The Complex Relationship Between Self-Awareness and Perception
Self-awareness is an ability to introspect. A person with self-awareness ability separates himself from other individuals in the environment and society, sees himself as a single individual, and discovers his limits and abilities, that is, his true self.
Self-awareness is the most fundamental subject in psychology, which has been studied by all philosophers and psychologists until today. Having self-awareness is very important not only for oneself but also for one's social relationships.
Looking is not seeing.
Self-awareness is a long, ongoing process that is not as easy as it seems. Continuous discovery of one's self is one of the reasons that ensures the continuity of this process. Two concepts that should not be confused with each other are self-awareness and consciousness. These two concepts have different meanings. While consciousness is a person's recognition and awareness of what is around him and himself, the concept of self-awareness is the recognition of these awarenesses. It's like the difference between looking and seeing.
Nosce Te Ipsum
“Know yourself, know yourself” This ancient inscription written on the temple of Apollo is an Ancient Greek saying. It is a phrase frequently used by wise philosophers who wrote their names in history such as Plato, Socrates and Pythagoras. This promise, which is the cornerstone of a sacred temple dating back to the 4th century, and the message of self-awareness that is intended to be given, still maintain their importance today. Knowing one's own attitudes and tendencies and paying conscious attention to them ensures one's development.
The Importance of Self-Awareness
Self-awareness, the most important component of emotional intelligence, is a must for a productive and happier life. An individual who knows himself can manage himself, make the right decisions and make the right choices. Individuals with self-awareness can control their emotions, thoughts and behaviors because they know themselves and always know their limits.
It is possible to apply many different methods in your daily life to improve your self-awareness. It should not be forgotten that the positive effects of the time and effort spent on having high self-awareness skills will satisfy you more than you can imagine. A person who is self-aware and knows his essence better attracts more success and opportunities.
Have time for yourself in your own area at certain times of the day. At this time, you can take a step towards gaining self-awareness by keeping yourself away from all electronic devices and daily tasks and trying to focus only on yourself.
Internal and External Self-Awareness
Inner self-awareness is how we perceive ourselves. External awareness is understanding how others perceive us. If a person's internal self-awareness is high and external self-awareness is low, this person will not want to listen to external feedback. On the contrary, an individual with high external self-awareness and low internal self-awareness thinks about how he is perceived through the eyes of others and tries to please them, instead of trying to understand what is happening within himself.
The desired characteristic is to be a person with high self-awareness, both internal and external. This situation has positive effects on empathy and healthy relationships. As a result of many studies, it has been concluded that self-awareness is important for being a leader and achieving leadership success.
Questions we can ask ourselves to increase internal self-awareness:
What are my core values? What are my weaknesses? What are my strengths? What can I do without noticing the flow of time and without getting bored? What emotions do I experience frequently? What are my limiting beliefs?
Questions we can ask ourselves to increase external self-awareness:
How do others see me? What are the differences between how I see myself and how others see me?
Signs of Low Self-Awareness
Some characteristics of people with low self-awareness
While narrating the events he experienced, he attributes responsibility to other external causes such as fate and luck. They are far from looking for the reasons for their failure in themselves. They cannot tolerate the thoughts of people who do not think like them. They stay away from listening to different points of view. They cannot realize and evaluate the behaviors they exhibit. They have difficulty explaining the reasons for their feelings, thoughts and behaviors. There are no realistic and clear goals in their lives.
Johari's Windows
According to the Johari Windows (Self-Knowledge Windows) model developed by two American psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, in the 1950s, each person has 4 areas. We have various characteristics about ourselves within these areas. While we are aware of some of these features, we cannot realize some of our features on our own.
1) Open Space: Both the individual and other people are aware of the features of the open space.
2) Secret Area: This is the area that we know about ourselves but do not prefer other people to know and therefore other people do not know.
3) Unknown Area: Neither we nor anyone else is aware of the features in this area. We have various abilities, weaknesses, bad aspects and many other unknown features that we do not yet know. It is possible to suddenly see some of these features in crisis environments.
4) Blind Area: We cannot see our blind area only ourselves. Other people see and know the features in the blind area. Unless the people around you come and tell you about these characteristics, you cannot be aware of these characteristics yourself. To narrow down your blind area, you need to listen to other people's comments about you.
Listen to Your Critics
Getting feedback from the people around you is a very important step in the development of self-awareness. Listening to the negative criticisms others have to say about you will not be as easy as it seems, especially for those who display a defensive attitude. Receiving corrections from people, even if it is hurtful in some situations, will ultimately make you stronger.
While listening to the other person, you need to be interested in their emotions, body movements and what they say. While doing this, you should also prevent yourself from judging that person. You should pay attention to these steps not only when listening to criticism but also to be a good listener in general.
According to psychologists' research, it is seen that in our daily lives, we often do things automatically and stay away from our feelings and awareness of the things we do.
Know Your Emotions
Our reactions to the events that happen to us during the day and the intense emotions we experience during the event differ from person to person. Becoming aware of the events that trigger your emotions helps you achieve self-awareness. Finding triggering events is not easy. You need to realize that your emotions are triggered during any event and catch yourself at that moment. It allows you to become aware of the emotions you experience and the events that trigger you. In this way, you can be more controlled.
Focus on Yourself with Meditation
Meditation allows you to think deeply. It helps the individual focus on his/her self-awareness by clearing his/her mind of different thoughts with comfortable clothes in an environment where there are no external factors that may distract the individual's attention.
By closing your eyes during meditation, you provide inner illumination. There is no method that can provide a better focus than meditation. At the same time, research shows that people who meditate live a healthier life than other people.
The person who meditates gets away from stress and anxiety. The individual relaxes and achieves inner peace while focusing. Thanks to meditation, stress-related diseases are greatly reduced. It is thought that meditation can be an effective way to treat many addictions. In general, meditation is effective in helping us live a happy and calm life. It has a positive effect.