Finding yourself could be considered a life-long challenge, but it’s not as hard as it seems. Increasing self-awareness and transformation is possible when you start by boosting your self-confidence.

Finding confidence brings you peace, and learning to increase self-awareness brings you proper balance. It’s like a cycle, where one part can’t work without the other.

Self-confidence heals you from insecurity and fear. Self-awareness means listening to yourself, knowing yourself, and accepting who you are and how others see you.

It’s the final step in your journey towards holistic happiness. Bring yourself from yearning to the ultimate realization of who you’ve always wanted to become. Increasing self-awareness is not an abstract concept or goal. Instead, it results from a practiced and helpful set of tools. We’ll go through each of them in turn. 

 

Start by examining your thoughts one by one and let them pass by 

Meditation involves clearing your mind from the negative as well as the positive. It brings you back to neutral, where you can choose what thoughts to listen to and which ones to let go.

Meditating for just a few minutes a day can have an incredible effect on your mind. If you’re unfamiliar, you can read through this easy instruction guide on how to meditate.

All you will need is a quiet place to rest, a few minutes, and an intent to listen.

 

 

Write about your fears, how you think you are perceived, and who you want to become

While meditation allows you to witness your thoughts, journaling places them in order. Identify what holds you back from your goals and your plans to achieve them.

Your journey to increasing self-awareness starts with getting real and raw with the labels you hate to have or the ones you’d like to gain. No one’s perfect, and you never will be, but becoming aware of what you like and dislike will allow you to have clarity in moving forward and pursuing personal growth.

Sometimes, it isn’t easy to know the actual weight of a thought or emotion until it is written in front of you.

If you’re often on the go, even sitting in a car and noting your thoughts on your phone will work. Zapier put together a quick list of journaling apps. Choose the one that works best for you, and begin.

 

Knowing yourself means knowing your stressors. They’re often more profound than they appear 

What bothers you? What brings you stress or makes you uncomfortable?

If you fear public speaking, ask yourself what it is about it that is so terrifying. Are you worried you might make a mistake? Worried others will think badly of you? Worried that you will discover that you don’t know as much as you hope you do?

This is just an example. But these kinds of questions about the fears behind the stress teach you how to increase self-awareness and dig deeper into your true psyche.

 

Start realizing that how you see yourself may not be how others see you

Before becoming truly self-aware, you must ask the people closest to you for feedback and, yes, even critiques. Ask how they think you treat them, about who you are. About what holds you back and what you can improve.

This step takes confidence. It takes trust. And it takes an open mind.

Ask for honesty. Take what they say to heart – know that those who love you want the best for you, and if they trust you enough to tell you what they think, you must pay back their trust and accept their responses. 

Reflect deeply on anything they say that surprises you. What blocks you from recognizing these parts of yourself? Do you want to change? How can you?

Sometimes, this part of the cycle requires going back to step one: meditate on acceptance and journal about your feelings and goals.