More ways to ask yourself questions and increase self-awareness.
Journaling to ask yourself questions.
A journal is a great tool to help you ask questions about yourself and increase your self-awareness. You can start using it right away and jot down any questions that come to mind.
It doesn't have to be structured in any particular way, as long as you are able to write your questions down. You write your questions as quickly or slowly as you want to.
You can ask yourself just one question every day to get to know yourself better. Or you can do a brain dump of questions, where you write down all the questions that come to mind until you can't think of any more.
The beauty of this method is, it keeps a record of all your questions, you can start & stop at any time, and you can keep track of your progress.
Check your VITALS.
Checking your VITALS, or your values, interests, temperament, around-the-clock, life purpose, and goals, is a great way to increase your self-awareness and self-knowledge.
Knowing your VITALS is significant because it can help you not only ask questions of yourself, but gives you a better understanding of your personality, behavior, and thoughts, characteristics, and traits.
Ask others.
One way to increase self-awareness and self-knowledge is to ask other people. Other people can give you an unbiased perspective of yourself and shed light on your personality that you may not have been aware of.
Sometimes it's hard to see ourselves for who we truly are because we might be afraid to be honest and open with ourselves. This method comes with a caveat, however.
Although other people may be more honest with you than you can be with yourself, you might not like what they say about you. So the best thing when it comes to asking others about yourself is to be willing and open to receive feedback.
Identify your core beliefs.
Your core beliefs shape your personality, behavior, values, thoughts, and traits. It's important to identify what they are if you want to learn more about yourself.
Here are some examples:
- My skills are not up to par.
- I am good enough.
- I make people laugh and smile.
- Bad things always happen to me.
- Maybe I'm too old for this.
- I am loveable.
Use your core beliefs to form questions about yourself to give you more clarity on how you live your life and how you want to shape it in the future.
Identify your values.
Your values are formed by your beliefs, experiences, parents, culture, environment, religion, and society. Like your beliefs, your values help shape your behavior and personality.
Even if you don't know what your value is right now, it might be lying just below the surface of your consciousness. Your values in life provide the foundation for the decisions and actions you make in life.
It provides the basis for your purpose, goals, and plans for how you want to live your life. This is why it's important to go deep and uncover your values so you can make the process of self-inquiry and self-discovery much more clear.
Discover your purpose in life.
Your purpose in life is the reason whyyou got up this morning and the reason why you were put on this planet. It acts as your inner compass to guide you back to yourself when you feel lost.
You can discover your purpose in life by identifying your core beliefs and values. Then you can come up with your own questions to ask yourself to help you find your purpose in life:
Here are some examples:
- What are my strengths?
- What are my skills?
- What is my dream job?
- What makes me happy?
Practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness is being aware of what is going on in your inner and outer world in the present moment. Even though the practice is simple, it takes time and continuous effort before you notice its effects.
When you are mindful and present, you have more clarity & awareness of what's going on in your life, which is helpful when you need to ask questions about yourself.
Remember that mindfulness is not about perfection but about giving yourself space and presence.
Meditation.
Meditation can be a powerful tool to help you form questions about yourself and increase self-awareness. There are many forms of meditation, such as:
- Mindfulness meditation.
- Sitting meditation.
- Walking meditation.
- Eating meditation.
Although it's the standard, you don't have to sit quietly to meditate. In fact, some people find this type of meditation unnerving.
You can move around and walk instead to help ground yourself. Or you can practice mindful meditation while eating, driving, or doing your chores.
