SELF-AWARENESS 101 #1: THE IMPORTANCE OF BECOMING SELF-AWARE

90% of the population will complain about how their life is, but… they won’t take responsibility for their lives being that way.

That means a very small percentage actually takes control, and designs the life that they truly desire. So what is the difference between these two groups of people?

I believe that for many what makes the difference is the realization that things do not happen to them, but rather they make things happen. And when someone recognizes this, I believe that is the beginning of the journey of developing self awareness… They begin to explore what drives them, and what they are constantly attempting to avoid.

Self-Awareness is many things and as you continue the process of developing self-awareness that definition may change depending on where you are in your life.

It can be a journey of understanding what your belief systems are. Learning about beliefs that empower you and beliefs that prevent you from achieving what you desire.

Self-awareness can be about understanding what you value most. Learning about what is most important to you and why it’s important to you.

There are also numerous sets of rules that direct how you live your life. Things that you will and will not do. Things that you will or will not allow. Whether you are consciously aware of these things or not, these beliefs, these rules, these values, they determine every action that you take.

As you progress on this journey of developing self-awareness, you will find that it is like peeling layers off of an onion. Each layer that you peel off will reveal more of who you truly are. And as that happens, you may find that you develop a deeper connection with yourself and with other people.

Developing self-awareness can be a very spiritual journey. It connects you to yourself, to your family, to your community, to the world.

For me, what started this exploration into developing self-awareness is that I found myself in a place that I didn’t like being. My life had become a mess and was nothing like what I had envisioned for myself when I was growing up. And in a “moment of clarity”, I realized that every decision I had made up to that point, had brought me to that specific place.

Until that moment in my life, most of my decisions were based on trying to avoid things, trying to avoid the truth, trying to avoid responsibility, trying to avoid even looking at myself because I didn’t like what I saw. And this led me to a place of total “in-authenticity” where I had no connection to myself, or to anyone else. I was running on a self-destructive “auto-pilot” and had no idea why I was having such a miserable life.

Developing self-awareness puts you back in the driver’s seat, you get to decide where it is you are going to go, and you have more control of your life and your circumstances.

To do that, takes a lot of honesty, open mindedness, and vulnerability. At times, it’s not an easy journey, but it’s definitely worthwhile.

So, I invite you to join me on this journey. I’m going to do my best to give you ideas, to help spark your thought process, and also build a community around you. My intention is that this community will be a place for you to support each other, offering ideas, feedback and helping you find way to become even more aware, and ultimately finding ways to make the choices that help you become the person that you desire to be.

So what I ‘d like to ask you to do right now, is grab a pen and a paper, or do it on your computer, and take a moment to just capture what some of your beliefs, just the surface level, that first layer of the onion.

Some questions that will help you are…

1) What do you believe about yourself?

2) What beliefs about yourself do you have that empower you or dis-empower you? You are good at X; you are not good at Y.

3) What are your beliefs about other people? People are… and then fill in the blank. People are… good, compassionate, untrustworthy, greedy? What is it that you honestly believe about other people?

4) What are your beliefs on a global level… The world is messed up? The world is a great place? The world is in trouble? The world is on a new course? Your choice.

Ask yourself…

1) What’s important in your life? Family? Friends? Finances? Health? Power? Fame?

2) Why, is that important to you?

And now the tougher questions are…

1) Who do you desire to be?

2) How do you need to begin living, right now… to become that person.

Write them all down because over the following weeks I’ll be offering ideas to help you discover answers to these questions and more.

Welcome to your process of developing self-awareness.