“Who are you? No... I mean who are you REALLY?”

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“Who are you? No... I mean who are you REALLY?”

‘Self-awareness is a key to self-mastery’ – Gretchen Rubin.

Being honest, how often do you take time to learn more about yourself? How often do you grab opportunities to become more self-aware, or like most of us, do you simply allow life to happen day-by-day in the hope that things will one day become clearer? In our manic lives, frantic routines and unforgiving schedules often prevent us from reflecting on the types of traits that characterise us as individuals. While we can all look, feel and act in similar ways, we are by no means carbon copies of one another. Each individual is unique in their own right, with many qualities combined together in a perfect recipe. The outcome: the true, authentic you!

“Life does not just happen to us, life happens for us”. What does this mean for you? To us, this captures the notion that life is a journey of discovery, with twists and turns that play a part in finding out more about ourselves. Of course, it may not all be rosy as we will be faced with challenges and failures along the way. What is important however is that we see these as opportunities to grow, learn more about ourselves and propel us forward in our pursuit of genuine happiness. In our darkest or dullest moments it is often typical to assume the world is out to get us. What’s worse is that it appears to choose others to succeed even when we feel we should be first in line. Flip this assumption on its head however, you realise the world is in fact helping you, providing valuable chances to learn, develop and grow. This is where the art of self-awareness comes in.

By seeing life from this perspective, we gain a greater understanding ourselves, even at our worst moments. What’s magic about being self-aware is that no situation is faced blindly as we can use our knowledge of what it is we enjoy, what we are good at, and also the stuff we need to work on, to guide us through them. This helps us remember how we have responded in the past and why others won’t necessarily respond in the same way. When we utilise these opportunities to learn more about ourselves, we are acquiring an extra layer of armour for whatever life throws at us.

Becoming self-aware means gaining knowledge of who you are, what it is that you have to offer and what your true purpose is for the journey of life ahead.

SELF-AWARENESS SERIES

To help your journey to self-awareness we have compiled together some useful tips to help you ask the right questions. Take a look at the practical suggestions below as we think you’ll find them great ways of getting some self-awareness into your routines.

This is the art of looking within oneself and paying attention to the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that drive our behaviour. The first step to becoming self-aware is questioning who you are, what drives you and where it is you want to go. Taking 15 minutes at the end of the day to reflect on decisions you make is a great way to build self-awareness, learning from events that day and identifying themes in the way we think and behave over time.

Given that our own opinion can be full of bias, it’s also important to gain feedback from the people that know us best. To gain a full understanding of the person we portray to the world, we must welcome the honest, sometimes difficult insight only observers provide. Asking colleagues, close friends and family how you make them feel, what you are doing when they see you at your best/worst and how they would honestly describe you, are powerful questions for gathering that precious insight.

A lot of research has been done on personalities and from it some great tools have been constructed. By collecting your answers to carefully chosen questions, online personality tests can classify your personality type and provide insight into the traits that typically describe people like you. The ’16 personalities’ test is a great example that is available online to try for free, providing a useful way of exploring your personality further.

Remember: There is no simple fix, self-awareness comes with commitment and consistency. If you work some of these activities into your routine however, before long you’ll be an expert on yourself!

Click here for more useful information, tips, tricks and advice on self-awareness!