Finally, A Buzzword Worth the Hype
Imagine a world where you are confident about who you are and about being able to face the challenges life brings your way. You feel at peace and optimistic about the future.
You enjoy who you are, yet look forward to growing more each year.
A world where you move through your day with a deep sense of self-worth, wisdom, and daring to go after your desires.
This is available to you through the magic of self-awareness.
As our world becomes more noisy, digital, and information-driven, honing this skill of connecting with your innerverse and operating from that place will drastically change your experience of life for the better.
In a recent live conversation with Samantha Sacchi, founder of the Self Academy and Club, we delved into why self-awareness is more valuable than a traditional MBA.
Here’s a deep dive into the insights shared by Samantha and the profound impact of self-awareness on your ability to challenge the status quo and become the best version of yourself.
Self-Awareness: You find it or it finds you
What leads someone to seek or stumble upon self-awareness?
If you asked this question to 50 people, you’d probably get 50 different answers.
For some, it might be deep despair and inner discomfort about achieving everything society promised would make them happy… yet they are unhappy.
For others, it might be a devastating car accident.
Or it might not even be a hankering dissatisfaction with life, but rather an incremental process of noticing dysfunctional recurring patterns in relationships and conflicts. This is a signal that there’s a deeper issue that needs addressing
Samantha’s journey into self-awareness wasn’t smooth or straightforward. She initially embarked on this path due to a profound sense of insecurity and self-consciousness.
“To be honest, I started going down the self-awareness path because I was profoundly self-conscious, which is not always the same as being self-aware. Excessive self-consciousness can be paralyzing. It becomes hard to be your authentic self when you’re hyper-aware of how others perceive you.”
This was the spark that ignited her personal and spiritual journey to understand her emotions, their origins, and their impacts on life.
HIGHLIGHT: Everything that is uncomfortable in your life is an invitation to go deeper into yourself.
For Samantha, self-awareness became about seeking inner peace and understanding the triggers from her past.
Whatever it is that brings you to your journey of self-awareness, trust that you are ready for the expansion and allow yourself to playfully explore your inner truth so you can create a future that feel so aligned it excites your soul.
What is Self-Awareness and How Do You Get Some?
Self-awareness begins with noticing and connecting with your internal experience and becoming aware of what you’re feeling.
To be truly self-aware, you must develop the ability to present, which is an ever-growing challenge in today’s world.
The starting point is creating a relationship and a healthy dialogue with yourself.
Journaling is a fantastic tool to start any self-awareness journey.
You may ask yourself:
- “How am I feeling right now? Where do I feel tense or anxious?”
- “What do I need most in this moment?”
- “Is what I’m currently doing taking me in the direction of my goals and dreams?”
- “What is the most loving thing that I could do for myself?”
These questions will require your conscious awareness and for you to connect with your emotions, your feelings, your thoughts and your body.
The next step is to listen for the answer- but how do you do this? Well, there are many ways!
You’ve probably heard of meditation to slow the mind and become present. There are many different types of meditation, but all of them usually involve presence with yourself and your experience.
But if your mind is normally like a rabbit with ADHD, it will probably be difficult for you to sit in full-lotus for 10 minutes a day to practice slowing your mind. Luckily, there are other options.
It can be as simple as:
- Taking a few deep breaths with your hands on your lap. Paying attention to when you’re body and mind need a break from been on auto-pilot at work all day.
- Take a screen-free break by going for a walk, getting fresh air and/or taking some deep breaths inhaling and exhaling from your belly.
- Having moments in the day when you check in with your internal experience. Journaling is a great way to do this. Ask yourself, “What am I thinking? What am I feeling? What does my body need right now?
If you are not in tune with your internal experience, there’s no way that you can take yourself in the right direction.
Being mindful allows us to identify our emotions, bodily sensations, and thoughts, which serve as an internal compass guiding our decisions.
“Mindfulness or meditation means creating spaces to reconnect with your inner self. In today’s busy world, it’s easy to stay on autopilot. Simply taking a few minutes to breathe can bring you back to your conscious awareness.”- Samantha Sacchi
Self-Awareness: Not Your Average Self-Care
How do you want to feel in your life? How do you want to feel in your day-to-day?
To feel whole, happy, and free – you must know what you need to feel whole, happy, and free – or however else you want to feel.
If you have the belief that focusing on yourself is ‘selfish’ or shameful, that’s your the first misconception that will keep you disconnected from yourself.
Having moments of time where you focus solely on yourself and leave the world behing you, is essential to know how to take care of yourself.
There is another misconception that taking care of yourself is limited to bubble baths and relaxation. And yes, rest is an essential need we humans have, but true self-care goes far beyond that.
Real self-care is a minute to minute activity. It asks you to be present and in tune with your moment-to-moment experience to understand.
So if you notice you’re getting thirsty, you go drink some water.
If you notice you’re getting hungry, you prepare or buy some nurtuting food.
If you notice you’re feeling stressed out, you take a break and go for a walk.
You get the pattern.
Self-care is about taking full responsibility for yourself.
It’s about showing up for yourself fully so you can fully show up for the world.
It’s time to rewrite these narratives because:
- Taking care of yourself is ESSENTIAL to living your true potential, and
- Self-care is primarily about being aware of your emotions and needs
We’re programmed to focus on the external world, which becomes unhealthy when it’s at the expense of ourselves.
There are many egocentric humans in the world that might need to focus less on themselves, but they’re likely not reading this article.
We are talking to the people-pleasers who have demonized selfishness and glorified sacrifice and selflessness (especially women).
You must know that ‘saving’ others at the expense of yourself for a noble badge of honor is a trauma response and it’s a dysfunctional pattern of behavior.
Your own well-being can never be an after-thought.
The thing is, there’s a big difference between serving others from a mindset of guilt, shame and fear versus genuine heart-centered service.
When driven by the low-vibe energy of guilt and shame, it leads to self-neglect, martyrdom, and unnecessary drama.
True service comes from a place of wholeness.
You need to pause and ask yourself, “What is wrong with wanting to know and care for myself?”
Changing the negative association with being selfish is absolutely necessary to be able to fully share yourself by putting your gifts and your energy into the world.
The world needs you healthy, happy, and whole in order to truly be of service.
We need to learn to create space for ourselves to become more self-aware so we can pay attention to our inner experience rather than always putting everyone else’s needs ahead of our own.
Self-awareness will Transform your Professional Life
Think self-awareness is just for personal peace? Think again. Self-awareness is your secret weapon for professional success too.
Imagine navigating life’s chaos with a superpower that makes you more confident, creative, and authentic. That’s
Let me ask you this: Have you ever felt like…
- You are stuck on the same career path because you’ve been afraid of stepping outside the box that society or your parents put you in
OR
- You’ve always followed what everyone else was doing out of fear of being ‘behind’
OR
- You have a great job but wake up every day feeling guilty about still feeling dissatisfied
Sounding familiar?
Self-awareness has everything to do with professional success and satisfaction.
How? Samantha is a great example.
The more self-aware she became, the better equipped she was to go after entrepreneurial ventures, negotiate her income, and speak up confidently in meetings.
That’s because listening to yourself and aligning with your inner wisdom, *especially when it means taking risks*, is transformative.
Because this is how you end up making decisions that truly resonate with your values and soul desires.
Deep fulfillment is on the other side of listening to intuition and following it.
We have seen this time and time again the students of The Self Academy’s programs.
Here’s what our students have shared with us:
“I never thought that such an inner analysis will help me that much in my business and daily life.” – Cristian
“I had a chance to put a name on things that I was feeling that I didn’t know that I was feeling. Because I didn’t have that information. I had a chance to identify parts of myself which I hadn’t identified. That was for me the most valuable thing, Awareness and getting to know deeper myself into talk to parts of myself that I’m not used to.” Sara
The impact it had on me was to open that door of deep healing and find a real peace within. – Melanie
The life changes they have made, the way their relationships have improved, and the freedom and joy they’ve accessed, are just some of the transformations available to you through self-awareness.
You can learn more about the programs available through The Self Academy here. (include Course page link).
Our Educational are Seriously Lacking
This is the Cold. Hard. Truth.
Nobody taught us to know ourselves. Nobody cared, really.
Traditional education systems were designed to produce efficient workers for the industrial revolution, valuing obedience over creativity and critical thinking.
In today’s world, this leads to a paradigm where stepping outside the standardized path can result in feelings of shame and isolation.
You think you’re weird. You feel self conscious, like you don’t fit in or belong.
You’re questioning yourself feeling like an outlier.
Sound familiar? Well, let me tell you, being the outlier is FANTASTIC.
Why? Because you know that inkling that something isn’t working? You’re on to something as you start to challenge the status quo.
As the philosopher Krishnamurti said,
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
It is our responsibility to educate and empower ourselves by stepping outside of your comfort zone.
There’s a reason why the personal development industry is a $41 billion industry. People want to grow, to live better, to learn all the things our current societal systems never taught us.
The point is that you’re not alone and that inkling is the beginning of the personal development journey. This is the path to discovering life-affirming systems, rather than life-destroying systems where you get to create your future and become part of a community of truth seekers.
So even though there’s a lot of progress to be made in educational institutions and organizations, the great news is you can start RIGHT NOW… with yourself.
Taking Self-Awareness To The Streets
Topics like self-awareness are epic and juicy, but they’re not meant to lie dormant in your ‘Bookmarks Tab’ or on your shelf of self-help books.
Self-awareness can be transformational IF (and only if) you actually put the skills and tools into ACTION!
We’re talking:
- Identifying your beliefs and thought patterns
- Noticing AND changing the unhealthy patterns that are keeping your stuck
- Making choices that align with your inner truth
- Actively cultivate a more fulfilling life
At The Self Academy, this is our jam.
Our philosophy not only parts from the base that everything starts with the Self, but we guide you through practical, powerful tools and practices.
If you’re thinking “I could use a little more self-awareness right now” and want something simple, practical and easy – our short intro course “Journey of You” is a perfect place to start.
It’s a short video series with powerful self-reflection questions that guide you through some of the basics of the Self.
If you want to dive deeper into the foundations of who you are and activate your power, take a look at our 4-month women’s program, Unapologetic.
P.S. Click here to learn more about “The Journey of You”
P.P.S. The doors for our signature program “Unapologetic” are now OPEN! This 4-month program is only offered once a year and we start in September- if you want the last 4 months of 2024 to be UNAPOLOGETIC, click here for more information and to register!