Journal Prompts for Self-Awareness
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Why you should increase your self-awareness
Self-awareness is something that we all need to be able to *successfully* build relationships by being in tune with your emotional state.
This means not allowing yourself to be driven by emotions, but to let yourself feel the emotions and create cognitive decisions because you understand what your emotions mean to you.
How to gain experience with your emotions is through self-reflection or self-study. I find journaling to be the best way to gain this self-knowledge.
Others may use gratitude, intention setting, spiritual means, or therapy to dive deeper into what your feelings are trying to tell you.
Your self-awareness helps you deduct what a situation looks like. Being able to read yourself and others emotions through your increased self-awareness will increase your:
Listening skills
Connection with those around you
Self-confidence in uncertain situations
Interpersonal skills with new people
How to increase your self-awareness
Self-awareness is all about self-study. Becoming immersed into your body and soul with the meaning behind why you are the way you are. Nothing wrong with whatever pops up, but it’s always beneficial to know you can handle a situation before it arrives.
The best way to increase your self-awareness is to practice emotional intelligence (EQ).
What is emotional intelligence you ask?
Daniel Goleman coined the term in the 1990’s as he was constructing research within the organizational space on leadership. He defines EQ as “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships” (Goleman, 1998).
Although created to help leadership within organizational settings because self-awareness is the utmost beneficial way for leaders to grow, I believe it can be used for so much more!
Long debated if emotional intelligence is a trait or can be taught, but most of the research directs it towards being taught.
Don’t get me wrong, as a person who finds themself emotionally intelligent, I believe that if harnessed within children while they grow, they’ll live more fulfilled lives!! That’s a story for another day ;)
This means that we follow our emotions and intuition in how we should act and how we should be perceived. There are plenty of ways to lean into this, but first we must learn what we know about ourselves already, and what we don’t know.
The best way to do this is through self-study.
Self-study means journaling our experiences. Writing about how those experiences made us feel. About what they did to us afterwards. How we can grow from them without them ruining the rest of our time on this earth.
So, the question is, are you ready to begin your journaling journey to increase your self-awareness?
30 Journal Prompts for Improving Your Self-Awareness:
What does being self-aware mean to me?
Do I find myself to be self-aware in situations?
What am I feeling at this moment?
What does my body tell me when I’m anxious, happy, or sad?
Am I holding onto something that I need to let go of?
What worries me about my future?
What worries about my future scare me into not trying?
What have I given up on?
What makes me anxious, sad, or upset?
What makes me happy, grateful, or complete?
What tasks and responsibilities do people trust you with?
What promises have I broken to myself in the past? How does that make me feel?
Am I taking parts of my life for granted?
Are there relationships in my life, not serving me anymore?
Describe the most devastating moment in your life. Really dive into what you felt in that moment and afterwards.
Who am I to others around me?
Who am I really?
What are my values?
What is my purpose?
What do I do best?
What do I feel feel like I could approve upon in my life
What emotions do I feel regularly that I enjoy? What am I doing when that happens?
How do you handle difficult conversations?
What social situations make you uncomfortable?
What is my definition of happiness?
How often do I treat myself with love and respect?
How do you bounce back from failure?
What accomplishments am I most proud of?
What positive qualities do I bring to my close relationships?
What do I think about when I’m alone?
