Quotes About Self-awareness

Thus, I can recognize that I have been unfair and hurtful to my child (or my spouse or my friend) and need to make amends. But I don't want to admit I made a mistake, so I procrastinate, claiming that I am still "thinking" about the situation. This is the opposite of living consciously. At a fundamental level, it is an avoidance of consciousness—avoidance of the meaning of what I am doing; avoidance of my motives; avoidance of my continuing cruelty.

Living consciously implies that my first loyalty is to truth, not to making myself right.

The first act of honoring the self is the assertion of consciousness: the choice to think, to be aware, to send the searchlight of consciousness outward toward the world and inward toward our own being. To default on this effort is to default on the self at the most basic level.

Genuine self-esteem is what we feel about ourselves when everything is not all right.

While healthy self-assertiveness requires the ability to say no, it is ultimately tested not by what we are against but by what we are for.

If we are willing to take responsibility for that which is within our power, I think that frees us to see clearly that which is not, and to understand, therefore, the limits of our accountability. But if we too often fail to take such responsibility and feel vaguely guilty over our avoidance, the paradox is that in our confusion we often end up blaming ourselves for events beyond our control.

Sentence Completions to Facilitate the Art of Living Consciously

The protection of self-esteem requires a clear understanding of the limits of personal responsibility.

The art of being is the art of knowing ourselves, of accepting and existing in harmony with ourselves, and of living out, in action, the highest possibilities of our nature. It includes three basic concepts: self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-assertion.

Those who believe they have "thought enough" and "learned enough" are on a downward trajectory of increasing unconsciousness.

If I enjoy a fundamental sense of efficacy and worth, and experience myself as lovable, then I have a foundation for appreciating and loving others.

The practice of living consciously is the first pillar of self-esteem.

we can be drawn not to the most logical explanation of our behavior but to the most damaging, to that which puts us in the worst light morally.

The tragic irony of people's lives (this point can hardly be stressed enough) is that the very attempt to deny aloneness results in denying love. Without an 'I' who loves, what is the meaning of love?

If our liabilities pose the problem of inadequacy, our assets pose the challenge of responsibility

Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves. I recall discussing the issue

The greatest crime we commit against ourselves is not that we may deny and disown our shortcomings but that we deny and disown our greatness—because it frightens us.

My happiness and self-realization are noble purposes.

This entails the choice to see, to think, to be aware, to send the light of consciousness outward toward the world and inward toward our own being.

The better I know and understand myself, the better the life I can create. Self-examination is an imperative of a fulfilled existence.

It expresses itself in an ease in talking of accomplishments or short-comings with directness and honesty, since one is in friendly relationship to facts.

The higher the level of consciousness at which we operate, the more we live by explicit choice and the more naturally does integrity follow as a consequence.

Self-acceptance is the willingness to say of any emotion or behavior, "This is an expression of me, not necessarily an expression I like or admire, but an expression of me nonetheless, at least at the time it occurred.

Experiencing our feelings has direct healing power.