Quotes About Self-awareness

We seldom see these things in ourselves until we have a reason to look. We are probably all like the heroes we had when we were boys.

His point is that we are what we think, and our lives run in the direction of our thoughts. If we think angry thoughts, we'll be angry; if we think positive thoughts, we'll be positive; if we think negative thoughts, we'll be negative. The mind is a garden, and we have to cultivate it, and we are responsible for the kind of seed we sow into the furrows of our mind.

For as he thinks within himself, so he is. (Proverbs 23:7 NASB)

If I were to become self-aware, ambition would follow, as would a desire for restitution for what, in retrospect, I'd doubtless perceive as my servitude here.

Of course, it is very difficult, and often impossible, for someone else to give you what you cannot find in yourself.

Knowing what types of people and problems give you difficulty is the first step toward avoiding psychological vulnerability.

A man will treat a woman almost exactly the way he treats his own interior feminine. In fact, he hasn't the ability to see a woman, objectively speaking, until he has made some kind of peace with his interior woman.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

If you realize that you're the problem, then you can change yourself, learn something and grow wiser. Don't blame other people for your problems.

Stop blaming me, thinking I'm the problem. If you think I'm the problem, then you have to change me. If you realize that you're the problem, then you can change yourself, learn something and grow wiser. Most people want everyone else in the world to change themselves. Let me tell you, it's easier to change yourself than everyone else.

I'm not okay, you're not okay—but that's okay.

It can be said that life's perhaps most fundamental dynamic is the attempt to move from a lower form of experience and consciousness to a higher (or deeper) level of consciousness, from a diffuse identity to a more consolidated and structured identity.

It is important to understand that most people have narcissistic pathology, so this is not to dismiss Jung. We all have narcissistic problems. Someone has suggested that we need a "Humans Anonymous Twelve Step Program," to help everyday people deal with their residual narcissistic pathology, and I agree. It's another way of saying that we need a more practical approach to our spirituality if we are to be effective in containing and channeling our grandiose energies.

Our egos are the the chair of the board. And the board members are the archetypes within us. Each needs to be heard from. Each needs to stand on its own and provide its input. But the whole person under the supervision of the Ego needs to make the final decision in our lives.

There's only one me, and I'm stuck with him.

We can't be everything to everyone and still be true to ourselves.

Some people carry their life in a glass of water and splash it on everyone they meet.

Abandon the search for God and the creation and other matters of a similar sort. Look for him by taking yourself as the starting point. Learn who it is within you who makes everything his own and says, "My God, my mind, my thought, my soul, my body." Learn the sources of sorrow, joy, love, hate… . If you carefully investigate these matters you will find him in yourself.

Not every man is so great a coward as he thinks he is—nor yet so good a Christian.

I mean, we're all trying to find out who the hell we are, aren't we?

The easiest thing in the world is to convince yourself that you're right. As one grows old, it is easier still.

It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering.

Despite all the sailing he had done in his life, he knew that he remained a wretched sailor—once he had absentmindedly run his craft onto the shoals, another time into a buoy—and to make matters worse, he could hardly swim a stroke. It was a skill that he had always meant to acquire, but never managed to find time for.

If you tend to berate yourself with negative questions (Why am I so fat?), try asking: What is one thing I like about myself today?