I’m convinced self-awareness is maybe the single most important gift you can give to those you love, so here are some goofy pics to help you visualize it 😆
in simple terms, self-awareness is understanding at a core level why you do, say, think, act how you do. it helps you to recognize good things to be grateful for, and adjust things that you don't like, or that don't make sense. which conclusively helps every aspect of life.
'Don’t expect anyone else to fully understand both the bitterness and the joys of all you experience in your life.' Prov. 14:10 TPT
I am so passionate about people realizing how important this is, I would slap everyone I see if I thought it would help. no seriously. if you understand others with 150% accuracy but have no self-awareness, your entire life is sabotaged. I see it literally every day. people "feel" because of things that happen surrounding them, and instead of looking internally, they only look externally to see what affected them. it was probably not the person or situation that they are blaming at all, but instead some unresolved hurt or misunderstanding in their own heart. on the flip side, when they feel good things, they again blame it on external circumstances, and mistakenly judge that they cannot again experience that good thing without recreating that good scenario. so they become dependent, or co-dependent, unaware that beautiful things can be experienced over and over and over simply by understanding ourselves, and what gets us.
learning ourselves is a very different process for each person, but I wanted to express a little of how it looks for me. I am a HUGE feeler, although I don't really like people to know that. 😂 my atmosphere is everything. before I get into how I create my atmosphere, I have to take this opportunity to mention: knowing that my atmosphere affects me so much is self-awareness, and soooooo important! why? if I am in an ugly or cluttered or dirty environment, I may feel kinda down or unmotivated or bleh. if I don't know that it's because my emotions are affected by my surroundings, I may get irritated with the person I am with, or even think they are making me feel that way. 💡see where I'm going with this? here's the super cool disclaimer...because I am self-aware, although I don't like mess, I can go to anyone else's house and tune it out (I literally don't see it, so don't be self-conscious about having me over 😂), because I've learned that it's up to me, not them, how I feel.
so I do everything I can to be surrounded by things that are beautiful to me. but more than that (as that is impossible and unrealistic 100% of the time), I trained myself to find beauty in the most unlikely places. If the sun is shining, I'll enjoy that, but if it's not, I'll let myself be mesmerized by the peacefulness of the rain. I'll appreciate abandoned buildings for their poetry, or notice a pop of color in a drab, dingy store. I'll get excited about a favorite song playing in a passing car, or a restaurant where I don't enjoy the food, having one thing that I love on the menu. I literally can find beauty everywhere, because I know that it gives me joy, and I like feeling happy (which in turn helps me in how I interact with my environment and my relationships), so I taught myself to.
I decorated my apartment to be the cutest, most magical place, but then I realized that there was no specific spot that made me want to get into "introspective" mode. my grandmother recently passed, and my aunt let me have this beautiful little table that belonged to her, (in the pictures, with the mediterranean tiles). it inspired me to make what I call my "creative corner." it's not necessarily the cutest part of my home, but it's under my skylight, and it instantly became one of my favorite places to work out what’s going on inside of me…whether by reading, writing, playing, singing, crying, laughing, or just sitting, sipping coffee, ☕️ feeling the sun on my face and the breeze on my skin, listening to the birds. 🥲 sitting there I can just soak up the beauty of life, and in that mental space, it becomes easy for me to weed out anything inside that doesn't belong. so I might read for a while, or write, and I'll think about what's been on my mind lately, how it made me feel, and why. writing helps me a lot, partly because I write prophetically and it will show me things I didn't know...but also because putting thoughts on paper just helps me think. for someone who's not so creative or whatever, you have to figure out what helps you think...maybe exercise, or driving, or talking out loud (all of which help me too lol).
I believe self-awareness is one of the most underutilized tools we were given for living a full life, mostly because people don’t understand it. it doesn't have to spiritual, or mystical, or religious, or intellectual...it's kind of all of those things. I will say that the more I learn to tune into to the spirit, to listen to my father's heart, in who's image I was created, the easier it is to understand myself. but in the "christian" world, I abhor that we are often taught to just slap a scripture on it, say a prayer and "believe." scriptures do hold inestimable power, but they are useless if we don't understand our own internal processing mechanisms. yes I said it. scriptures are an amazing tool that are USELESS if we don't weave them into our understanding of our nature, of the beautiful and intricate way God created us, individually, internally. he made us so complex, why he would he expect us not to seek to understand the brilliance of what he created? I find no excuse for ignorance. honestly, mystics and spiritists, monks and buddhists, have been teaching this for so long, with such great success, that often uneducated christians (or whatever you want to call them) don't even know how to explain what they can offer that is better. 😩 but that is a conversation for another day.
to those who get nervous reading about things like this...you know what's funny? all I just did was spend this whole blog explaining how to renew your mind.
love, mercy joy
'Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.'
Romans 12:2 TPT
'Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind.'
Philippians 4:8a TPT
'We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. '
2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT
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