It can be difficult to look in the mirror and ask the question…”Who Am I?” We often do not know who we want to be or truly who we are. It takes some deep soul searching sometimes. Our thoughts can get in our way. We look at that person staring at us and think about all those concerns we have…am I good enough, am I strong enough, do I have what it takes, do others like me, do they think I’m good enough! As I have mentioned before we are going to stop the negative thoughts and concentrate on all those good things about you…because there are many. Finding out who we really are is exciting.
Improving self awareness requires you to get to know yourself for who you really are. Understanding what makes you happy, sad, angry, etc. is required. Knowing this information helps you control your behavior or at least helps you focus on acknowledgement and accepting those emotions. It takes courage and discipline to increase our self awareness. You must be vulnerable. It takes analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. Most of us are pretty good about knowing our strengths and talking about them, but have difficulty identifying and expressing our weaknesses. If we admit we have weaknesses we feel we may be rejected or not valued. We all have weaknesses and we must identify them so we can put them into perspective and accept they are a part of who we are. If we can laugh at ourselves and show a sense of humor we will be on our way to becoming more confident.
For example, I am directionally challenged…I get lost just about wherever I go…even if I have been there before! It’s true! I used to be upset about this but now I just laugh it off and make fun. I typically get to where I am going…maybe just not as quickly as I wanted to. I know what you are thinking…with today’s technology… use GPS! HA! I do use my GPS…that’s why I get there eventually! Of course, I know this is a weakness of mine so I accept this, make adjustments and work on overcoming…and sometimes I do pretty good! So let’s look back in that mirror…dig deep…see who you really are. “Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement. If we are aware that our manners – language, behavior, and actions – are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.” – Frances Hesselbein
