In Episode 63 of the 1life podcast, Behka White discusses the final human endowment: self-awareness. She defines self-awareness as the ability to step back and observe our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, acting as a mirror to our inner world. Behka emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in making conscious choices and shaping our lives intentionally. She shares a personal anecdote about a school cafeteria experience where she gained self-awareness about her eating habits, highlighting how this awareness motivated positive change. Behka acknowledges that self-awareness requires honesty and introspection, suggesting a three-question reflection tool to process experiences: (1) what went well and why, (2) what didn't go well and why, and (3) what will I do differently next time. She also references AA's 12-step program, specifically step four, which involves a fearless moral inventory, as a path to profound self-awareness. Behka concludes by encouraging listeners to embrace self-discovery through honest self-examination, emphasizing that understanding ourselves is key to personal growth and living our best lives.
The 1Life Podcast with Behka White
Episode 63 -Self Awareness
In Episode 63 of the 1life podcast, Behka White discusses the final human endowment: self-awareness. She defines self-awareness as the ability to step back and observe our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, acting as a mirror to our inner world. Behka emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in making conscious choices and shaping our lives intentionally. She shares a personal anecdote about a school cafeteria experience where she gained self-awareness about her eating habits, highlighting how this awareness motivated positive change. Behka acknowledges that self-awareness requires honesty and introspection, suggesting a three-question reflection tool to process experiences: (1) what went well and why, (2) what didn't go well and why, and (3) what will I do differently next time. She also references AA's 12-step program, specifically step four, which involves a fearless moral inventory, as a path to profound self-awareness. Behka concludes by encouraging listeners to embrace self-discovery through honest self-examination, emphasizing that understanding ourselves is key to personal growth and living our best lives.
- Duration:
- 5m
- Broadcast on:
- 12 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- aac
Welcome to the One Life podcast with Becca White. This is episode 63, Self-Awareness. Today we are finishing up our exploration of happiness using the four human endowments articulated by Stephen Covey. We have discussed creative imagination, independent will, and conscience. Today's final topic is Self-Awareness, which is the ability to step back, observe ourselves, and understand our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Think of self-awareness as a mirror that reflects our inner world. It allows us to see our strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations. Without this mirror, we are stumbling in the dark, reacting to life rather than intentionally shaping it. Quick illustration, school cafeteria. It was French Friday with fry sauce, which is my favorite. I was sitting across from two cool girls that I didn't usually get to sit with, and one of the girls began to have a look of disgust on her face, and kept nudging the other girl who smiled sweetly at me. This continued until I finished my french fries and left. I kept seeing the girls look of disgust in my mind, and finally wanted to understand what happened, so I had this conversation with myself. What was I doing when she looked disgusted? I was eating my french fries with sauce. What did that look like to her? Here I pulled out the mirror to see myself. The fries were hot. I was in a hurry. I was dipping and shoving fries in my mouth, chewing with my mouth open and talking while eating. No napkins. I was licking my fingers good because we can't let any of that sauce go to waste. I could see it all in my mind, and wow, it was disgusting! Seeing myself clearly motivated me to never eat like that again. This was a huge step forward in my table etiquette, so I thank the cool girls. I wish I could say this happened in elementary, but no, unfortunately, I'm embarrassed to admit that it happened in high school. The good news is that we do not need to travel through life oblivious to our weaknesses and offenses. Self-awareness is a skill which can be learned and cultivated. It comes from deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions. The questions we ask are determined by what we want to learn about ourselves. Processing our experience is a good place to begin, and we can use the helpful reflection tool discussed previously if the three questions went well and why, what didn't go well and why, and next time I will blank. Beyond processing our experiences, there are many questions we can choose to ask ourselves. The most rigorous path of self-awareness is found in AA step number four, which is make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. The step is designed to help one understand who they are and how they arrived at their current state. As I have stated previously, I attended my first 12-step meeting when I was 17 with my uncle Daryl. What I didn't say is that we have dealt with addiction in our home and I have been through the 12-steps multiple times and served as a group leader and facilitator for years. Making a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself is hands down the most excruciating and liberating experience of my choosing. Greatfully, I had a very wise sponsor who guided me through the process with a lot of grace. As a preparation for the work, she had me begin by making an extensive list of my positive personal attributes and strengths. Following this, there were questions about how those traits served me in my life and how I can use them to serve other people, etc. Then the real work began of answering questions in five separate inventories, which included mistakes, shame and blame, recognizing my own weaknesses, codependency and personal relationships, identifying negative emotions and attitudes, and remembering God's help in my life. This process took weeks. Following these inventories, I then wrote my biographical sketch. Words are inadequate, but you know that scene in The Matrix where Neo reaches awareness about his reality? Morpheus tries to explain things to Neo. He says, "The truth is that you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind." Going through the experience of Step 4 felt like unlocking the prison for my mind. Understanding who I am and how I got to my state helped me see where I wanted to go and how to begin. One of the keys to happiness is doing more of the things that bring happiness and doing less of the things that bring unhappiness. Self-awareness will guide our progress. Sometimes we don't want to engage in asking ourselves deeply searching questions because we are afraid of what we might find. Today's invitation is to ask anyway. Because at your core, underneath all of your life experiences and your circumstances and even your choices, you are divine and beloved. You do not need to hide from yourself. Honesty is the beginning of all change. Thank you for joining me on this episode of The One Life podcast. If today's episode is helpful for you, please like and subscribe and share. Remember, you have the power to shape your life. Until next time, keep living your best life. [BLANK_AUDIO]