Self-Awareness and Psychological Projection: Key Components of Self-Understanding

So I read an article on lonerwolf.com called 11 Self-Awareness Exercises For Spiritual Seekers, and I cam across two concepts called: self-awareness and psychological projection. According to lonerwolf.com, Self-Awareness is "is the ability to introspect and be aware of your own thoughts, feelings, impulses, physical sensations, and behaviors. At a basic level, self-awareness is the ability to pay attention to who you are and what makes you tick. At more complex levels, self-awareness involves developing an understanding of your deeper beliefs, inner wounds, mental and emotional defense mechanisms, and repressed unconscious material – also known as self-understanding." In my opinion, self-awareness is one of the most important ways to understanding yourself as a HUMAN. It humanizes you and forces you to go deep within the realms of your soul and unlock your repressed thoughts and desires. Taking on this is a daunting, yet liberating experience, because you are developing your ability to understand that it not only your positive attributes, but your negative ones as well that make you WHOLE. As someone told me a few months ago, "You must have a dark side to be whole as well." Being self-aware also means owning up to your own bullshit and your own problematic behaviors.

Psychological Projection is another component of self-awareness, but many of us failed to realize that the disregard we show towards others is often a reflection of ourselves. As a human collective, I feel that we should be radically honest with ourselves and see that we ALL have our shortcomings. It is essentially a component of the human experience. According the lonerwolf,com, "Psychological Perception is:

"...making assumptions – which is closely linked to something known as psychological projection – is not only something that we all do, but it is common for us to suffer greatly at the expense of such a habit. If you are a chronic projector you will experience a great deal of anxiety around other people, as well as other unpleasant emotions like anger, disappointment, resentment and prejudice on a daily basis."

Basically, the things we disregard in others, we often feel these things in ourselves. Passing judgement on others, suspecting wrongdoings in romantic relationships, criticizing ones looks, etc. WE'VE ALL DONE IT. By reclaiming and embracing the denied, suppressed, and shunned aspects of ourselves, we feel more at peace with ourselves and those around us. This, of course, requires radical self-honesty. This is something that I am working on - and will continue to work on for as long as I live. I am learning early on that the more that I am honest with myself, then the more that I am at peace with myself and others. As I have stated before: "I am me and I am everyone." Why? Because even though I am an individual with my own distinct personality and attributes, I am everyone in the sense that we all have our strengths and weaknesses, our understanding and our ignorance, our victories and our shortcomings.

If we want to challenge ourselves as self-aware individuals, then we must be able to adopt new habits and be open to different viewpoints, different aspects of life. Here are some things that I myself have done to hone my self-awareness:

• Tune into your body with mindfulness: practicing mindfulness and noticing points of tension in my body are two ways that I do this. For instance, I tend to be tense in my shoulders and my lower back, and I do exercises to accommodate these tensions. Being gentle with yourself is essential with practicing mindfulness, because you will run into difficulties.
• MEDITATE: I put this in all caps, because it is my favorite way to wind down. Some major tips I will give you for meditation is to: 1) Take it easy! 2) Tune in with your breathing while meditating, 3) Either meditate in silence or to low tempo music.
• Keep a journal: Okay, I know this is pretty old school of our technology-driven society, but it has helped me when I get stressed. If anything, I need to get back into it myself.
• Exercise and a Healthy Diet: This cannot be stressed enough. Exercise and practicing a healthy diet are two major ways of being self-aware. Why? Because what we give to our body, it gives it back. For instance, if you give your body a lack of exercise and a lackluster diet, expect those things to return. They key is to not depend too much on your body to do all the work. You must work on your bodies as well.

This is it for today as I am laying down the foundation for my creative page on Facebook, called Kianna Moon's Aesthetic. Until next time!