Self Awareness And The Power Of The Voice In Your Head
The voice inside your head is always there. Telling you what you should do, driving you on or holding you back. The voice is your thinking mind. It’s been there for as long as you can remember. But how do you handle it though.
I was prompted to write about it as I bought a book in error by an American author called Dan Harris 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works — A True Story.
Dan’s story as you might guess from the title is about that voice and the journey he went through try and control it. His discovery of the voice and what it was doing came through the reading of A New Earth: Awakening your life’s purpose by Eckhart Tolle. I would say it was window into the world of self-awareness.
For me, it’s been in the last 7 years that I been really become self-aware. It came through the undertaking of Myers Briggs Personality Test at work. Up to that point I had never really given much thought to personality types. I was a quiet person, some would suggest a bit shy and ironically, I was a salesperson.
Salespeople are outgoing and always engaging. Yes, I could sell, but I just worked in a slightly different way to others. Building relationships to get the sale.
When the MBPT commenced we had to define ourselves ahead of the test. I was starting to understand the categorisation of personality types and as I was a salesman I assumed I was an extrovert.
The results of the test had me truly stunned. My personality type was a INTJ
(introversion, intuition, thinking, judgment)
For a more information on what this means, please read the following INTJ Personality Description.
This was a bolt from the blue to me, I would never have said that of myself up to that point. But over the coming days I started to realise the test was right and with it came a pile of questions about who I was? How I was perceived by others? And how did that affect what I did?
It sent me off on journey of self-discovery that enabled me to understand why I did the things I did, why in group discussions I was the often the last to contribute. Critically it forced to become self-aware.
This certainly improved my self-awareness, which is a critical part of anyone’s emotional intelligence (EI).
Daniel Goleman, the guru of emotional intelligence, identified self-awareness as being made up of emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence. In other words, it is all about knowing your emotions, your personal strengths and weaknesses, and having a strong sense of your own worth.
What triggered you to become self-aware?
