“Know thyself”—ancient Greek aphorism

From the Greeks to modern philosophy and the psychological sciences, the process of knowing yourself—or self-awareness—has been studied by experts for centuries.

All of us have wondered things like‘what is self-awareness,’‘why does it matter,’‘why it is so hard to be self-aware,’ and ‘what role does knowing yourself play in healing.’So it may be worthwhile to reflect on the concept.

In this post, we’ll be taking a deeper look into why self-awarenessis essential to beginning your emotional healing journey.

What Is Self-Awareness

So what does it mean to be self-aware?

Self-awareness refers to the practice of looking within,reflecting on situations and emotions with regard to how you experienced them and what feels right to you. The goal is to understand yourself better. To be self-aware, means having a clear perception of your personality.

Contrary to popular belief, though, it is not a process. It is rather a goal state that involves several steps and a steep learning curve. It helps you understand how people perceive you, your actions and reactions, and how you think. It can most aptly be described as a state of heightened awareness.

Self-awareness has three levels:

• Basic—This involves being aware of thoughts when you’re having them.
• Medium—This level goes a little deeper, and involves being actively aware of how you FEEL about your thoughts while you have them.
• High—This level involves being able to focus your attention on your emotions and state to relax or change your thoughts at any given moment.

People tend to shift between these levels several times a day, depending on what they are feeling.

Why It Is Essential To Healing

To understand how self-awareness is essential to healing, it is important to first define what healing means to you.

To most people, healing is a step toward restoring health and stability, which can be both physical and mental. Healing entails reordering a person’s sense of purpose in the universe.

If the goal of healing is restoration and re-ordering, then you must first possess sound knowledge of what exactly is it that you’re supposed to mend or re-order within yourself!

Developing self-awareness can feel very frustrating at times, because we aren’t used to analyzing our own thought processes. It also brings to surface the fact that we are, in fact, very different from who we think we are.

At the same time, becoming aware of yourself gives you a sense of power and knowledge. When you are aware of yourself, you can recognize your abilities and act on them.

How To Become Self-Aware

There are several ways to cultivate self-awareness. We recommend starting slow and simple. Create a space for yourself where you can spend time alone—away from distractions—and engage in activities that help you know yourself better. These include journaling, meditation, practicing mindfulness, and connecting with yourself.

On the journey of becoming more self-aware, you may discover parts of yourself that are hard to accept and are likely to hinder the healing process. These may be limiting beliefs, past traumas, or even barriers.

There are several tools to help get around and overcome these barriers. One such tool is NIKU—an app that works on the principle of reframing.To try out reframing, you can easily download NIKU, an app available on both the Apple App Store and the Google PlayStore. This app works on the‘reframing of needs’principle and functions as an online psychological counselor or a life coach, helping you look at life with a fresh, new perspective.