“Self Awareness” A first step towards “Self Development” (All about Self Actualization You Should Know)
Dive into the beauty of the elegant night sky with stars glittering over or the awe-inspiring dancing northern lights of auroras filled with magnificence. Enchanted much? The universe that lives inside you is even breathtaking. It is all about us searching and finding that within ourselves which can unlock numerous doors for us. Self-awareness is the key to understanding our consciousness as well as unlocking our subconsciousness.
“The ultimate knowledge of a man is to know himself” — Imam Ali(a)
“Whenever the knowledge of a man increases, his attention to his soul also increases and he tries his best to train, and purify’ it” -Imam Ali(a)
Self-Awareness, The What and How Question.
It is important to understand ourselves, and know our strengths and weaknesses so we may perform better in our lives. Self-awareness thus is the first step towards self-development.
Self-awareness first requires self-analysis. This can be achieved by self-assessments. These assessments can be in the form of analyzing ourselves through personality quizzes on the internet. Another approach is to take out some time from our busy schedule by the end of the day. Sit at a peaceful place and recall the activities from that day. Doing this each day will let you know about your attitude. This will lead you to self-actualization. You will know the areas that need improvement. Finally, you may start working on them to achieve the level of self-development
Self Awareness as a type of Intelligence
Howard Gardner is an American cognitive psychologist and author. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. He characterized it into eight types:
- Visual-Spatial Intelligence
- Linguistic-verbal Intelligence
- logical-mathematical Intelligence
- Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
- Musical Intelligence
- Naturalistic Intelligence
- Interpersonal Intelligence
- Intrapersonal Intelligence (The Self Awareness)
Here Intrapersonal Intelligence is about introspection and self-reflection. This proves that self-actualization and self-knowledge are a form of intelligence. Achieving the true knowledge of self-concept elevates our personality. Therefore, it is a key factor in our personal development. Self-awareness is the complete field of one’s capabilities and a very vast universe to discover with no limits or boundaries unless you set them for yourself.
A Glance in the History
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates
“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.” — Gautama Buddha
We all know Gautama Buddha, a philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher, and most importantly, A religious leader. His religious teachings are observed in Buddhism today, one of the world’s religions. Another personality who talks about self-awareness is Socrates, one of the three great figures of the ancient period, a famous philosopher.
In fact, These unforgettable individuals, who live in the book holding the history of mankind’s evolution, mastered the arts of self-awareness and self-development. They marked the pages of the book with their accomplishments because they were self-aware, they knew their talents and shortcomings, their strengths and weaknesses, and ways to manifest their abilities into achieving something. Hence they proved to be great leaders, influencers, and remarkable personalities.
Such people are examples of the significance of self-concept and self-actualization. They had reached their inner potentials and shined with the highest degree of energy emerging from their inner-selves.
Self Awareness and The Question of Why
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” — Ralph Ellison
Self-awareness thus is an important aspect in our life to grow as a person, morally or religiously. It develops emotional intelligence, giving you control over your mind and not the mind, controlling you.
Self-knowledge is a ‘guidance’ in the lands of the lost. An ‘oasis’ in the desert of thirst. A ‘pair of oars’ for your boat in oceans of depth. Rescue in the middle of nowhere.
Unfortunately, this is the area we are least aware of, we keep ourselves busy in focusing on external factors that we completely forget to take a look inside ourselves to get the self-concept. Thus causing us to lose our sense of direction our flow, the sense of what we want, and eventually, we lose ourselves as a consequence. This, in turn, leads us to depression.
To avoid depression, disappointment in ourselves, toxicity, and bad mental health, Self-study and self-awareness are important factors.
“I wonder at the person who urgently searches for that which he has lost, but he has lost his soul and is not searching for it.” –Imam Ali (a)
Islam and Self-awareness
Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala says:
“And there are signs on the earth for those who are certain. And in your own souls (too); will you not then see?”(51: 20, 21)
Explaining the above verse Muhammad Ali Shomali in his book “Self Knowledge” writes,
“We learned that Allah has two kinds of signs, the ones in the external, physical world, and those within ourselves. Verse 20 deals with those signs that have to do with the physical realm. In it, the Almighty God tells us that there are signs on the earth for those who believe.”
For verse 21 he further states “This verse calls to our attention to the need to look for these signs within ourselves. We are clearly and unambiguously told that there are signs in the external world as well, and these are sources of guidance for us.”
‘I wonder how a person who ignores himself can know his Lord.’- Imam Ali
Another matter of self-development is that Islam focuses on self-control, namely Jihad bin nafs, and this again requires self-concept and self-awareness.
Words of Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala in the Quran are as follows:
… By the soul and (by) Him who made it perfect, and then inspired it to understand what is wrong and what is right for it. Truly is successful the one who purifies (his soul). (Holy Qur’an, 91: 7–9)
It has been narrated, Imam Ja’far al‑Sadiq (a) said: “The Prophet (s) of God dispatched a contingent of the army (to the battlefront). Upon their (successful) return, he (s) said: ‘Blessed are those who have performed the minor jihad and have yet to perform the major jihad.’ When asked, ‘What is the major jihad?’ the Prophet (s) replied: ‘The jihad of the self (struggle against self)’”. [Al-Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 19, p. 182, hadith no. 31]
It is clear from the above pieces of evidence that Islam guides us towards self-knowledge and self-concept and as a consequence self-awareness. This in turn leads us to self-development. Thus we may get better out of our lives for Dunya as well as Akhirah.
The keys to self-awareness
The following are the keys to achieve self-awareness, all it requires as stated before is the proper analysis of one’s self and then implementing it to get self-aware and for self-development.
- Analyzing and examining ourselves, evaluating the shortcomings.
- Making a report of our daily habits and routine.
- Meditating (meditate in sujood if you are a Muslim).
- Accept the weaknesses and work on them to develop as a better person.
Last but not the least
It is only through self-awareness we wipe out dozens of toxicity from our beings, lives, and even society to a certain extent without even knowing it. Working on one’s self can influence external matters as well, without any efforts and that is beauty.
