People are aware of most things around them but sadly lack self-awareness. They are not aware of their own personality and are not able to introspect on themselves.
Self-awareness is essential, and its traits are something everyone must try and imbibe. We present a comprehensive guide on self-awareness to help you understand its importance with practice tips on increasing your awareness of your own self.
What is self awareness – types of self awareness
Self-awareness is being able to reflect on yourself by focusing on your emotions and actions. It is being able to objectively self-evaluate to determine if what you do and think aligns with your internal standards.
A self-aware person can look at their actions, feelings, and thoughts dispassionately and objectively.
There are two types of self-awareness, public and private.
- Public self-awareness is when you are aware of how others perceive you. It is self-awareness that makes you understand social norms and try to align yourself to them. You would try to behave in such a way that what you do is accepted by the public. Public self-awareness can lead to problems like anxiety when you start worrying about what others think of you.
- Private self-awareness is being aware of your own self. It is when you start to look at yourself or reflect on your actions and behaviour. It is an example of private self-awareness when you start feeling butterflies in the stomach before an important meeting.
How to understand yourself better?
The reason self-awareness is important is that it helps you to understand yourself better. Knowing yourself better will help you be a better person. It also enables you to build stronger relationships with others and makes you happier.
The Johari window is a tool used by psychologists to help you understand yourself better. It is a psychological tool developed in 1955 by Luft and Ingham. Applying this model helps you understand four different forms of yourself. These are what is known or open, what is hidden, what is blind, and the unknown self.
- The known self or open self is what others see you. It refers to aspects of yourself that you don’t mind talking about with others.
- The hidden or private self is what you see in yourself. It is what others are not able to see. Most people would be uncomfortable discussing these aspects of themselves with others. It includes weakness and positive qualities that you are too shy to let others know.
- The blind self is something others see in you but you are unaware of. It is known as blind because you are not able to see it. It can go both ways. For instance, others may perceive you negatively, and you don’t know about it. The converse could also be possible when you look at yourself negatively, but others have positive feelings about you.
- The unknown self is something that neither you nor others are aware of.
Applying the Johari window helps you understand yourself better. It helps you improve yourself and allows you to communicate better with others. You can improve your relationships with others and be a better version of yourself.
Journal these aspects down, and monitor them every month. Sometimes you will see your new self compared to the past and be reminded of your old self that you have forgotten about.
Why is self awareness important for students?
If you are a student, then self-awareness is essential. It is important that you understand yourself better. As a student, you are in the stage where you are preparing for the future. This is when you need to be more aware of yourself. You are in the stage where you are ready to evolve in life, and self-awareness can help you.
Self-awareness is helpful for students for the following reasons:
- It helps you understand your needs and wants better.
- Self-awareness helps you strengthen your relationship with others, including your family, friends, teachers, and others.
- You can improve your productivity and achieve success in your studies.
- It helps you be better at decision-making, which is crucial since you are at a juncture where you make key decisions about your future.
- You can change in a positive way when you are self-aware.
- It helps you handle your emotions better.
- You can improve your self-esteem, which is helpful for your future.
Why is self awareness important in the workplace?
The workplace is where you spend most of the time in a day. It is where you need to spend time with bosses and colleagues to achieve your personal goals and the organization’s goals. Self-awareness helps you relate better to your colleagues and superiors.
You can handle situations in a better way when you are self-aware. It helps you reflect before you act and not allow your emotions to get the better of you. Since stress has been a significant issue in recent days, self-awareness can help reduce stress.
Self-awareness helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to work better and try to improve yourself. You can be more productive and successful at work.
5 tips to increase self awareness
1. Make time and space for mindfulness practice
When you practice mindfulness, you learn to be more focused. You would learn to reflect on everything related to you. Mindfulness practice helps you unbiasedly look at your thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and action. It enables you to improve yourself, which is a crucial outcome of self-awareness.
Make time and space to practice mindfulness daily. You don’t have to learn meditation. Just choose a time when you are free, and find a quiet place, so you can concentrate better.
2. Use scents in your self-care routine
Following a self-care routine is an excellent way to increase self-awareness. When you practice self-care, you are not only taking care of your physical body but also addressing your emotions. Did you know you can practice self-care using scents?
Using an essential oil diffuser can help you get the best benefits from scents. The reed diffuser is a convenient product, and you can use mood-boosting scents to improve your mood. Scents can help you whether you are a student or are working.
- When you want to get the best results from your study, consider using the best scent for studying. Inhaling Rosemary fragrance can help you improve your memory and be more focused.
- Here’s a tip to boost productivity. You can keep a fragrance product that releases the best scent for working. If you use an aroma diffuser with citrus scents like lemongrass in it, the fragrance can energize you and help you work more efficiently.
- If you use Citronella scents, it can help you feel more relaxed. It relaxed your mind and body. The smell can boost your mood if you are feeling low and negative.
- If you cannot sleep well, then the cedarwood scent can be helpful. It relaxes you helping you sleep well.
3. Journal your thoughts
This is a simple technique that helps you increase your self-awareness. All you need to do is pen down your thoughts and feelings. Keep a journal or book for this purpose and write down all that you feel in the book. When you put your thoughts on paper, it helps you express yourself better.
When you practice self-expression in this way, it helps you reflect on your feelings and actions. You can go through the journal when you have the time, so you reflect on everything to understand yourself better. You can reduce your fears and handle your problems better, and it helps you manage stress and be a better person.
4. Pay attention to your listening skills
Listening skills are vital since you can learn about yourself by listening to others. You need to develop observation skills, so you can understand the other person's actions and behaviours. It will help you read the body language of others, so you can understand the message behind their thoughts and action.
Improving your listening skills will help you be mindful of what others are trying to say and enables you to be more self-aware.
5. Communicate your thoughts
Communicate your thoughts with others in a better way to improve self-awareness. In today’s world, communication plays a key role. Being self-aware is all about communicating with yourself. This, in turn, helps you share your ideas well with others. When you understand your own feelings better, you can then communicate better.
Being self-aware helps you avoid mistakes while communicating. When you are emotional, you may make errors in communication that can be costly. When you are self-aware, you are in control of your emotions. This helps you communicate better without making significant misunderstandings.
Conclusion
Start following all these tips from today to increase your self awareness. Practice mindfulness and understand yourself better.
You can start incorporating scents as a part of your self-care routine to boost your mood. Some of the best scents are available from Shiora home fragrance which offers a wide range of products!
