Self Awareness is the Key to Self Improvement

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It is very difficult to change our lives, when we don’t know the driving force behind what we want changed. We may want to lose weight for our health, or because of the way we look. We may want to improve our relationship, but don’t know how. We may want to quit alcohol but keep finding reasons to want to drink.

Self-awareness is the key to creating any lasting change in our lives.

Only when we can really look at ourselves, can we understand the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to what we want changed.

To build self-awareness, we must listen to our thoughts. We must observe ourselves in our environment. This takes practice.

We are equipped with an ego voice in our mind, that wants to point out all the things other people are doing to make us miserable. The problem with this, is that it takes away our power to make change. If we think it is up to someone else to change to make us feel better, we ultimately give them our power and our fate.

Meditation helped build my self-awareness. Taking the time to sit with the intention of quieting my mind helped me recognize my thoughts.

Another helpful tool I use, is journaling. When I became aware of my thoughts, I began journaling with that in mind. I would call out the crazy thoughts I was having. I would call out the thoughts that were blaming others for my discomfort.

The truth is, if we are uncomfortable in our body, it is for us to tend to and respond to. It isn’t someone else’s job to make us feel better. Even if they did, it would be short lived, if we are otherwise always at the mercy of our thoughts.

When we become self-aware, we can provoke change in any aspect of our lives.

After I became self-aware of my ego’s thoughts, I realized that I blamed a lot of my discomfort on my husband. I would get fixated on what he was or wasn’t doing, and it made me miserable. It made me resent him, which caused him to hide within himself, and not join me in helping with whatever I may have needed help with.

What are the thoughts that dominate your mind and cause you to eat an extra plate of dinner, or have a few extra drinks? What are the thoughts that prevent you from exercising or taking that art class you always wanted to take?

Our mind really does play tricks on us. It tells us what we should or shouldn’t do, who we should or shouldn’t like, and makes up stories about who we are.

Becoming aware of your thoughts, offers you the vantage point of realizing that you are not your thoughts. You are the quiet observer. Then you can decide whether those thoughts are really what you want to be true for yourself.

You can stop reacting to the world through your triggers, fears, and judgment. You can create lasting change when you cultivate self-awareness, simply because you will see that it is all illusion. Everything your mind is trying to declare, is merely an illusion based on past experiences, other people’s thoughts, or society.

In the now, where your true self always resides, you get to decide who you are.

So the next time you are realizing something you could do for yourself that might improve your quality of life – be aware of the declarations made by the mind.Watch your mind try to talk you into, or out of things. Don’t follow it.

Take one step in the direction you want to go. One step toward peace. One hour at the gym. One night off from alcohol. One day of not lashing out at your partner. One moment of not reacting through your irrational thoughts.

Every moment is a moment for self-awareness. See the you that you project onto the world, and instead, embody the true essence that you are.

You are the light that you want shined on you. Shine from within.