Awareness is the birthplace of possibility. Everything you want to do, everything you want to be, starts with being mindful. To be a successful visionary and empower your dreams, you must be as aware as possible. In every moment, many paths lead forward. Mindfulness helps you to determine the right one to take.  So what is awareness?

Awareness is about clear, honest, uncensored feedback. Some of this feedback comes from other trustworthy people, some from the general environment you find yourself in, and more importantly, from inside you. Although all three domains are linked inseparably, self-awareness is the most important. 

Your mindfulness affects everyone around you and has a positive impact on your well-being. Those whom you lead and serve depend on your perception of the situation. You must reach inside yourself for the right response. You alone can raise the group’s awareness from lower needs to higher needs. To do that, you first must fulfill each need in yourself. 

The acknowledgement of a single possibility can change everything. ~ Aberjhani

How Self-Aware Are You?

Only a small percentage of people are self-aware. Internal self-awareness involves knowing who you are and what your values are, which aligns with how you think, react, and treat others. External self-awareness involves understanding how others perceive you. To succeed in life, it’s important to know who you are, understand how your actions affect others, and seek diverse perspectives.

Self-awareness is a key component of emotional intelligence. People who have low emotional intelligence struggle to understand their own emotions. They may experience frequent emotional outbursts or cannot identify their feelings.

Here are some of the primary indicators of a lack of self-awareness:

• Not holding yourself accountable. When things go well, you may compliment yourself, but when they don’t, you make excuses or blame others.
• Being disrespectful of others who challenge your beliefs. A 2018 study, discovered people with more radical convictions had less insight into the soundness of their ideas and considered no opposing information.
• Having trouble identifying and managing emotions.
• Not thinking through activities and typically act impulsively.
• You may have difficulty empathizing with others and listening to their experiences.
• You may pass judgment on others without knowing the facts, based on your own thoughts and beliefs.

Do you see yourself when you read these? Not to worry, you can gain self-awareness if you consciously choose to make it a priority in your life.

Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships. ~ Travis Bradberry

Proven Benefits of Awareness

As one might expect, developing self-awareness has several advantages:

• It increases your acceptance, motivates you to take initiative, and foster healthy self-development (Sutton, 2016).
• According to Silvia and O’Brien (2004), self-awareness enables you to exercise self-control, work creatively and productively, perceive things from others’ perspectives, feel proud of yourself and your work, and have a broad sense of self-worth.
• Better decisions are made as a result (Ridley, Schutz, Glanz, & Weinstein, 1992).
• It can improve job performance, communication skills, self-esteem, and job-related well-being (Sutton, Williams, & Allinson, 2015).

These advantages are compelling enough to concentrate on enhancing self-awareness, but the list is not complete. Self-awareness can enhance nearly every experience you have, because it’s a skill and a practice that can be used anywhere, anytime, to anchor yourself in the moment, genuinely evaluate yourself and the circumstance, and help you make wise decisions.

Now you understand what it’s like to embrace self-awareness and progress. But, how do you do it? What can you do to cultivate self-awareness? There are many methods for developing and practicing self-awareness.  Here are five ways to become more aware of the different aspects of your life so you can create your dream.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself. ~ Abraham Maslow

1.   Know Yourself And Expand Your Self-image

Your self-image changes over time.  As you grow, you learn, gain experience, and realize you’re able to do more with less anxiety.  Being able to distinguish this requires awareness and a growth mindset. 

You have to be mindful of what you’ve learned to apply those lessons to current life situations.  Being able to learn from your past, even past mistakes, is vital to expand your self-confidence.  This is proof you could overcome past obstacles.  History shows you can endure the stormy conversation knowing you stood your ground and didn’t budge on your convictions. 

Do you know, no matter what life throws at you, you will make it through to the other side?  If you don’t, then this area of your life needs to be reassessed, because if you’re still here, then there’s evidence you can survive the chaos of life.  If you know you can endure, then you need to focus on your reactions to life.

Do you react or respond to life situations?  Do you feel you’re always on alert to put out the fires around you?  If so, you’re reacting to life and not responding.  Reacting means you quickly reply to a stimulus.  Reactions are based on emotions, mainly fear. 

Whereas a response means you took a deep breath, thought about the situation and calmly addressed the circumstances.  See the difference?  Reacting leads to more reactions, but responding leads to a solution.  Knowing yourself means you respond to life through awareness.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. ~ Aristotle

2.   Know Your Vision And Apply It

Do you have a vision for your life?  You may not be aware of it, but you do.  What’s your dream?  What makes you so excited you can work for hours and you don’t notice the time?  Whatever takes your breath away, it’s your vision.  It’s what you were born to do.  Once you’re mindful of it, then you must keep moving forward despite the difficulties. 

Keeping the vision in the forefront can be difficult when situations arise that need to be dealt with.  For example, if you’re a painter and you lose time while painting, you may not want to deal with how to sell your art.  But in order to make a living as a painter, you need to sell your work.  So, there are parts of being a successful artist you don’t find as attractive as the creative process, but you have to learn about how to promote your work.  Are you aware of ways to master this task?

Look at these unwanted tasks not as obstacles but as growth opportunities.  It doesn’t mean you have to become marketers of your art. Maybe you find a gallery where you can rent space to display the pieces.  There are many ways to overcome life’s hurdles; you need to be open to them as well as actively look for the ways to get past them and move forward.  Awareness of the vision helps you move forward through those things you don’t enjoy. 

Sometimes you can’t see the road ahead, but as you keep going, it gets clearer. Stay the course as the fog of life dissipates. ~ Sanjo Jendayi

3.   Be Self-guided

Do you let circumstances dictate your decisions?  Are other people’s opinions more important than your gut feeling?  If so, you aren’t allowing your own innate knowledge to flow.  You’re allowing others to influence your dream.  This happens, especially when your self-image is low.  Becoming more aware of your responses, and looking for ways to overcome hurdles you encounter, you learn to trust your instincts.

Your intuition, that gut feeling, is your authentic self is connected to the Divine trying to speak to you.  When you choose to listen, you have a better life experience as you’re following your internal guide.  But if you disregard the feeling, you’re ignoring your true self and allowing outside influences to steer your life.

These forces you allow to interfere with your dream can be loved ones saying they are looking out for you.  It can be the environment in which you find yourself.  Or your ego is trying to instill more fear into your life so you don’t move forward.  Whatever these outside influences are, you need to be mindful that they may not be supportive of your dream 

Your awareness of these external influences is vital to acknowledge who is in control of your dream.  Are you?  Why give up power and control of the outcome of your vision to anything outside of you?  Who knows better than you do of what you want?  Regain the power and the control of the vision, but be mindful of what is guiding you.

Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others. ~ Roy T. Bennett

4.   Extend Yourself By Helping Others

The best parts of life are those you share with others.  Most dreams are about sharing what you love with the world.  The awareness that your vision can help people expands your dream to the needs of those in your community.  Fulfilling another’s need allows your vision an expansive power that cannot be contained. 

The painting you created and placed in the gallery was seen and caused a teenager to pick up a paintbrush.  A lady visiting the gallery saw you setting up a new piece of artwork and started a conversation with you about how your art inspires her.  And through the conversation you discover she would love for you to help her with art therapy so others can learn to express their emotions with paint.  Be mindful of the opportunities coming your way. They are there if you look for them.

Extend yourself into areas you would like to be involved.  Want to help older adults?  Offer painting classes in the senior center.  Maybe you can volunteer to teach a seminar at the local library. You don’t have to be paid to grow the dream, just be aware of the surrounding possibilities.

You need to become conscious of the opportunities all around you to expand your vision.  The opportunities are endless, but you need to be mindful of the people you meet and the situations you find yourself in so you can extend yourself to others.  The best life you lead is the one you share.

If you shift your focus from yourself to others, … then this will have the immediate effect of opening up your life and helping you to reach out. ~ Dalai Lama

5.   Inspiring Others

As you move towards the vision you have for your life, you can inspire others to do the same.  Or, ask them to join in on your dream.  You’re the most important person in your vision.  Only you can fulfill the dream, and only you can squelch it. Others may try to influence you, but ultimately, it’s your responsibility to move it forward.

As the keeper of the vision, you can have significant influence.  What kind of inspiration can you have?  Well, if you can do so, can others.  And sometimes, all anyone needs to get moving in the right direction is a little spark of inspiration they see in you actively working toward your dream. 

Maybe your dream is so vast you need help.  There are many successful people who started small.  As they expanded their vision and worked hard towards the dream, they couldn’t do it alone.  What a great complication to deal with!  Now your vision is inspiring others to join you in fulfilling a part of their dream.  Shared dreams give everyone the ability to help one another, which is more fulfilling. 

That’s why many love working for others.  They get internal rewards for the work others do that grows their dream.  By sharing your unique gifts with them, you grow and expand your vision by helping.  Everyone gains not only in cultivating the shared dream but also by helping one another.  Personal connections with others increase the results everyone can achieve.

Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure. ~Paulo Coelho

Moving Forward With Awareness

There is no limit to what you can change, because awareness brings light to every aspect of life. If your consciousness is constricted, everything else will be, too. On the other hand, if you are in a state of expanded mindfulness, everything else will expand.

The most ancient wisdom traditions say, “Know that one thing by which all else is known.” That one thing is consciousness itself; the Divine within everyone. There’s no greater power of transformation than awareness.  When you are mindful, then expansion is unlimited and the possibilities are endless.

Those who remain content easily remain small: small are their joys, small are their ecstasies, small are their silences, small is their being. But there is no need! This smallness is your own imposition upon your freedom, upon your unlimited possibilities, upon your unlimited potential. ~Rajneesh

As you become more mindful of your life and notice your attitudes, you can adjust the course of your life.  Do you need support in overcoming the fear in your life?  Do you want a strategy to help you create a more mindful life?  If so please, contact me and we can put together an action plan for you to be authentically you and for you to create the vision you have for your life.  

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Ways To Be More Aware So You Can Create Your Dreams

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Being aware means possibility abounds. Be mindful of feedback so you can move forward and create the life of your dreams.

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Terri Kozlowski

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Kozmic Soul Solutions LLC

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