Self Awareness ! We’d suppose that it’s a very obvious factor – to remember of ourselves – like, “Hey, yeah, I do know I exist.” However typically how often do we think about who we are, our existence, our purpose, our behaviours, our fears, our likes and dislikes, our temperament, our relationship dynamics, how we like to have fun, or how we really feel from a moment to moment basis? Yes, that surely is a lot to think about.

Consciousness and Awareness are the two words we often come across. Consciousness is to be aware of one’s environment, body and lifestyle. Self-awareness is being able to recognize that awareness. Self-awareness means to have a transparent perception of our temperament, which includes strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. It is the ability to visualize ourself clearly and objectively through reflection and introspection. It not only gives us a better understanding of other people, but also helps us in understanding how they perceive us, our attitude and our responses to them in the moment.

Self-awareness is one amongst the most vital, if not the most vital, things an individual will consistently work on throughout his life. Because when we have an improved understanding of ourselves, we tend to experience ourselves as distinct and unique individuals. Only then do we have the power to build on our areas of strength furthermore as well as establish areas where we might wish to make enhancements.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is but natural to have so many things out of our control and feel overwhelmed about them. Our emotions could be everywhere. We might be on the one hand worried about ourselves and our family and on the other hand also happy to have got the time to connect and bond with them. We may also be tired of the restrictions on one hand and anxious of the future on the other. We often experience many varied kinds of emotions in a day. The feeling we get is like that of being on a roller coaster.

How do we then manage that roller coaster of our feelings?

Build Self Awareness. Here is what can be done;

• Pause and check with ourselves during the course of the day. This, will help us to notice our emotions and also make us realize why we are feeling them. Which in turn will help us to manage our reactions to such emotions.
• There are many emotions which we can manage. For instance, in these uncertain times, we may not be able to say when this pandemic would end but we can surely make use of this time to spend qualitatively with our family.
• We may even get harassed and upset by all the news and social media events but we can manage that too by limiting our viewing of any such news item which is bothersome.

We cannot control what other people do but we can definitely manage our own actions and responses. Managing our emotions is in our hands and self-awareness plays a pivotal role in that.