1. Practice mindfulness

   • Have you experienced sitting in front of the television with a full container of cookies, and then you realize halfway through the show that you’ve eaten most of them? Your eyes were focused on the show while your hand kept putting cookies into your mouth.
     • Practicing mindfulness would be to place two or three cookies on a small plate and then enjoy your show without the guilty feeling later that you ate too much. 
     • Or planning your meals for the week versus always stopping at the local fast food joint on the way home from work.
     • It is the little tweaks that make a large impact.
     • However, the opposite is also true, if you continue having bad habits they can have uncomfortable future consequences.

2. Keep a journal and reflect on your thoughts and feelings

   • The primary purpose for writing down your thoughts and feelings is to not keep them bottled up inside of you.
   • If you don’t release those feelings they may manifest in ways that you might regret later.
   • But, once you see them written you can analyze why you feel the way you do.

3. Seek feedback from others

   • This is a tricky one because not everyone gives good feedback.
   • So, choose the people you seek feedback from carefully.
   • Trust your instincts, they exist to protect you from harm.

4. Engage in self-reflection

   • Self-reflection does not mean beating yourself up, instead, evaluate your past and present choices. 
   • If you don’t like the life you are currently living, but you keep making the same choices, your life just becomes one big circle of frustration.

5. Practice self-compassion

   • Forgive yourself for your mistakes and remember they happened to teach you what not to do.
   • We all make mistakes, the important thing is not to keep making the same ones.
   • If you make different ones at least you are learning.

6. Develop a growth mindset

   • It is easy to stay stuck in one place and blame your life on others even though you are miserable.
   • What is hard is to focus on constant learning.
   • When you learn you grow and with that growth, you can start to have confidence in yourself and your ability to thrive.
   • The smartest people are not always the richest people or the happiest.
   • But if you can learn something that you don’t my doing for free then that can be the spark of something new.

7. Cultivate a strong self-identity

   • Strength comes from being grounded and being happy with who you are.
   • Everyone does not have to like you but you should love yourself.
   • Being assertive and self-assured is the foundation of confidence.
   • Confidence is what will make you take a leap of faith and do something that scares you.

8. Seek out new experiences and challenges

   • If you become more self-aware, you will discover if you are living the same life each day or even on occasion trying something new.
   • Challenges don’t have a big thing.
     • Want to write a book?
     • Challenge yourself to write a page per day. 
     • Try a new hobby like gardening, ceramics, painting, and learning to play an instrument. 

9. Engage in regular activity

   • One of the things most people discover during the pandemic is that they need social interaction.
   • Becoming more self-aware will help you to make better decisions about your future.

10. Spend time alone and connect with nature

    • Turn off all distractions and enjoy the sound of your mind.
    • Start at home and then go to take a hike.
    • If you don’t like the quiet, you need to explore why you feel that way. 

11. Learn to identify and manage your emotions

    • In today’s world, the level of stress and frustration is at an all-time high.
    • Expressing emotions is important but how you express them determines whether people will hear and understand. 
    • If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed take a walk it will help you get some perspective. 

12. Set and achieve personal/professional goals

    • If you do not know where you are going that means you are standing still.
    • If you have no direction in life you are susceptible to others controlling your life.
    • It’s best to have options so that a layoff won’t feel like the walls are crumbling down around you.
    • Also, achieving goals show progress in life which will make it more fulfilling.

13. Cultivate gratitude and positive thinking

    • Unfortunately, the world is full of negativity and the way to shield yourself from it is to gratitude.
    • If you are feeling negative, write down five things you are grateful for daily. 
    • It can be the same five things every day, or different things. 

14. Research and explore

    • Research different things you want to learn about, if you are not learning, you are not growing.
    • Explore as many things as possible to figure out what works for you.
    • Life is about experimenting to find out what works. 

15. Engage in meaningful relationships

    • In order to have meaningful relationships you must first have self-love.
    • This gives you a baseline to know what you will and will not accept from other people.
    • A good foundation for a meaningful relationship is mutual respect.

16. Find your spiritual center

    • This means connecting with yourself on a deeper level.
    • By doing this you will learn to appreciate every part of yourself. 
    • Also, you can begin thinking about how to take better care of yourself.

17. Practice self-care and self-love

    • Make or find the money to enjoy some pampering whether that going to a spa or going to the salon.
    • Feeling beautiful will have a huge impact on your self-esteem.

18. Engage in therapy or counseling

    • Therapy is an underrated tool that can be used to help you connect with yourself. 
    • It could take a while to find a therapist that is a right fit but I think it’s worth the time and effort.
    • Look for resources that can help you pay for therapy if it’s currently not in your budget. 
    • A lot of insurance plans will pay for therapy.

19. Read self-help books and listen to podcasts

    • Reading self-help books will keep you focused on yourself.
    • It is not selfish to take some time to evaluate your mental, physical, and relationship health. 
    • Also, ask yourself if you are experiencing what you consider a successful life. 
    • The primary goal here is to build a strong foundation in which you can grow and evolve over time. 

20. Engage in activities that bring you joy and fulfillment

    • Life is all about experiences, the more you have the better. 
    • Try new things, and don’t let others dissuade you because of their fears or insecurities. 
    • This is your journey, do the things that will keep you progressing through life while enjoying it. 
    • Don’t let negative people kill your joy.
    • What they don’t know that can’t talk about

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of ways to become more self-aware. The goal is to find what works best for you and make self-awareness a continuous journey of growth and self-discovery.