5 Ways to Cultivate Self-Awareness
“Bring awareness to each act. Walking on the road, walk fully alert; eating, eat with awareness. Whatever you are doing, don't let the past and the future interfere. Be in the present. That's what awareness is all about.” - Osho
Self-awareness is simply the capacity to observe ourselves—to take notice of and pay attention to patterns within our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. And it’s a skill that we all have.
When you step into awareness you are the observer. You step away from ideas, judgement and inner dialogue or a need to define anything. It is in this space where you are experiencing the present moment without any distraction, you are in the here and now.
Developing more self awareness helps you understand your emotions, feelings and the way you think. It helps you to see yourself in a different light and gives you a whole new perspective.
By practising awareness and not identifying with what you think and feel, you create a space within you that sets you free from the impact of your thoughts and feelings. You start to live life with more ease and flow, allowing whatever is meant for you to come to you, instead of pushing and forcing how you think things should be.
It takes time and energy to cultivate self awareness and is a lifelong journey, but so worth it. There are numerous benefits to self awareness such as:
Higher self esteem
Better relationships
Improved overall wellbeing
Increased self-confidence
Heightened creativity
Self awareness is an ongoing and ever evolving process, and in order to create a greater sense of self awareness you need to cultivate positive daily habits.
Here are 5 different ways you can deepen your self awareness:
Meditation
A meditation practise helps you to cultivate a deeper sense of awareness. There are two types of awareness in meditation, focusing on an object, for example focusing your attention on the breath. When you focus the mind without an object, for example on nothing, it is harder as you are asking the mind to just be in awareness. This takes practise, at first start with awareness of the breath and with time you will be able to focus on nothing.
The more inward focus you can cultivate and the more you ask yourself questions the more self-aware you become. Through meditation you are allowing yourself space to observe and witness your thoughts, feelings and emotions with non-attachment.
Sit for 5 mins and just simply follow the breath and see what happens.
Practice Self compassion
Self-compassion cultivates confidence, growth, and expansion. Self-criticism ignites self-hatred, anger, and resentment. To help you cultivate more self awareness creating the habit of a conscious practice of love, kindness and compassion as a way to break down all the barriers of love within yourself that you have built up during your lifetimes due to experiences, trauma and circumstances. Giving yourself the gift of self-compassion helps you to understand yourself on a deeper level, it helps you to open yourself up to a deeper awareness and to live from the heart.
Create a mindfulness practise
Creating a mindful practise is vital in cultivating more self awareness. When you are mindful, you are intentionally present in your experience. When you are living in the present moment versus thinking and living in the past or worrying about the future you have the opportunity to manage any thoughts and feelings that come up. In the present moment you are in touch with what is actually going on around you and observing, you are in the here and now, whether that is brushing your teeth, drinking a tea or in a yoga posture, all that exists is the present moment.
Journal for self reflection
Decluttering the mind shifts your mind into the here and now and journaling is the perfect exercise for helping you to make the change and become more self aware of your feelings, emotions and how you are feeling.
It is a great way to let go of anything that is no longer serving you enabling you to create space for the new. Writing things down and getting them out onto paper is such a healing practise and helps you to become more aware of your thoughts and feelings and what is going on inside of you giving you the opportunity to change it.
Experiment with journaling for just 10mins a day and see how more aware you become of yourself.
Practise Yoga
Your yoga practise helps you to cultivate more self awareness through asana and awareness of the breath. When you are present on your yoga mat you are fully aware of every part of your body. You feel your body in each pose and how it moves. When you breathe and you can feel the air filling your lungs. When you feel unbalanced just by grounding your feet it changes your awareness and anchors you to the moment to regain focus and stability.
The more you practise connecting to your body on the mat, the more you will be self-aware off the mat and in your daily life.
The secret of awareness is to just watch everything that is going on in the body and mind - become a witness and observer, non-attached. Do not resist it, just gently cultivate the practise of becoming a witness and watch, your life will change!
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