Joey and Maria Livestream — Self Awareness + Personal Growth!

Self-awareness is the first step towards personal growth

What is self-awareness?

Self-awareness means that a person is conscious about their own internal thoughts, emotions, memories, actions and sensations at that very present moment.

Awareness - Clarity - Action

Self-Awareness is the first step towards personal growth because when we express how we feel, we get a better understanding of the emotions we associate with a certain topic. Just the fact of voicing it out or even writing those emotions on paper, enables us to realize what we have been hiding inside of us.

Awareness aids in identifying areas of weaknesses/opportunities to further development. Being in a state of consciousness is important in producing any form of change, be it big or small.

Psychologist Nathaniel Branden said, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” Acceptance says, “I recognize that this is my reality and I am in charge of how I want to live my life”. Being aware of, accepting the current reality and actively visualizing the desired reality is when we have full awareness and clarity of who we are and what we truly want. 

Meditation, journaling or going for a walk alone are power tools to reflect on desires, worries, fears, doubts…The mind expands and makes the person reflect on emotions, thoughts and behaviors. Reflection leads to self-awareness. After self-awareness comes clarity. Clarity together with a good dose of positivity and an action plan can do wonders in personal development.

4 stages of self-awareness

A person’s awareness of knowing comprises 4 stages. It moves from being unaware (“don’t know” phase) of the deficiency one has, to eventually mastering it (“I know” phase).

• What do I already know?
• What do I already know about what I don’t not know?
• What do I want to know about what I don’t know yet?
• What do I need to know that is important to help me to move forward?

One key element that holds this theory together is awareness. If one is unaware of what is required to move forward, one will simply not see the need to change (or learn). Finding out the answers of the questions also are called realizations and discoveries.

Transformative coaching as a tool

Going through the 4 stages of self-awareness and getting clarity as a result  is not a piece of cake. The ICF certified transformative coach has the required knowledge & skills to discover what treasure of information is hiding in every stage of the awareness phase and clarity phase. 

About the writer:

Maria Alexandrakis, Digital Marketer and ICF Certified Transformative Coach has been inspired to write this article thanks to the intensive Transformative Coaching Core Programme of Coach Masters Academy.