Self awareness is a major part of personal development. You must pay attention to what you do on a daily basis and what you can and should improve upon. Self awareness is also a wonderful tool to learn more about you. When you become self aware, strengths and faults will begin to surface and you will be forced to reckon with them.
If you are thinking about going down the path of self-help dealing with your anger problems, you must stay focused on your goal of being more relaxed. Often, events will happen that make you want to snap, but you need to stay focused and look past the brief enjoyment of anger.
Acknowledge and evaluate the distance between your current status and your self improvement goals. Self improvement does not happen overnight, so it’s best to make an honest assessment of how far you have to go to achieve your goals. This will enable you to make a path that is customized for your life and goals.
When looking at life try to focus on the positive. It is just too easy to look at the negative and compare yourself to others and see that they have this or that. Turn it around and just focus on yourself and what it is that you actually do have. This will give you a better outlook on life.
When someone does something remarkable or demonstrates improvement, call them out on it! Our society makes it increasingly difficult to recognize everyone for their progress and abilities. If your waiter or cashier was friendly and attentive, make a special effort to call the business and pass along that information to their manager. Getting recognition, even for the smallest things, has the power to completely make someone’s day.
Set a goal for yourself to dole out a compliment to ten people every week. These people can be someone you work with or a member of your family, or it can be a total stranger on the street, in the store, or on the bus. Eventually you will find that it becomes second nature; this forces you to seek out the positive qualities in almost anyone.
To alleviate anxiety, spend time with your friends. If you have no friends and relationships cause anxiety for you, at least go out in public and greet the people you pass. Being around people can help lift your spirits – even if engaging them deeply is too anxiety producing to be tolerable. Making friends online and/or keeping a pet can also help alleviate anxiety and loneliness.
A really great way to be self aware is to document each and every day. Always keep a journal or notepad on you and write about what, in detail, has happened throughout that day. The more often you write, the more accurate your account will be. Look back and read over the diary often; things to be proud of or even ashamed of will begin to stand out over time. Work on what you don’t like and in the end you will be happy about your new attitude.
