In the month of may, I opened up the journaling workshop again. That time for a whopping 82 people! My mind is still reeling from the overwhelming response received, for which I’m nothing but grateful. But I found myself reflecting on why I decided to offer this in the first place.
My Journaling Journey
I’ve had the habit of expressing through writing from a young age but it’s not until recently that I discovered the potency of it. When I started journaling, it was a release for me, a means to express, vent, let it out of my system – the thoughts, the emotions, the triggers, the reactions, the damages, the grief, the loss, the conflicts, the heartbreaks – everything. It was like I’d download all the pain, grief, and heaviness onto a diary when I’m raw and vulnerable to deal with later when I feel strong enough to face it.
Much later when I trained to become a coach I realized how potent journaling is, how journaling through the years gave me a secret superpower that’s key to success in today’s world – and that is Self Awareness.
Why awareness?
Did you know 95% of us believe we are self-aware, but only 10-15% are truly aware. Which means a whopping 80% of us lie to ourselves about who we think we are and what we are feeling and thinking. Without self-awareness, we buy into the stories we tell ourselves or the things society has been telling us for years and fall prey to them.
If you notice keenly whenever you’re uncomfortable/unhappy/dissatisfied in life, it happens because your thoughts, feelings, and actions are not in alignment. For example, you might be thinking about your future career, feeling fear and overwhelm, while you’re binging on that dark chocolate cake. Of course you’re not at ease or at joy. You’re all over the place
Journaling and Awareness
One of the fundamental means to gain awareness is to reflect and introspect. A daily journaling habit helps reinforce this reflection as we evolve and gives clarity into who we are, what we value, what is not important, what excites us, what kind of a life we’d like to lead, what kind of an ecosystem we thrive in, what can we do to support our personal growth and development.
Journaling can give us insight into each of these aspects and build our awareness of self, how we see ourselves, how others perceive us, where we fit into our world, and what gives us the most meaning in life. With this awareness you get clarity on self, relationship, how you should prioritize your time, and what contribution you can make to society.
Know Thyself
This inscription found at the entrance of the Greek temple of Apollo has many layers of significance to our lives. Armed with self-awareness we can stand our ground, establish boundaries, and take aligned action towards making our life more meaningful for us.
The miracle of awareness is that just being able to see reality is enough, we don’t even have to do anything once we are awakened to a new reality.
I’d recorded a podcast episode earlier on how the secret to making change happen is awareness. You can tune in to the entire episode here.