When we journey inwards to discover who we really are, or our authentic self, we will have a better understanding of who we are. Our values, our natural talents and abilities, our capabilities, our passions, what excites us, empowers us, inspires us and what we truly love.
As we discover who we really are we will:
Improve our relationships because we will care less about what other think of us, you won’t need other peoples approval as you will be more comfortable with yourself. This ultimately removes the wrong people in your life (the critical, negative energies) and draws the right individuals in – those who will love you for who you really are.
Find the right career. Self discovery forces you to look inward and find your natural talents. It will help you harness your unique capabilities – that unique gift you were born with. By acknowledging your mental and physical strengths, you can pursue a career that makes you happy, instead of one that makes you feel as though you are constantly swimming upstream.
Become physically healthier. There’s no question that self awareness makes you mentally healthier, but did you know that it can also impact your physical health? You begin to value yourself more, and a consequence, you eat better, you get out more, and you start to give your body what it truly needs.
Unfortunately, not knowing yourself well can result in a meaningless and unhappiness existence. You have no charge of who You really are. You allow your emotions and decisions to be externally dictated because you have no clear idea about what your inner values, core beliefs and goals are. Instead, you adopt the values, core beliefs and opinions of your friends, colleagues or parents, as your own. You have no clue about what your personal boundaries are.
Self discovery is not an a one-day or a one-week affair. In fact, it can take a lifetime of building a relationship with yourself.
Here are 5 ways you can discover your authentic self:
Identify your core values – ask yourself what your personal values are. Core values will be things like compassion, honesty, love, kindness, loyalty, etc. Clarifying your core values will give you an exact picture of who You are. imagine yourself in a couple of roles and ask yourself what your values are in each case: i.e. as a mother, wife, daughter and entrepreneur. It is important your actions are supported by your core values and fundamentals. If not, you will find yourself in self sabotage and you will find it incredibly difficult to reach your goals.
Who are you – what are your unique qualities? – Make a list of ALL the qualities that make you, you. Who are you? Try to get to around 50 qualities! Include so-called negative qualities. Afraid of heights? Self-judging? Find it difficult to meet new people? Include all of them. Include everything that pops into your head. Have curly hair? Write that down. Love dogs? Write it down. Like organising events or feeling safe? Write it down. When we have this big list of about 50 qualities we need to reduce this down to the most important qualities that are the essence of you, so you will be left with about 10% of your list.
What makes your heart sing? – It is important to look at all the things that bring joy in to our lives so that we can add more of this into our lives. We all live busy lives but allowing our busy lives to take over can have detrimental effects on our energy and our wellbeing. It is important that we make the time to fit the things that bring us joy into our schedule on a daily basis.
Thinking about these things makes you feel blissfully happy and feeling true joy – free and light of all cares and worries. You can’t help but smile and you feel relaxed and at peace with yourself and the world. What makes your heart sing?
Boost your Strengths – find out what your strengths are, Focusing on the things you are good at will build your self confidence. Finding a job/career/life journey that focuses on your strengths (example: if one of your strengths is analysing, become a strategy consultant. If you enjoy and are good at painting, become a painter.) Improving on your strengths can take you a long way, so pick two or three things you are really good at and see how you can use them in your day to day life, (work, career, family, social etc)
Draw out your gremlins – let go of sabotaging behaviour break free of limiting beliefs and self-judgements. Self sabotaging thoughts and behaviours are perpetuated by an inner critic we all possess. We can identify the self sabotaging thoughts that we have internalised and consciously choose to change them. One way of looking at your Gremlin is to see it as a habitual way of thinking. When we fall victim to our Gremlin and listen to its negative talk, we often engage in self limiting or self sabotaging behaviours that can be destructive to the success of our own lives. Where do you self sabotage yourself, make a list so that you can start to make positive changes.
Join me in my Facebook group for the 5 day self discovery challenge
suziedwardsintuative.wordpress.com 