MEN AND WOMEN: Self-awareness is the key to a happier and healthier life

Do you have a bad temper? Or maybe you are dissatisfied with what you have accomplished in life? Or maybe you want to get married, but do not seem to find any one that suits you?

Such problems are caused by the same thing – do not understand yourself well enough. You solve them by increasing your self-awareness, because the challenges of life are more difficult if you are not aware of yourself. And yet, this is never taught at school!

Awareness is the way you pay attention and deal with things that are happening around you. Self-awareness is about focusing that awareness on yourself so that you consciously observe your feelings, feelings, habits, behaviors, and thoughts.

Self-awareness only works if you are honest with yourself. Recognize the reality of your behavior and not the story you are telling yourself. Like you say that you are super punctual, while in reality you are always late! Dealing with the reality of your behavior means that you can start to improve it.

So the development of an honest self-awareness is the first step towards creating a better life. And that starts by becoming more aware of your emotions.

Few of us really are. We act as if our emotions are something that just happens. But they are not. Understand your feelings better by following your moods for a moment. It's also worth thinking about your background, preferences, interests, beliefs and values. Because the more you understand them, the better you will understand what motivates your emotions.

And it's really helpful to choose a spouse! Because people who understand each other form more fruitful relationships. Knowing what motivates you also means that you will be better able to understand the behavior of another person and get closer to them.

Our emotions also reveal our values. Despite what society says, we should rely solely on rational thinking when making decisions. But exploring how you feel about a problem means that the decisions you make will reflect your principles.

As you badyze your emotions, you will begin to see what triggers them. Which means you can learn to control them. Because it's really very difficult to control an emotion directly – think how hard it is to calm down when you're angry. But managing or avoiding your triggers is much easier, and that means you can influence your mood.

Self-awareness also means being aware of your negative thought patterns. Like challenging a tendency to exaggerate, or jump to the wrong conclusions.

Self-awareness also brings a more acute sense of reality. You become comfortable with yourself. Hold independent opinions rather than being what others want you to be. Being more subject to social pressure, you also begin to appreciate more individual and ethnic differences.

Self-aware people also know that success is not about status, money or possessions. Success is to be able to do what you want. Which means that developing a good self-awareness is one of the key steps that we take as we move forward in life. Not everyone can do it. But for those who do, it changes everything.