Self-awareness

I looked it up: The highest temperature in Massachusetts was 104 degrees in the summer of 1911. In the summer of 2010, we reached 100 degrees. For the past three days, the temperature in Boston has been well over 90 degrees. When I step out onto the streets, I instantaneously start sweating before my brain can even register it. This is a lucid manifestation of global warming issues. Massachusetts is in a heat wave.

Anyhow, that was not the main purpose of this post. Part of it is to remember the devastating weather we’ve experienced for the past three days, yet today, I mainly want to share my weekly inspiration. Due to the sweltering weather yesterday, I was stayed primarily indoors. I began reading a book my dad gave me when I was in fifth grade, along with the

Seven Habits. It’s called The Girls Book of Wisdom by Catherine Dee. A broad-scale synopsis would deduce that it’s a book filled with 45 aspects that lead to success in life. Yet these pages are not written in the traditional chapter style. The points in the book are illustrated through hundreds of quotes by females.

Some of these aspects are I am mentally conscious of, yet do are not stored the brown boxes in my mind. Some aspects I already practice, but become more aware of. Others stick. Spirituality is one I became more cognizant of while self-awareness is something that has stuck. Catherine Dee wrote a marvelous paragraph about self-awareness. She says that we “know who the popular kids are at school, what they’re thinking about and saying, and who and what impresses them” but she questions, “Do you know the same things about you? What are you thinking about and saying, and who and what impresses you?” For me, this is a very powerful statement. At

This cat clearly needs to gain some self-awareness!

school, I’ve never considered myself a “popular” kid and knowing what those who are find bliss in, it makes me skeptical as to whether I know the same things about myself. I think many kids get really caught up in impressing/assimilating with the “popular” kids which leads them to forget who they truly are themselves. It’s when you manage to remember your true spirit, is it a clear-cut example of self-awareness.

When I took a second to deeply consider the benefits, self-gains, and mentality gained through this simple aspect of self-awareness, I realized how broadly possibilities spanned. Self-awareness keeps me on my toes, it reinforces my spiritual tenet about defining myself. It encourages me to simply be myself as well, and eschew falling into the control or influence of others. Sometimes, I feel that self-awareness may actually be the basis to success: it helps us know our capacities and aspire to surpass them.

“It’s where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are.” ~Joyce Carol Oates