Self-awareness
7 tips on how to get to know yourself better
© Cristina Conti / Shutterstock
What is self-awareness, why is it important and how can I improve it? You can find the answers here!
Why is self-awareness important?
In the Duden, self-perception is defined as the perception of one’s own person. There are, however, important aspects behind this simple-sounding description! In addition, it promotes your self-discovery, which in turn enables you to stay with yourself in a world full of information and overstimulation and to live as you imagine it.
Self-perception vs. external perception
Of course you do not walk alone in this world, but are together with other people through work, leisure and family. They in turn perceive you in a certain way, in which case one speaks of the external perception. Sometimes self-image and image of others diverge. How can that be? The self-image and the image of others do not coincide one hundred percent – not everyone can see everything about you and you don’t recognize everything about yourself either. The two images also influence each other: If someone is constantly being told how humorous or untalented they are, it will not leave them without a trace. This applies to both positive and negative reflections.
Self-perception is only possible up to a certain point, because the so-called blind spot remains hidden from us. Characteristics that others see in us, but not ourselves. If you want to find out more about how you perceive yourself and others, you should take a closer look at the Johari window. This will teach you to better understand how others perceive you. Perhaps that opens up aspects to you that you have not even noticed about yourself before?
How can I improve my own perception?
Your self-awareness goes hand in hand with self-reflection. It provides you with the best options and helps you to sharpen your perception. How can you improve your self-awareness now? Here are seven ideas:
- Consciously go into self-reflection: Ask yourself questions to get to know yourself better, such as: B: What does my heart beat for, what do I love about myself or who do I admire and why?
- Write a diary: If you do this regularly, sooner or later you will see your own feelings, evaluations, behavioral patterns and needs reflected in them, which will give you even more information about yourself.
- Make yourself aware of your feelings: Turn to your feelings and allow them, even the negative ones! And listen to what they want to tell you about you or what they want to tell you.
- Find rest and relaxation: In stressful everyday life, your self-perception is likely to get lost between to-dos and spending your free time. For a sharper self-awareness, give yourself time and rest. Relaxation techniques, such as progressive muscle relaxation, can help you to come down from a high stress level and also include your body in the exercise.
- Learn to meditate: During meditation you concentrate completely on yourself, learn to observe your thoughts and feelings and sharpen your attention.
- Get active in sports: Exercise contributes to general well-being. At the same time, you feel your body more intensely and perceive its signals, for example when you are going too far or when there is still room for improvement. Exercise also helps to reduce stress and clear your head. Do not let yourself be influenced by sports trends, but do what is good for you.
- You gracious to yourself: Sometimes people are their toughest critic themselves – and he is never satisfied. But social media channels with their seemingly perfect posts can also have a negative impact on well-being and distort your own perception. A comparison with others is not a bad thing, in the best case it can motivate you or show you that you are satisfied with yourself. On the other hand, avoid constant comparisons and do not let yourself be led on the wrong track.
Tip: In the BRIGITTE community you can exchange ideas with others about personal development.
Sources used: Zeit.de, sportsirene.de