5 signs you know yourself and 8 ways to get to know to yourself better

We often think about how well we know our friends, partners, parents or children but have you ever thought about how well you know yourself? If you’re reading this article, chances are you have! But who cares? Why does knowing yourself even matter?

Cultivating self-awareness or knowing yourself may be one of the most important things you can do in your life especially if you want to be successful, happy, and/or abundant. You need to know your strengths so you can capitalize on them and simultaneously know your weaknesses to address them. But what does it mean to know yourself? What is self-awareness? What are the signs that you have high self-awareness? How do you get to know yourself better?

Stay tuned to find out!

What does it mean to know yourself? What is self-awareness?

A knowing and understanding of who one is, what one feels and what one thinks. Now, of course, there are many types of self-awareness that exist on many levels. Just knowing you exist and even being aware of your body is self-awareness but that isn’t the kind of self-awareness I am talking about. Self-awareness refers to knowing and understanding oneself. You have insights into who you are. It is like an observer in the backseat that is watching the whole experience you are having. In scientific terms, it is also known as metacognition. If you are aware of how you think or aware of the thoughts you are having rather than becoming them or believing them, you are probably more self-aware than you think.

So without further ado, here are 5 signs that you know yourself well:

1. You know your biggest fears and the reason why you fear them or the cause.

Did you know that as humans, we are born with only two fears? The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. This means all other fears are learned or gained through experience. So if you have a fear of being alone or abandoned, where does it stem from? Are you aware of some of your deepest fears and what caused them? If you know some of your deepest, darkest fears, congratulations! You are more self-aware than you think.

2. You have good insight into your own behaviour and you know why you behaved a certain way.

Did you compulsively eat or binge-watch TV shows on a regular basis to avoid doing your work? Maybe one of your biggest weaknesses is that you procrastinate. While it’s good to be aware of this, do you know why you procrastinate? Perhaps it’s because you are afraid of failing that test or assignment or you don’t want to disappoint your boss. Maybe you always cancel on your friends last minute. Why? The second sign that you know yourself well is that you have a general sense of some of your behavioural patterns and why they’re there.

3. You know how you feel. You can detect your emotions well.

Emotional intelligence is a very valuable skill to have nowadays, especially for your own well-being. However, labelling emotions isn’t enough. You may know that you are feeling happy, sad, angry, scared or disgusted which is a great start but the more articulate you can be with how you’re feeling, the better your EQ. Maybe you’re anxious and not just scared or excited, elated rather than happy.

Bonus points for you if you are aware of the bodily sensations that come with each emotion. What happens to your body when you are stressed or happy or sad? It is also just as important to process these emotions in your body so allow them to be. With positive emotions, this is easy but with uncomfortable emotions, this isn’t as easy. But if you process difficult emotions, you’re probably more self-aware than most people on this planet.

4. People in your life tell you that you know yourself.

Now, this is pretty self-explanatory but if your friends or family tell you that you have high self-awareness, then you’re well on your way!

5. You have clarity on your goals in terms of what you want and why.

Do you know what your priorities are? Maybe it’s your health. Do you prioritize eating healthy, exercising, and meditating? Perhaps you are a student who wants straight As this year. Whatever your goals may be, you should be aware of why you want that. As humans, we are very goal-oriented beings. Society has also taught us to have goals, especially SMART goals.

However, having crystal clear clarity on what you want, and how that looks is rarer. It is even rarer to find people who have reasons for their goals, and who know exactly why they want something. Many of us may find ourselves pursuing certain goals because we feel we should. Society tells us to pursue these goals such as buying a house, raising children, getting married or getting a job. Having these goals is perfectly okay but being aware of why you have these goals is what sets apart the individuals who have self-awareness from those who don’t.

Learn how to set effective goals and measure them using 4 simple steps. Can you think of any other signs that indicate a high level of self-awareness?

Now that we know what knowing yourself looks like, how do you get to know yourself? There are plenty of ways to do so.

8 ways to get to know yourself better

1. Journaling

This is a great way to increase your self-awareness. Just by writing down how your day went, and what you felt today, you begin to realize your thoughts, emotions, feelings, habits and more. You can also do more structured journalling where you reflect on specific prompt questions. Writing thoughts and feelings down helps you make them more concrete and helps you become aware of thought patterns, thus increasing your self-awareness. One of the best ways to journal is just to free-write. Don’t overthink or make anything look pretty. Just write whatever comes to your head, not only is this a brain dump and an excellent writing technique but it may help uncover pent-up feelings and thoughts.

3. Becoming aware of other perspectives

When you put yourself in the shoes of others and empathize with their viewpoint, you open yourself up to greater perspectives and possibilities. This may not directly increase your self-awareness but opens your mind to different possibilities. It also allows you to understand other people’s behaviours which can also help you understand your own and connect with others on a deeper level. Learn how you can become aware of other perspectives or change your perspective.

4. Ask a close family member or friend

Your friends and family know you the best and may be able to tell you things about yourself that you’re unaware of. They may also be your greatest cheerleaders or criticizers so pay attention as that can give you great insight into your strengths and weaknesses.

6. Self-Reflection

Now, this is one of my favourite ways to get to know more about myself. You can do a daily self-reflection, weekly or monthly but try to be as regular as possible. I love to do weekly self-reflections where I reflect on how the past week went, how I felt and what goals I achieved. I also sometimes discover new things about myself, my relationships, and my hobbies. So ask yourself, what went well for you? How do you feel? What do you need to improve upon?

7. Personality tests

This is a great way to initially learn a bit more about yourself. It is also the easiest and quickest way to learn about yourself. While it’s important to not rely on them, they can be a great way to get insights about yourself. For starters, start learning about your MBTI type. Take the test here. Also, take career assessments or other quizzes that give you self-knowledge. While it’s important not to get caught up with them or rely on them, feel free to use them as tools for insight.

8. Work with a therapist or a coach

If you’re ready to go deep with change, working with a therapist or coach is a great way to get more self-awareness or know yourself better. Therapists or coaches are often experts when it comes to self-awareness and can act as catalysts for the self-transformation process by allowing us to gain deep awareness and insights into who we are.

To end off, I would like to mention that self-awareness is an ongoing and never-ending process. You are not going to know everything about yourself in one day or one year. This process evolves with you. To this day, I still continue to learn about myself. I may have written this insightful article but I am still on this journey. Maybe a bit ahead of some and a bit behind others. Try out one of these ways to get to know yourself better. I’m sure you’ll learn something new!