September is sponsored as being ‘International Self-Awareness Month’ by Cathcart.com since 1998. Jim Cathcart of Cathcart Institute is an award winning motivational speaker and author. His goal is for everyone to explore their inner dynamics, and understand who they are and why. Knowing yourself, and the areas you would like to improve within yourself, is the first step in achieving self acceptance and long-term personal happiness. Often, people are unable to see themselves as others see them, as their reality is different than most (self image, internally and externally). They prefer to focus only on the aspects of their being that make them feel good about themselves. Or contrarily, some prefer to focus only on the negative aspects. The contradiction reflects an inability to be objectionable with oneself.
Environment affects self-awareness
There are many factors, good or bad, that can affect self-awareness. Some key influences are:
- Our upbringing. We are taught to behave a certain way, and also that some things are bad or good. This means that we may get stuck in a rut or fail to try new things to see if we really like them.
- Media. We’re constantly bombarded with images and messages telling us how to be, what is beautiful, how we are supposed to act, and many of these can change our perception of what we think we should act like.
- Our friends. We choose friends that we think we should be like, or we look for approval from them and we stray from our true self to “fit in”.
- Society. We understand what’s acceptable in society, learn social grace, and live by the golden rule. But unless we really have a grasp on our self-awareness, any changes we make will be on the surface and not at the subconscious emotional level where they need to be.
How to become more self-aware
Once you discover the wonderful elements of your values, intellect, background imprint, character, personal talents and sense of purpose, then you will begin to truly appreciate and love who you are. But first, you must be honest with yourself. Denial is the biggest barrier to self acceptance and long-term happiness. Below are some simple mental exercises you can do to increase your self-awareness.
- Look at past issues you’ve had with people and be honest with yourself. Sometimes it’s so hard to think that we might have messed up that we don’t allow ourselves to reflect on the actions we took to help fuel the fire or cause an argument.
- Create the positive habit of pushing the ‘bad parts’ out of your conscious. This eases the mental stress of having to deal with those issues, as positive change requires humble effort. Choose to not accept those negative aspects when looking at yourself in the mirror.
- Being clued into to what you really enjoy and dislike, regardless of what other people think or the media tells you. If you enjoy something that may not be the norm to the people around you, own it and be yourself.
Self-Awareness leads to Others-Awareness and then to the acceptance of and caring about others. You can only love others and be loved by others ONLY if you first love yourself. Getting to know yourself to make a better you is what makes a better world. To celebrate Self-Awareness Month, The Skinny Mirror wants to help you to get to know your true beauty in your raw natural form. We are offering $20 OFF + FREE SHIPPING on all Bare Naked models. No matter what your shape or size, The 10 Day Exercise Challenge will show you how to love and appreciate you for who you are. Use offer code AWARE at checkout.
