How to Journal for Self-Awareness

You think you know yourself. 

Most of us think that way. But the reality is we are only aware of the conscious part of our mind which according to the work of Sigmund Freud is only one part of our mind that affects our behavior. 

The other two parts of our mind are the preconscious and the unconscious. 

The preconscious part holds memories, thoughts, and feelings that could be brought to the forefront of the conscious part of our mind. 

The unconscious part of our mind holds feelings, memories, behaviors that we are unaware of because they are too painful and hurtful to observe such as our fears and anxieties.

So, think of your conscious mind as the lit side of the moon that faces the earth which we can see. The preconscious mind is the area of the moon where the sunlight meets the darkness of space. The unconscious mind is the dark part of the moon that hides from the sun and the earth. It is the unseen part of the moon or the mind.

Therefore, to connect with yourself on a level that helps you to reach the unconscious part of your mind which can help you become more self-aware, you must dig into your unconscious mind. 

One way to do this is to journal your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Here are a few ways you can use journaling to become more self-aware:

1. Make journaling a daily ritual.

You can start each day or end each day with journaling. If you want, you can even do both. But try to make journaling a routine.  Even just 10 minutes of journaling per day can reap great benefits as you progress through the activity and learn more about yourself.

2. How are you feeling today?

Jotting down what you did all day is not going to help you connect with your unconscious mind unless you take something that happened and dig deeper. 

Were you feeling anxious? Stressed? Angry? Maybe even happy about something you did or something that happened to you? Explore that. 

3. Why did you do that?

Now write about that and then ask yourself why you felt that way. 

Were your emotions triggered by something that happened to you in your past? 

So, if you felt defensive because someone made fun of your outfit at work, ask yourself why that bothered you. Is it because you were ridiculed by your peers before for dressing in your brother’s hand me downs as a young child? 

Try to trail back by thinking of other moments when you have felt defensive and what may be causing this behavior.

4. Explore your patterns of behavior.

This is the next point of the exercise. When you start trailing back and look at other moments where you have felt defensive, try to look for patterns in those moments. 

What were the similarities that caused you to become defensive? What other feelings did you experience in such moments? How did you react? 

Are you seeing a consistent pattern in your behavior? Dig further.

5. Raise your self-awareness.

Start recording your observations daily and you will notice that you are digging deeper into your unconscious mind. 

This exercise is not for the faint at heart. Digging deep requires the heart of a lion because it can trigger all kinds of emotions and bring up a lot of dark and ugly memories. But it is the only way to raise self-awareness and get to the core of who you are and why you behave the way you do. 

It is vital to understanding yourself, making improvements, and becoming the best version of yourself. 

Unfortunately, most people will not do the work of digging in because they don’t want to deal with those old wounds. This is understandable because most people want to avoid pain. 

But if you are looking to connect with your inner self, perhaps for the first time in our life, then journaling is one way to get down to the nitty gritty. 

You must ask yourself what you want out of your life. If you are happy with the way things are then by all means continue. But if you want to grow and improve, then you must dig within.

By making journaling a part of your daily walk, you can take the first steps to starting the process of self-awareness.

What are you doing to build self-awareness? Is it working for you?

Until next time,

Keep Creating!

Angelina