DAY 2: SELF-AWARENESS - LEAD YOURSELF WITH LOVE

Self-awareness & acceptance in self-love

In the context of seeing myself as I am as opposed to what I should be. This needs one to see the strengths and weaknesses, the beauty and the parts not too beautiful, and accept the whole lot of these parts without judgement. To fully accept yourself as you are gives you the impetus to work to improve yourself with clarity as well as celebrate your strengths and leverage them to your advantage. If you are easily angered, how aware are you of what triggers it? Is it the other person or situation? With self-awareness, you are able to notice the anger rising, the thoughts and feelings accompanying the anger, and the source of the anger, which most times is not from the person provoking you. Through self-awareness, you are able to identify an unresolved issue that you need to work on. 

For example, John is very upset by his wife spending more money buying a duvet. The wife cannot understand what is upsetting the husband because the duvets were on sale, and they needed one as their old one is getting worn out. John is angry because he got a warning letter at work for poor work performance. This warning signals John's employment may be in jeopardy and causes him to worry. He doesn't tell the wife about it for fear she will not understand and might abandon him like his aunt, who divorced his uncle when he lost his job. To John, poor work performance also means that he is a loser, a failure, and so he won't share this with his wife because she will belittle him, and in the eyes of society, he is a failure.

If John is aware of all these narratives in his mind, he will cool down his anger and apologise to his wife. He will then accept his poor performance. In doing so, he will strive to understand what is affecting his work output and improve. Or, if it is something beyond his capability, he can start looking for a job that he is good at. John then would share with his wife calmly the need to use their money sparingly as they explore how to stretch their income as John finds a way out of his current threat. Suppose John is not aware of all this internal dialogue. In that case, the duvet issue can be blown out of proportion causing prolonged conflict in the marriage and worsening the situation at work. The act of being self-aware leads to exploration and self-acceptance.