If you’ve been following my social media accounts, you might have read about my most recent topic that I live by pursuing: Self-Knowledge and a better understanding and mastery of myself.
Understanding yourself and self-knowledge is one of the most important skills for success and confidence in all areas of life. And it starts with getting to know yourself intimately -because you can’t be yourself until you know yourself!
What does self-knowledge mean to you? Do you know that it’s critical not only for our health but for our very development as individuals? If you’ve never heard of this concept, it’s OK, keep reading!
Consider self-knowledge as the foundation to your life. It is the crucial (yet often missed) first step for processing information about ourselves, learning how to make decisions and take action. If you don’t know your personal needs, strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivations, and emotions, then how do you really know if the decisions you are making are aligned with your best self, right?
Here’s the rub: It takes time and courage to develop self-knowledge. It can be scary to look under the hood. It’s sure a lot easier to just look at what others are doing for guidance and ideas, but thing is, there’s only ONE YOU! There are no two people on this big green earth that are in exactly the same situation mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually so why on earth would we expect to all do everything the same?
No wonder 1/2 of us are walking around sick, tired, over-weight, over-worked, depressed and unmotivated!
What works for one person does not work for all. So we must have the courage to forge our own path and find our own way even though often this means breaking away from the crowd – or friends, peers and even our own family to do what we need to do to be our best, most optimal selves.
Self-Knowledge is Power
Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, put it best: “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”
You can develop self-awareness and understanding by using exercises that help you increase your powers of inner-observation.
Here are some steps you can take to gain self-knowledge:
1. Make a list of your values and things that are important to you.
2. Pay attention to your emotions (both good and bad) and what triggers them.
3. As things come up, get in the habit of pausing and taking a moment to go within and check on how you’re feeling or reacting to something and then ask yourself what it is you want in the situation.
4. Practice mindfulness by spending a few minutes a day focusing on each physical movement you make. This is an in-the-now mindfulness meditation practice. During these minutes concentrate on your physical moves, zeroing in on your experience of those movements – just feeling them. It’s a simple but cool trick to learn how to be in your physical body and out of your head!
5. Listen to your self talk and have the self-compassion to speak to yourself like you would speak to a small child you love dearly.
5. Have a real relationship with yourself. Get to know yourself and have the courage to identify what you are really feeling and needing from moment to moment – particularly when negative emotions arise – and then take care of yourself by GIVING YOURSELF what you truly need.
As you begin to identify your tendencies and needs, you can then start to take steps to meet them in healthy and constructive ways.
Also, you can ask yourself the following questions to achieve a more fulfilling life:
- What feelings do I want to feel more of in my life? (in my workshops and programs I call this the How I Want to Feel List)
- What are my values and am I living in accordance with what’s really important to me?
- What am I feeling, needing or wanting most in this situation?
- How do I typically respond to stressful situations?
- What areas of my life need firmer boundaries?
- What are three actions I can take RIGHT NOW (today) to get one step closer to feeling better?
By knowing yourself better, understanding your needs and how everything about you affects your actions, reactions, and interactions with others, you’ll be able to better manage your stress, stay healthier, make good decisions and ultimately serve as a great example to others on how to do the same!
Ready to try it? Please reply in the comment section below – I’d love to hear:)
