Self-awareness is the ability to know ourselves, fully recognize ourselves, identifying – not judging – our strengths and weaknesses. It's the ability to look at yourself. Being self-aware, realizing the “I” is the key to balance and emotional maturation.
The self-aware individual perceives himself as a certain “type” of person, with certain traits, physical characteristics, habits, behaviors, aptitudes, abilities, beliefs, values, aspirations. And he perceives himself by the way he connects to the environment, through the objects he owns, the social groups he belongs to, the roles he plays and the way others see him. All this together constitutes total self-awareness.
The “I” is made up of successive layers, like an onion. Some parts of the “I” are felt to be more central, closer to a hypothetical “essential core”; others are noted as being more superficial or peripheral. It is necessary to remember that self-awareness has its limits; we will never be able to know everything, for there is a large part of our psychic apparatus outside the conscious sphere, which is, for Freud, the unconscious.
The structure of itself can be organized weaker or stronger; its parts may form a harmonious whole, or they may be somewhat incongruous with each other.
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To strengthen our inner structure and later be able to make a real change in attitudes that bother us (or that do not bring any benefit) it is not enough just to know the origin of our difficulties or defects. We need to identify how we are acting – what attitudes do we carry out and how can we do it differently? How to change our way of acting, what can we do effectively? By focusing more on the action that must be taken, we can create a plan for real and lasting change, avoiding the automatic and repetitive behaviors of the past. Therapy can be of great help by providing more elements for the individual to increase his self-awareness and explore alternatives for change. A first step in the search for this change is to enlist the help of some friends, asking them to describe what our best quality is and what our greatest flaw is, evaluating the answers with honesty and serenity.
Osho warned that we must be careful not to simply replace the negative ideas of the mind with positive ideas or phrases – if the emotion remains negative. For example, it's no use repeating to yourself "I love myself" when deep down you don't really feel it and don't like the situation you're in at all.
A practical way to deal with negative emotions, feelings and perceptions about yourself is to perform this exercise frequently: honestly recognize that the negative feeling you have about yourself is real. Pay attention to the sensations that this emotion arouses in your body. Write down these sensations and the thoughts that accompany them. Once you have as much information about the emotion as possible, close your eyes and try to come up with a shape that represents it. How big would that feeling be? And what's your color? Now imagine that this emotion comes out of you and is placed in front of you, about 2 or 3 meters away. Just imagine watching it in front of you, without judgment or justification. After a few minutes of observation, let the emotion return to its original place within you. Still with your eyes closed, consider whether you could notice a change in emotion when it was in front of you. Did the feeling feel different after you returned to your original place?
Finish the exercise by opening your eyes and writing down your perceptions. This exercise helps you understand and accept your feelings, understanding them and then making effective changes in your life.
References
“Elements of Psychology”, D. Krech and R. Crutchfield, Editora Pioneira, São Paulo
