Self Awareness is an important and powerful tool. It takes practice to become self aware and being self aware is a practice in and of itself. There have been many times in life when I was not aware and was not myself at all. Those times are difficult and have given me many opportunities to grow.

Self awareness is defined as: having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment.

I have been challenged many different times to become self aware and practice self reflection regularly. This has come in the form of personality tests in psychology classes, discussion based classes on calling and purpose, leadership development programs, regular practice as part of an apprenticeship and more.

With my faith, there is another part of this for me. Being in tune with God’s voice and calling on my life. It is of vital importance to remain open to feel God’s nudges to move forward, directional changes, and road blocks for good reason.

Self awareness is truly a practice. There are some great books and even apps available for growing in this area and I recommend just browsing through some resources and picking out a few ideas to start out if you’re needing a jump start.

My favorite methods:

Take a few moments to check in with myself in the morning. How do I feel physically? Achey, cramped, energized. How do I feel emotionally? Excited, sad, cranky, refreshed. Then just take a moment and let that set in and be okay with it and know how to embrace it or move to a better state.

Go for a run while listening to worship music. This keeps me in tune with God and allows me time to think and just be complete.

Check in with my husband. Sometimes it’s good to see from someone else’s perspective and then reflect on it, even if it isn’t the most comfortable to hear. Make sure to do this with someone you trust and that it comes from a place of love and support.

There are plenty of ways to get in the practice of self awareness. See what works for you. Hopefully, you’ll find yourself feeling more confident, able, aware, and comfortable in who you are while also challenging yourself to be the best YOU that you can be.