Self awareness is a rare commodity. Because it’s so rare, it is incredibly valuable. Rare things always are!
I read a startling statistic recently.
Did you know 45% of your everyday behavior is habitual?
It’s no surprise that we’re creatures of habit, right?
But if 45% of what we do is on autopilot, seems to me self-awareness will help us create that 45%, as well as the other 55%, in ways that work FOR us. After all, being on autopilot can be a good or bad way to go through your day. It all depends.
Some call self awareness emotional intelligence. No matter the terminology, you can gain awareness of your thoughts and emotions, beliefs and attitudes, and consequently your behaviors and decisions. Everything starts with a thought based on some belief which transfer into a behavior.
So the question remains not IF we can become more self aware, but HOW.
I have some suggestions for you!
If thoughts begin the process, then thinking is an important practice. That seems weird, right, because we can’t help but think. But it matters how you think and even perhaps where you do your thinking. Taking a walk, reading, labeling your thoughts, and meditation are all good ways to observe thoughts. I find solo exercises and sports such as swimming create environments for observing thoughts. Breathing practices and paying attention to your posture and body language also lead us to an awareness of our thoughts.
How about giving voice to what we learn from our self awareness thoughts?
Keeping a journal or as Martin Seligman suggests recording your ABCs give thoughts a voice. But so does actually speaking them aloud. I like talking to both my younger self and future self and yes, have wonderful out loud conversations with myself when I walk and hike.
I imagine people think I’m on a phone but I never am 🙂
Have conversations with friends about self awareness and what you’ve observed about your own habits. There’s so much to learn from others!
Naturally all this emotional intelligence you’ve gained has to lead somewhere, right? What learnings will you take action on? What will you implement and change? Giving yourself the gift of both feedback and action is huge.
Did you find you habitually react too impulsively and need to learn to pause and plan your response? Did you learn that you’re not as organized as you’d like to be and need to create a bucket list where you can dump all your to-do tasks so they don’t create so much noise in your brain? Maybe you’ve become more self aware and want to start a deeper kindness or patience practice.
I have no idea what your self awareness practice will show you. I can guarantee, though, it will showcase something valuable to learn and grow from. Maybe you’ll be pleased with the 45% that’s on autopilot and maybe a few tweaks are necessary.
Always remember this rare and valuable state of being we call self awareness is yours to extract from and mold any time you wish.
Here are some other recommended Good Reads for improving self awareness!
Enjoy October and keep finding Joy In Movement!
shelli
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