Self-awareness is one of the most important skills for a person to have–and also one of the most difficult. Having self-awareness might be the single biggest challenge in the world of personal growth because it is both so essential and so difficult to see ourselves clearly. 

In this episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick Hanson and I explore what it takes to develop self-awareness and become more self-aware over time. This includes the different forms of awareness that come into play and why maintaining awareness can be such a struggle. We then spend some time considering the heartening notion that the majority of what we have to look forward to when we become more self-aware is the recognition of our own positive aspects, and the natural movement towards health and integration.

Key Topics:
0:00 Introduction
1:45 Rick’s observations of people’s self-awareness when beginning therapy
6:50 Distinguishing internal and external self-awareness
8:30 Different types of internal self-awareness
14:19 Why is it hard to become self-aware?
20:05 Positive discoveries and Forrest’s personal experience
27:45 The natural movement toward health and sanity
33:25 What causes us to lose touch with positive aspects of our nature?
44:35 How can we cultivate more self-awareness over time?
50:05 Questions to ask yourself
57:35 A creative exercise for mapping out parts of yourself
1:00:55 Recap

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Who Am I: I'm Forrest, the co-author of Resilient (https://amzn.to/3iXLerD) and host of the Being Well Podcast (https://apple.co/38ufGG0). I'm making videos focused on simplifying psychology, mental health, and personal growth.

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