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The gift of self-awareness and having difficult conversations
Sukun
February 03, 2024
What’s in store today:
The gift of self-awareness
Learning the art of difficult conversations
Breaking Beliefs
Self-awareness is a superpower. Which is why it’s so rare to have.
It’s always easier to judge people for their quirks and their flaws, but looking within the self and owning one’s own flaws takes another level of maturity.
Most people are too afraid to enter this stage because the ego stands as a guard, protecting them from any ‘perceived threats.’
In the process, they become arrogant, stuck-up sulkers who will find faults with the world around them, without taking any shots at self-improvement.
If you notice people who give too much importance to their thoughts and opinions, you’ll find them to be quite stiff and stressed. They’re unable to have free-flowing conversations or debates without getting too consumed and any disagreement easily triggers them.
On the contrary, people who feel secure with themselves, welcome feedback, openly admit their imperfections, and are even able to laugh about them. They just take themselves less seriously.
Much like celebrities reading their mean tweets out loud on Jimmy Kimel Live. Shout out to the brave and the bold ones, who have the capacity to find humor in it all. Not that those tweets reflect any truth, whatsoever.
But as far as real feedback goes, the gift of being self-aware is that it makes you acknowledge your shortcomings before allowing others to hold that power over you.
On that note, time for a little check in:
-What do you consider to be your flaws and areas of improvement?
-What ticks you off?
-What’s an annoying habit of yours?
-How would your closest friends describe the good and not-so-good parts of yourself?
Feel free to pick up from here and dive deeper into discovering the entirety of what makes you, you.
Know that what may seem like a confronting exercise, becomes fun when you don’t take yourself too seriously.
Learning the art of difficult conversations
Communication forms the foundation of all relationships. And yet we struggle with the basics; whether it’s failing to be understood, expressing needs, and having difficult but necessary conversations.
At your rescue is Amira Mansour, aka The Communication Expert, who will help you build your communication toolbox, so you can:
-Show up with confidence
-Express your needs without offering others
-Set healthy boundaries and;
-Practice having difficult conversations.
If you want to level up your confidence and raise your impact in the world, this episode’s for you:
Breaking Beliefs
As kids we take many inventions to be true: Santa Claus, tooth fairies, babies popping out of the sky, and other quirky notions.
It’s not our fault though. We’re just exposed to the same false information over and over again and eventually believe it all to be true. Cognitive Science calls this the Illusionary truth effect.
However, adults are equally guilty of this.
We believe many things we hear over and over again. The food industry has capitalized on this weakness by selling Cornflakes as ‘healthy’ breakfast food, Coke Zero as a better alternative and McDonald's to be the best meal for families.
There are many lies we tell ourselves too such as: not being good enough, not being ready yet, not being worthy of someone, and on it goes….
The only way to snap out of this trap is to challenge existing beliefs (those that work against you anyway) and break free from them.
The next time you catch your mind repeating a false fact about yourself, pause and ask:
Is this really true?
