Change Maven Musings: Self-Awareness
Real stories. Real people. Real change.
Self-awareness is the crux of all change we go through. If we have a high level of self-awareness, we navigate change with curiosity, compassion, and courage. If we don’t, we say and do stupid shit in the moment that often has a wide impact we can’t easily undo. Knowing where we come from when change happens is so, so important because it gives us a fighting chance of not adding to the churn and disruption that comes in the wake of change. We opt instead to seize the opportunity to learn more about ourselves and the world around us on a deeper, more personal, and more authentic level.
A higher level of self-awareness is a point of view and state of being I strive for in the work I do and the life I lead, because it’s too easy to have it remain academic and theoretical. To be a “nice to have,” rather than a way to attempt the gritty work of noticing our responses to someone or something that is changing before us. To take a moment and ask ourselves, where am I feeling this in my body? Is my jaw clenching, teeth grinding? Is my stomach churning, my heart racing, my shoulders tightening? What emotions am I feeling? Excitement, confusion, fear, sadness? Anger? And - the big kahuna - how does all of this contribute to what I’m thinking, believing, to be true? Is it true? So many questions that invite so many answers that invite so many more…questions. I get why folks don’t go there. It’s an intimidating and overwhelming space, to be more self-aware. And once you’re more aware, you can’t go back. You can’t undo being more aware without some major denial or distraction put in place. Which folks attempt to do. Yet the increased awareness, the new insight persists, niggling at the back of our mind, where it won’t be ignored, no matter how much we try. It’s there, gaining real estate within us, giving us a unique opportunity to go deeper into ourselves, deeper towards our authenticity if we choose to…it’s a scary and thrilling prospect.
Cultivating true self-awareness also requires solitude, a topic we recently covered here. We don’t live in a society that values quiet or solitude. We are surrounded by a cacophony of notifications, alerts, to-do’s, and noise in general that keep us vigilant and elevated, day after day. Focused on the immediate and fleeting, rather than finding space to step out of that flow and into a deeper connection with ourselves and the world around us. It’s hard to do and hard to sustain. To do it, we must consciously build personal meaning and value around solitude and self-awareness and the fruit it yields for us, moment by moment, one life interaction at a time.
Let’s take a look at some self-reflection questions, focused on ways to cultivate self-awareness; please feel free to share your responses in the comments section below - we’d love to hear your thoughts on these:
How self-aware would you say you are, on a scale of 1-5, which 5 being highly self-aware? What are some examples from your life that support this rating? How do you feel about this self-rating?
What are some examples from your life where you’ve seen yourself display a high level of self-awareness? What are some examples where you’ve seen yourself avoid awareness? Compare these two and see what insights come up for you.
Consider someone in your life that you see as a self-aware individual. What are some of the habits and traits they display?
What’s one action you can take today that would create a higher level of awareness in something from your life? How will you know you’ve been successful?