The Power of Self-Awareness: Why Your Inner Knowing Matters

Sometimes I am amazed at how many times the same topic will repeatedly enter my conversations within a short period of time.

It was that way with the topic of self-awareness the past couple of weeks.

I had conversations with clients, with friends and even with other coaches that all centered on this topic of self-awareness. Specifically, the discussions centered on reasons people shy away from tuning into their awareness.

There are a number of definitions of self-awareness.  Recognizing your own thoughts and feelings.  Focusing on how your actions align, or don’t align, with your internal standards.  Understanding your beliefs, motivations, and behaviors.

I like to simplify it to these two words:  inner knowing.  

When your life is moving in a favored path, you may not even notice this inner knowing or pay it much mind. You are happy, filled with joy, and feeling satisfaction with life.  Or, even if something is difficult, you know it’s what you want to do and you do it, one step at a time. During these times, you don’t find there’s much to examine around your awareness.

This may happen to you in a happy relationship; a career choice; or even an expenditure.  This may happen when you decide to have children or have your aging parents move in with you.  In these times, you may not question whether or not the path is right for you.  It’s your next step and you take it.

But what about the times you feel internal angst?  Something in your inner awareness says, “This isn’t right for me” or “There’s a better answer” even when logically, it seems “obvious” it’s the right answer.  But rather than peace, you have a big question mark looming in your heart.

I think one of the biggest challenges of authentically tuning into your self-awareness is that when you do so, you can be faced with a difficult decision.  Further, you may be faced with communicating your decision to someone who doesn’t agree with you or doesn’t want to hear what you’re saying.

In these situations, you can continue to ignore what you know in the depths of your being.  But when you choose to ignore your awareness, it doesn’t go away.  It haunts you.  It hangs over you like a dark cloud. You wish it would go away, but it doesn’t. Because you can’t “unknow” what you know.  

Or you can shift, acting on your awareness and making the difficult decision.  You can take actions that align with what you know in your heart. You can have the difficult conversation that it requires.

You can make the decision to ignore your awareness.  Or you take the difficult actions it requires to follow what your awareness is telling you.

One leads to a lifetime of regret.

The other to freedom.