10 Ways to Reach Your Highest Self

Remember Mulan’s iconic phrase in the song Reflection? In this song, the lyrics go: “Who is that girl I see? Staring straight back at me. Why is my reflection someone I don’t know? Somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I’ve tried. When will my reflection show who I am inside?”

In this lyric, there’s one word I would like to focus on and that’s the word “tried.” She “tried” to hide who she was in order to fit within the social norm of what it meant to be a good daughter. Like Mulan, you may try to “fit in” with the social norm but what some fail to realize is that by fitting in you will never reach your highest self. Instead, you’ll limit your potential which ultimately intervenes with your path to self-awareness because you will never be able to honestly evaluate yourself for who you are, what you do, and why you do the things you do.

via GIPHY

So how can you reach your highest self so that you can own your life?

In this post, I discuss 10 ways to reach your highest self through self-awareness and also discuss the difference between self-reflection and self-awareness and how they can help you reach your highest self.

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

What is Self Awareness?

Self-awareness is knowing yourself and understanding how to manage your emotions, actions, and thoughts that do or don’t align with your values. It answers the “what” questions in your life. For example:

What can I do to change the outcome?
What occurred to elicit such a response from me?

In fact, there are two types of self-awareness which include:

Public self-awareness- being aware of how you can appear to others. Most of the time, individuals who fall within this category follow the social norms and perform actions that are socially acceptable. However, alternatively, this can cause you to become too self-conscious and worry about what others think of you.
Private self-awareness- involves one to be introspective, meaning that you’re being aware of and reflecting on your own internal state. If you fall within this category it means that you’re curious about your own feelings and reactions.

What’s the Difference Between Self Reflection and Self Awareness?

Self-reflection is a conscious decision and is simply the act of reflecting on yourself. It’s answering the whys and hows. For example, why did I do that? How do others view me? On the other hand, self-awareness is being aware of yourself, your actions, and your emotions. Together, self-reflection and self-awareness work hand in hand to help steer you toward your highest self and help you understand others as well.

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

Benefits of Self Awareness

The benefits of self-awareness are endless! However, here’s a list of how self-awareness can benefit you.

Helps bring clarity to your life so that you can understand your values, thoughts, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses.
Helps you assess your growth, and effectiveness, and make changes to your life when needed
Allows you to see what effects you have on others
Improves your happiness, relationships, social control, and job satisfaction
Increases your ability to influence outcomes
Become better decision-makers
Have more self-confidence
Communicate effectively with clarity and intention
See scenarios from multiple perspectives
Assumption and bias-free
Decreases stress

Are You Self-Aware of Yourself?

Did you know that only 10%-15% of individuals are self-aware? To determine if you’re a self-aware person, take this FREE quiz here from the iNLP Center!

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

How to Become More Self-Aware and Reach Your Highest Self?

Envision Yourself

Think about the best version of you. What are you doing? Are you waking up at 6 AM to work out, shower, perform your skincare routine, and eat breakfast? Are you checking out your Instagram before you sleep or are you reading a book? Reflecting on the best version of you helps you cultivate your hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and also speaks to your skills, abilities, achievements, and accomplishments that you desire to have so that you can begin working towards that goal.

Ask “What” Instead of “Why”

When reflecting on yourself, instead of beginning a question with why ask yourself what. Too many times, individuals begin a question with “why” and end up in a tunnel of negativity, weaknesses, and insecurities. To prevent this, start your questions with “what.” Doing so allows you to have introspection to see things as they are and gives you the autonomy to make choices to drive different results in the future.

Strengthen Your Brain

To prepare your mental well-being for self awareness it’s important to prep your mind so you get the best outcome. Here are some ways to do this:

Figure out how your internal clock works

Understanding how your internal clock works helps you identify when you perform at your best and worst.

Figure out how you respond to the world when you’re just DONE with everything

Understanding how you respond during these low times allows you to see how you react and how others react to you.

Figure out what energizes you

Try different hobbies or activities that give you the energy to help you improve your mental well-being. Make time for these activities and reduce activities that don’t bring you joy.

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

Ask Others How They See You

As important as it is to understand who you are, it's equally as important to understand how others see you. To see how others view you I encourage you to ask your family/friends/peers to honestly tell you the first 3 words they think of when they hear your name. Make a list of what they say, review it, and consider if this aligns with what you believe about yourself. Is this the type of person you want to present yourself to the world? If it is, great! If not, consider how you want the world to see you then begin creating a life to reach this ideal version of you.

Journal

Your story is worth telling. Even if you’re the only reader in the room; everything about your day matters. How you feel, what you did, what you excelled at or failed at. Everything matters because you matter. Journaling helps to provide mental clarity and allows you to reflect on your past and current self to help you determine if you’re moving towards your ideal self or further.

Practice Mindfulness

You’ve probably heard about the mindfulness craze these days but what does it really mean? Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment. By practicing mindfulness it helps you develop greater control of yourself and makes you aware of how you feel internally and react to external stimuli. In other words, it helps to bring awareness to your thoughts and feelings instead of falling into the rabbit hole and losing yourself. Here are some activities to help with mindfulness:

Deep breathing
Naming your surroundings
Having an organized space
Drawing/painting

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

Be Curious About Who You Are

The art of life is that it’s not stagnant. It’s ever-growing meaning that change will happen in your life as well. Due to this, it’s important that you continue remaining curious about yourself so that you can understand if your beliefs, values, and purpose have changed.

Let Your Walls Down

Too often you may hear others tell you to protect your emotions and because of this when you hear something negative about yourself you try your best to defend yourself. However, in order to reach your highest self it’s important to let go of judgment and the urge to protect yourself. Instead, see yourself in a new light and know that there’s always a balance in the world. Growth occurs when we’re out of our comfort zone.

Look in the Mirror

Too often we criticize ourselves more than others criticize us. To change this, look in a mirror (LITERALLY). Instead of listening to your harsh comments, shift your perspective and use that time to reflect on a deeper level of self-awareness. Listen, feel, and look at your emotions, and pay attention to your body language. Feeling uncomfortable? Great! Have some wandering thoughts? Accept it, and let it go. Doing this not only helps shift your perspective about yourself but it also teaches you how to be present when there’s another individual in front of you.

Keep Learning!

Like all things in life, the only way to get better at something is to keep learning! Practicing self-awareness and self-reflection sounds easy but it can be difficult given that it requires consistency and effort. Studies have shown that individuals who practice self-reflection and self-awareness on a daily basis show positive transformations in their lives.

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

The key to reaching your highest self is to understand yourself. Remember, self-awareness is the outcome of self-reflection. Likewise, if we don’t practice self-reflection, we can’t have self-awareness and without self-awareness, we wouldn’t be able to manage our emotions which makes it difficult to maintain relationships, our emotions, and ultimately reach our highest self. Take the time to make sense of your actions, behaviors, and emotions now so that you can understand who you are to yourself and to others. Remember, the best things in life take time. With consistent practice and effort, you’ll discover breathtaking transformations to elevate your life so that you can live The Happy Life!

Ready to reach your HIGHEST Self? Check out my 2024 Digital/Printable EVERYTHING Planner and my 2024 Digital/Printable Self-Care Workbook curated to help you become your BEST authentic self so you can become the boss lady of your life and live the life YOU deserve-The Happy Life!

As always, sending so much love and happiness your way!

10 Ways to Reach Your Highest Self

Related Posts: