To be able to think and act in a conscious way is a great gift. It can be a great strength, but it can also lead to a lot of self-consciousness.
The self-consciousness is often a result of our ability to be aware of, and to know we are aware of, our own thoughts and feelings. This is an incredibly powerful ability, and it carries with it the potential to get you in trouble. We can use it to our advantage, but that doesn’t mean we need to.
As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” When we try to be too conscious about our actions, we can end up being too self-conscious, which results in a lot of trouble. Instead of getting too self-conscious about the big stuff, it can be a good idea to focus on the little stuff. When you’re aware of your thoughts, actions, feelings, and emotions, they will affect you.
We all know a certain amount of self-awareness is necessary to be “self-aware”. We need to know, for example, that we are going to be thinking about a particular thing at a certain time. We need to know that we are going to be angry at another person. And we need to know that we are going to be doing something dangerous. But we need to know that this isn’t about us.
Self-awareness is not quite as simple as thinking, “Ok. I know I’m thinking about this and that with this and that, but I’m not really aware of it.” The act of awareness is more like that of a mirror. When you look into the mirror, or at any other kind of self-aware object, you see yourself reflected. The mirror does not care who you are. It merely reflects you back.
This is often the first thing a person notices about their own self-awareness. When you look at the mirror, you tend to see yourself reflected. When you look into a mirror, you also see yourself. The act of awareness requires that you see yourself reflected.
You want a mirror, right? Well, you can have a mirror! But that’s not the way it works for the majority of people. To be truly self-aware, you cannot have a mirror. That’s not how you work, you don’t see yourself reflected. You see who you are, and then you make choices, and then you act. It’s not a passive process, it’s still your actions that you have to be aware of.
A lot of the people I know who are self-aware are also highly introverted. Most people who have this quality tend to be highly introverted, but they also tend to be more aware of themselves than most other types of introverts. So when you look into a mirror, you see yourself. That’s not the way this works for a majority of people. For someone who is aware of themselves, this is the way they work.
The problem is that most people who are self-aware are not aware of their own actions. They tend to be introverted to some degree, but they are also highly self-conscious, so they tend to be aware of how they are acting. When they look into a mirror, they see their own actions.
This is exactly why I think many introverts are so self-conscious. If you are aware of yourself, you will not be self-conscious. A truly self-aware person will notice when they are acting self-conscious, and that will change their actions; because then they will change their own self-consciousness.