Can anyone define to me what it means to be self aware and how does this awareness come about?

Question

My self awareness was brought about by soulsearching due to depression.

Answer 1

when you are self aware then it is meaningless what is there outside of you. self aware is a quality which humanbeing only enjoys. Animal has no such endowment.

Answer 2

I am glad that you turned depression into a spiritual blessing. You have learned something quite important as many Saints before have learned; that the shortest path to heaven is sometimes through hell. Now that your self-awareness has been ignited, all you need to do is listen to your inner voice (the Holy Spirit described in John 14) and "improve your knowing" (Paramhansa Yoganada). The steps on this path are to be kind, then kinder, then being the kindest person on the face of the earth in so far as you know. At the same time you should work to eliminate that part of you that does not belong be it bad habits, improper attiutudes, biases or the like. All of this creates a change within you that harmonizes your mind and soul with God and permits a direct communication with God on all matters.

Answer 3

Good question. People can go through life being like an automaton not ever aware that they have an inner person. Until they hit a brick wall which could be in the guise of an illness like as you say in your case, depression.

Then it slowly dawns on them that they have a inner person and that is when they become self aware and a new life unfolds.

What we do as people with this new self awareness depends very much on how we interact with other people. A new life begins.

Answer 4

By not defining being self aware, just being self aware, self awareness is not a mind thing it is a knowing which is a feeling.

Answer 5

Self-awareness is basically knowing yourself, IE acknowledging your own weaknesses and strength's, your fears and loves etc, whilst acquiring an unassuming confidence in social surroundings.
Depression of course can be a blight upon a persons life, but such is the case in life, there are always mixed blessings.
One major blessing is that through Depression one can find humility, which leads us to empathy and reason, and the scaling down of the Ego.
I always believe that depression although harsh, can when confronted, build upon our spiritual growth ( for want of a better expression).
There exists an old wise saying, " What doesn't kill us makes us stronger".
When we are governed by our ego our eyes are shut tight,
through humility our eyes are prised wide open.

Answer 6

Self awareness in an institutional context is that you make youself known to others.You make youself from the crowd.If you become one among the crowd,in a competitive world you will be failure.If you have self awareness you will assert yourself effectively and will be recognised by others.
In religion self means Soul.We are soul having body.If you are able to distingish the soul(sprit,atman,etc) from the body it becomes self awareness.This is called self realisation.it is difficult to achieve.If you want to know deep read the book"Autobiography of a Yogi"

Answer 7

The definition of self-awareness in philosophy is that one is able to think about oneself objectively.

Lets say you see a tree. Things that are not self-aware can only go up to this point. But us humans, and some animals (In some monkeys and dolphins as far as we can tell), can also say "I seem to be seeing a tree." and "I believe I am seeing a tree, but I could be mistaken."

The fact that we can reflect on our perception is what makes us self-aware. Because we are aware of our existence.

Answer 8

I wouldn't really know how to define self awareness, i think it's probably different for everyone. For me it came about through struggling with mental illness and it helped although ti was frustrating because being self aware doesn't necessarily make you able to do anything about your situation.
It comes about in different ways for different people, no one is that same.
To me, it means knowing what makes me tick basically

Answer 9

Self awareness is the realisation that while being seperate from the rest of the world, your actions have a bearing on that world and the other individuals therein. It's essentially an instinctive form of empathy.

Answer 10

Its a path that you need to find out for yourself. There are many methods of obtaining self-awareness, however, merely following the methods does not ensure that it will work for you. Everyone is unique. One would suggest that you start by becoming an observer to yourself. Be the second person.

Answer 11

Being self aware means you are aware of what you are doing and feeling. You simply need to pay attention to what your doing how your feeling and how your affecting others.