Is self-awareness something you’ve really thought about?

One of the biggest reasons people aren’t able to improve their lives, even if they’re trying to, is because they lack the self-awareness to see what’s going wrong in their lives. If you want to improve your life, you need to improve your self-awareness first.

This is easier said than done, but it someone thing you can work on and get better at. It’s also one of those things that takes a lifetime to really master for most people.

In my mid 20’s and early ’30s, my life was far from great. I couldn’t figure out why all these bad things kept happening to me. I chalked it up to beliefs I heard growing up from my family and friends… that I must just have really bad luck.

Looking back where I grew up in northern Minnesota negativity, blaming others and not having self-awareness was the norm (but I lacked the self-awareness to even consider this at the time). I was a product of my environment. I liked where I grew up and have lots of great memories there, but personal responsibility and self-awareness wasn’t a thing for the most part, at least with most of the people I knew.

Back during the difficult years, I mentioned above, it never crossed my mind that I was the common denominator in all these bad things. How could I be the problem, right? I didn’t ask for these things to happen to me. This blind line of thinking seems pretty silly to me now.

I came across an article one day that talked about self-awareness and mindfulness. I never heard of this. I mean, I knew actions had consequences but I never really applied that to my life on a grander scale – as in how I think and operate from day-to-day. It was more black and white for me, like if you’re rude to someone they’ll be rude back or their feelings will be hurt, if you break the law you could be punished with a fine or jail time or if you take a wrong turn you won’t end up at your destination, etc.

The article talked about how your life can change if you’re simply more self-aware of your behaviors, beliefs and actions and how they affect your life over time. Reading this and really letting it sink in was a huge epiphany for me.

I really thought about how I had been approaching life. I’m not proud of it but I had a very bad attitude, I was extremely negative and I blamed others and situations for all the bad things that happened to me. I took very little personal responsibility.

Just realizing these things for the first time changed my life right then and there. I started being more open-minded, more forgiving and I worked on seeing the good rather than the bad in all things. Shamanism teaches that everything we experience in life is medicine in some shape or form. When something bad happens, ask yourself what you can learn from it. What medicine can you take from bad situations to make you a little smarter and stronger?

I thought a lot more about what I said to other people and eventually what I was saying to myself (I’m still working on that part). This created a snowball effect of things changing for the better in my life and I know having greater self-awareness can improve anyone’s life. The happiest and most successful people are highly self-aware.

So here are 11 Inspiring Quotes to Increase Self-Awareness:

#1

“Self-awareness is one of the rarest of human commodities. I don’t mean self-consciousness where you’re limiting and evaluating yourself. I mean being aware of your own patterns.” – Anthony Robbins

Self-awareness really is a rare commodity. Think of how just about everything on the planet would improve if each person was 10% more aware. I’m talking about less pollution, fewer wars, improved relationships, bigger bank accounts and greater happiness to name a few.

#2

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

What does this one mean to you? I think it means you’re not living life fully if you aren’t willing or able to see yourself for what you really are. How do you improve if you don’t examine your thoughts, beliefs and outcomes in life?

#3

“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?” – Marcus Aurelius

This one stings a little, doesn’t it? The bad behavior we see in others and often hate might just be a reflection of we’ve been acting ourselves. Ouch.

#4

“Without self-awareness, we are as babies in the cradles.” – Virginia Woolf

We don’t grow and evolve over time if we aren’t self-aware. I know people in my life who have held grudges and blamed the same people for all their life’s difficulties for years and years and never once took a good hard look at their own role in what happened. Don’t be that person. Self-awareness isn’t easy or fun, but it’s important if you want to grow into the best version of yourself and find happiness.

#5

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Jung

When you’re irritated, ask yourself why. Why is this thing bothering you so much? Maybe it’s a reminder of something you wish you could change about yourself. You never know…it’s worth exploring though, isn’t it?

#6

“After all, all knowledge simply means self-knowledge.” – Bruce Lee   

Without self-knowledge, I think you’re missing out on a great deal in life. Self-awareness really does open up the world in a whole new way. 🙂

#7

“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.” – Ann Landers

This one makes me smile and it’s so true. Dogs are the most forgiving creatures on the planet.

#8

“Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing.” – Lawrence Bossidy

Yaaaaaaas! Self-awareness is the key to personal growth. Without it, you’ll never get to where you want to go.

#9

“Self-awareness is the ability to take an honest look at your life without any attachment to it being right or wrong, good or bad.” – Debbie Ford

This quote is really great. Self-awareness doesn’t mean judging yourself. It’s not about harsh criticism and belittling yourself; it’s simply being aware and evaluating why things are the way they are and what role you played to get there. With that information, you can make the changes needed to improve.

#10

“Self-awareness happens when we become aware of other people, things and places around us and how we are all connected.” – Toni Sorenson

Evaluating our relationships with all things external in our lives is what self-awareness is all about.

#11

“By becoming self-aware, you gain ownership of reality; in becoming real, you become the master of both inner and outer life.” – Deepak Chopra

Self-awareness allows you to own everything in your reality. It gives you the tools to improve who you are and how you interact with the world.

Of the quotes I shared above, the one by Anthony Robbins is my favorite. Being aware of your patterns is everything. It’s our small, daily patterns that add up to either a great life or a not so great life. It’s the small actions we take each day that bring us either closer or further away from where we want to be whether that’s losing weight, building a business, improving relationships, etc. It all comes down to what we do regularly. The tricky part is not seeing how these little actions impact us each day. They DON’T impact us each day, they impact us over time and being self-aware is how we can improve them.

If you’d like to start building high-vibe habits like increasing self-awareness grab my free guide below. It provides simple strategies for building new habits and lots of great ideas of how you can get started today.

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