How journalling and these 10 questions improve self-awareness!

Many of my clients use journalling to work through the triad of self-acceptance – they find it helpful to put their thoughts and memories of an event down on paper. Here are some questions you can work through to help you with your journalling:

10 questions to help improve self-awareness

Thoughts:
1. Was the event a success, a challenge or a crisis?
2. What happened, and what did you tell yourself?
3. What were your beliefs around this?

Feelings:
4. How did it make you feel?
5. Did you respond or react to the event?
6. How did you manage your feelings?

Outside feedback:
7. What feedback did you receive or notice?
8. What was happening outside you?
9. How were others around you reacting/responding?
10. What were you seeing and hearing?

Awareness takes time

For many of us, self-awareness is something we need to work at continually. We need to give ourselves the time and space needed to process our thoughts and become aware of how we are feeling, and seek feedback from others to help us understand what’s going on for us.

In March 2019, I was driving to visit a regional client when my beautiful sister phoned to tell me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I reacted at first with shock, sadness and, understandably, not too many words. Then, during the two-hour drive, I took the time to reflect on the news that had rocked my world.

Firstly, I thought about my sister’s long track record of ill health and misfortunes. I thought about how strong her mindset has been and will continue to conquer this terrible disease. Although still devastated, I felt lighter, better able to deal with the situation, more in control as I kept thinking these thoughts. From the outside, I heard that my family and friends were in shock. The doctors had formulated a treatment plan and were positive that my sister had every chance of beating the disease. I noticed all this, along with my own thoughts and feelings, to make sense of the situation. I hadn’t accepted it yet, but I was aware of what I was thinking, how I was feeling and what was happening around me.

Being stuck in the car gave me the time and space to process my initial feelings and thoughts, allowing me to begin to move forward and support my sister. Sometimes we’re not that lucky – crises often happen at busy moments when we’re not able to slow down. That’s why it’s so important to deliberately plan space and time into our weeks to foster self-awareness.

You can’t adopt the Gift Mindset without continually working on your self-awareness. By doing so, you increase the likelihood of uncovering the potential gift and seeing what it can offer you and others.

Lead to be Limitless…

Find out where you sit on the Leadership Ladder. Your responses are anonymous, and the results summarised to help us better understand where our market sits so that we can continue to provide insights, tools and solutions to assist you in moving up to be LIMITLESS, co-creative and stand out.

Renée is a mentor, coach, expert facilitator and keynote speaker; She is the author of  ‘Gift Mindset^®‘, ‘Limitless Leadership’, and co-author of ‘Leaders of Influence’.

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