A plethora of positive benefits come from having a high level of self-awareness. Yet, it can be challenging to learn how to increase this intrinsic part of you, as it’s not something we’re taught in school. Fortunately, with a little bit of effort, you can become more self-aware in no time at all.
Self-awareness involves asking yourself questions, and we’re not talking about questions like “what is Essure reversal?” The questions you’ll ask yourself are more along the lines of “What is this emotion telling me?” Let’s get into more detail on how to increase your self-awareness.
Practice Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is one of the best methods to increase your level of self-awareness. Mindfulness involves objectively viewing your thoughts, emotions, and sense perceptions. By allowing yourself to step back and observe what’s going on within you, you become more in tune with yourself – which is a necessary part of self-awareness. The good news, also, is that you can practice mindfulness any time of day! Don’t wait for a problem to arise to start practicing. Start each morning with some form of mindfulness technique.
Write it Out
Journaling and freewriting are excellent ways to increase your level of self-awareness. When you write out what’s on your mind, you’re better able to organize your thoughts and feelings. Once you let it out on paper, you’ll be more likely to notice patterns and gain more clarity on what your mind and body are trying to tell you.
Observe Your Emotions, Don’t Become Them
Self-awareness doesn’t mean that you won’t ever feel stressed, sad, or other uncomfortable emotions. Instead, self-awareness means that when unpleasant emotions come up, you’re able to observe them instead of becoming them. It’s important to note that you aren’t your emotions. You are the one who experiences them. You can think of it like watching a movie. When you don’t allow your emotions to consume you, you’re better equipped to be able to manage them.
Spend Time in Nature
Spending time in nature is a wonderful place to work on increasing your self-awareness. The reason is that nature provides outside stimuli that can help you to be more in touch with your surroundings. Self-awareness isn’t just about being aware of what’s inside of you but also about your external environment and your response to it. Allowing yourself some time outside each day gives you the opportunity to experience the outside world in a calm and peaceful way.
Reflect Often
If you’re looking to strengthen your self-awareness, get ready for some introspection time. If you’re constantly on the go or filling up your calendar with plans and tasks, then it’ll be much more challenging for you to grow in self-awareness. Self-awareness requires that you dedicate time every day to spend time reflecting and consciously observing your thoughts and emotions. That’s why meditation is a great method to help you learn to connect deeper with yourself and subsequently increase your level of self-awareness.