WAYS LEADING TOWARDS SELF-AWARENESS

Some ways to increase self-awareness

We have by now deliberated on some of the pertinent areas in which we need to have self-awareness. Self-awareness is an umbrella term that covers several aspects other than what we have already discussed. Awareness about one's physical well-being, one's values and personal rules, one's goals and purposes in life, etc., are some of them. We need to have a comprehensive understanding about them all, if we wish to build up a wholesome and healthy life. The more we are aware of them all, the better we are able to shape our lives. There are quite a number of techniques that can help us build better awareness. Some of these techniques are expounded below:

(i) Self-reflection 

Reflection is one of the modalities that could be used for building self-awareness. We need to set aside a quarter of an hour or so, on a daily basis, for this purpose, During this time, your thoughts need to dwell long enough on one or other issue that is crucial to your life. You may pose questions to yourself with respect to the issue in consideration. In case the Issue you are presently concerned with, for example, is awareness about your goal in life, you can ask yourself several questions in relation to it, like: Do I have a purpose In life? What is that? Is it something that is within my ability to accomplish? How much time do I spend dally in pursuit of it? As you continue to put questions such as these to yourself and find answers to them, your awareness about the issue keeps growing.

(ii) Develop the habit to self-observation

If you try, you can be vigilant about your own thinking, feelings and actions. In fact, you can think about your own thinking and your emotional stream of consciousness. And as you continue to do so on an ongoing basis, you will chance upon a lot of clues. not only concerning your feelings but also your behaviour. This will also give you an understanding as regards your strong as well weak points; this, in turn, can help you decide what aspects of your behaviour need to be retained and pinpoint those to be eliminated. Thus through proper scrutiny and observation, you will be able to know a lot more about yourself.

(iii) Teaming up with a colleague

Teaming up with a trusted colleague on the job can be yet another way to build self-awareness. You can meet over a cup of tea and exchange details regarding each other's behaviour, ways of communication, manner of interaction with others, etc. Such a mutual exchange can help build up not only a lot of self-awareness but also provide ample clues as to how to get rid of what is debilitating and improper.

(iv) Asking for feedback

Awareness building is possible not only through self-observation and self-reflection but also through feedback obtained from other significant people in your life. You can seek information about yourself from your parents, teachers, friends, colleagues and even your spouse. Of course, your observation and reflection may not always unfold very subtle aspects regarding your behaviour, your mannerisms, your transactions, etc. But the people you interact and work with can help you know much about yourself. So getting feedback from people whom you can trust is one of the best ways to get to know yourself better.

Conclusion

Self-awareness is an overarching knowledge about yourself. It has several dimensions, such as emotional self-awareness, behavioural self-awareness, awareness about one's locus of control, personality type, social competence, etc. Self-awareness has many an advantage. It can help you become autonomous. It will give you an understanding as to where you are strong and where, weak. It will also help you identify what you need to retain and what is to be eliminated. This overarching knowledge about yourself will empower you to work towards improvement of your overall personality. The more you are aware of yourself, the better you are in a position to bring about self-improvement. There are several techniques that you could use for building your self-awareness. Developing the habit of self-observation and self-reflection, teaming up with a trusted colleague on the job and seeking feedback from people of significance. in your life are just some of the effective ways of building self-awareness. Self-awareness can open up manifold ways to self-improvement and accomplishments in your life. You will then indubitably experience an upward spiral m all the avenues of your life.