Self-awareness is a powerful tool.

The practice of understanding self offers us many benefits, which include an understanding of:

• Our belief system and how it informs our values and our decision-making process

• Our repetitive patterns that inhibit positive, healthy personal growth

• Our ability to accept and forgive ourselves and others

• How our thoughts and feelings reflect the information we’re receiving and how we’re interacting with our internal and external landscapes

• Our relationship with those we’re in partnership with or at odds with

• Our ability to offer compassion, kindness, and grace to those around us and ourselves

• Our ability to connect with ourselves on the deepest of levels

When we cultivate an inner knowing that originates from our center and examine what is there, we’re better able to use those insights to choose how we want to show up in the world. And when we do this, we feel more in control of our lives, we feel free to be our authentic selves.

Self-awareness is a learned skill.

Below are the three steps I recommend for connecting to your center:

1) Space – Create space in your daily schedule to be with yourself.

Creating space in your calendar for yourself on a regular basis is beneficial on many levels. You’re dedicating time just to you, no one else. In doing so, you’re establishing a connection with yourself that illuminates your deepest desires and needs. When you gain this understanding, you’re better able to determine how you move forward in the best ways possible for you.

2) Solitude – Once you’ve found that space, practice introspection in a quiet place alone.

Many of us are afraid to be alone with ourselves. But it’s necessary if we want to get to know ourselves better. Consider taking yourself for a walk without listening to music or journaling while you sip your morning tea or coffee. Other opportunities for secluding yourself are going for a drive to your favorite destination, watching a sunrise or sunset, or taking a weekend trip by yourself.

3) Stillness – Incorporate ways to be still or sit for those 5-15 minutes.

Now’s the time to settle into stillness. Just be. And this is hard for many of us. Maybe your mind is still over-active or you didn’t get a chance to move your body today (or both). If this is the case for you, go for a walk before you sit. Consider journaling or talking to a friend or therapist to get what’s in your heart and mind out there so that you can sit quietly.

May you find opportunities for sitting quietly by yourself on a daily basis so that you may understand yourself from the inside out.

If you’d like to read more from Love Thyself, First + Always, purchase a copy today.