The dreams that might be disturbing you. Discuss it with others and try to find a solution to it.

*Try maintaining a journal or a diary and pen down your thoughts, feelings, mistakes and do read them, time to time.

*Talk to people and try to learn from their experiences.

*Don’t blame others or try to take shelter. Try to start accepting and develop an urge to correct them.

I hope the importance of self-awareness is clear and the ways through which it can be done.. By taking some time out from your day to reflect on past events, you will have a better sense of self. Once you are aware of what actually you are then there is nothing which will stop you from succeeding. This sense of self will allow for things like better relationships and improved decision-making in your everyday life.

So do let us know how you are going to take this journey of self-awareness. The comment section is open for your views …