“Being Self-Aware” Side-note from Coach Jen: This is part of Chapter 4 in my book, “Self Motivation Strategies for Women,” which you can find on Amazon. In my book, I asked you to do some journaling. If you are interested in grabbing a journal to match the text, click HERE to get the companion journal. Super excited that I can offer that to you. Let’s dive in! 

Live a Self-Aware Life

When I think about living a self-aware life, it isn’t a textbook version of the experience. Instead, it’s about recognizing how I play a more significant part in the universe and acknowledging the messages I receive for my next best steps. Let me give two real-life examples:

• A friend sees cardinals whenever she needs guidance (cardinals represent her deceased grandmother). A cardinal prompts her to check in with herself.
• My client and I were chatting about the next steps for her business. She was frustrated with a project for a client that had reached a standstill. I said, “Let it go. Stop worrying about it. Throw it in the trash.” She pretended to ball it up, throw it in the trash, and then move on to other things. Within six hours, she heard from the client instructions to move forward.

How about you? Have you ever experienced a scenario similar to this: You rush out the door to head to work but realize you left your purse in the house and go back to retrieve it. Then, as you are driving to work, you see that a terrible accident occurred right around the time you would have been on the road. You look up and say, “Thank you!”

Things like this happen all the time. You can develop your awareness to notice them.

Self-Awareness Is A Muscle-Use It

You build muscles in your body by exercising, and ideally, you do this daily. When you exercise your self-awareness muscle, as I want you to do on this journey, you allow yourself to adjust circumstances and receive guidance to live your best life.

Here are a couple of ways to build this muscle:

Recognize that it’s okay to adjust your goals and dreams. The project you want to launch hasn’t gotten off the ground because your manager is too busy to approve your proposal. Adjust your deadlines. You were being guided not to launch at this time.

Look for lessons, not excuses. If you fail at something or fall short of your expectations, figure out how you can improve rather than focusing on reasons (aka excuses for) why something didn’t happen. Make your lessons count.

Prove yourself wrong. Think you can’t do something? Think again. Have you ever wanted to accomplish a 5K, start your own company, or throw a Pinterest birthday party for your daughter? Prove to yourself that you can by doing it!

Working your self-awareness muscle takes practice.

You have to show up every day! When you are self-aware, you’ll know that it’s okay to fail. It happened for a reason. You may not be able to figure it out right then and there, but that’s okay! Just keep your eyes and mind open.

Watch Your Thoughts, Emotions, And Actions

Read this quote from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu a couple of times, and then grab your journal: Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny. Spend some time responding to these questions to evaluate your starting point:

• What are the thoughts you think daily?
• What are the emotions you feel daily?
• What are the actions you take daily?

All three of these things are totally within your control. You can choose to be in a positive or negative mindset. You can choose to lift yourself or put yourself down. You can choose to get out of bed and go for a walk or sleep in. What will you choose?

PS: I am not saying that sleeping in isn’t bad; maybe you need it due to being sick or an injury. I love my Sleep-In-Saturday! 

Need that journal link again? Click HERE and download it immediately!