We have been conditioned since a young age to cultivate outer awareness vs. self awareness. To look outside ourselves for everything – our worth, value, love, esteem, confidence has all been outsourced. The scary part is we don’t know WHO it’s been outsourced to, especially with the rise of social media, just about anyone and everyone can affect our ego.
It’s no wonder one of the top stressors we face these days is the question “What is my purpose?” which is close cousin of “Who am I?” .
“You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you are”
So, where are you? In order to know where you are you need to have some self awareness. You need to get super real with yourself and know how you feel.
How you feel is being communicated to you ALL THE TIME by the one and only wearable device that you carry with you 24/7 (no, it’s not your phone), it’s your inner wisdom, your inner compass, inner gps.. call it what you want… it’s in there, and it’s telling you (possibly screaming at you at this point) about how you feel.
The key to self awareness is strengthening your awareness muscle and turning on your internal flashlight. This happens through a consistent meditation practice. Sure, there are other ways, but the research shows breath focused meditation literally strengthens your brain, so I stick to meditation.
You develop self awareness through practices like meditation, which allow you to slow down, take in more data, and make an informed choice. Even if only for a split second, in that pause you hear what your body is telling you.
Over time as your awareness sharpens you pick up more and more information, it’s incredible. You’re self awareness is your sixth sense that can feel stress levels rising well in advance of other symptoms. With this new found information you can choose to take action before you become overwhelmed.
Develop you’re awareness now with this five minute breath focused meditation practice. Do it daily for at least 21 days, you will begin to notice sensations both inside your body, and outside that you may not have before.
Now that you’ve cultivated your self awareness, discover where stress is hidden in your life.
