The Benefits of Reading Self-Awareness Books
What is self-awareness, and why would you want to read books on self awareness? Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not a life worth living.” He believed that most people live their lives never looking within themselves to learn who they really are, nor do they ever look beyond the notions that have been constructed around them. As a result, people have become dissociated from their true nature often leading to unhappiness and depression. The Dali Lama once said that he thought people live their lives often scarred by their past and anxious about the future thus never really enjoying the present. The result being that they die never really having lived. Pursuing self awareness is a journey and a way of life. It is turning away from the false to the real. Many who have pursued self-awareness, have found fulfillment, peace, positive energy, and ultimately appreciation and enjoyment for each day.
Self-awareness books explain how to train your mind to observe your thoughts. This is done by stepping outside of yourself and questioning why you think and act the way you do ( Krishnamurti calls this concept “Observing the observed”). By training your mind to observe your thoughts and actions, you can dig into the roots of your conditioning and better understand yourself. This is because we are all domesticated to think and act in a preset manner that’s dictated by our parents, teachers, family, friends, culture and social media have simply programmed our minds into thinking the way we do. We were not born with this mindset. We have been trained by the environment to think the way we do. Our conditioning is so deeply ingrained that it controls everything in our mind, thus causing all of our decisions to be a product of this conditioning. These decisions whether small or big, long term or short term encompasses all aspect of our lives including our choice of career, who we marry, hobbies, sports, our political affiliations, or even the smallest daily decisions are all simply implementation of this conditioning.
In an era where the majority of people are suffering from life-stressing situations, it’s important to question why you do what you do, or why you think what you think. This questioning will lead you to learn about yourself, and you will eventually see the thick layers of your conditioning that controls you. By seeing and understanding your conditioning, you can start freeing yourself from it’s constraints thus allowing you to think and act differently.
Learning about yourself can give you hope of being in control of your mind, life and future. It can help you grow, evolve and develop compassion towards others because by learning about yourself, you can better understand others and the world around you. The Poet Rumi once said, “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” Self-awareness books train your mind and give you the tools to explore your inner self and discover the ocean within you. By starting to see this ocean, people are able to find patience, sympathy and peace of mind. This will allow you to see how the past and it’s negative experiences and being anxious about the future are hampering your enjoyment of the present.
Nowadays, no matter your standing in society, we are taught to improve our situation by mentally and physically pushing ourselves in all departments of life. Self-awareness acts as a motivating factor. We are all seeded with certain potential. When you become conscious of what drives you, you can then readjust your mind’s frequency to not allow ego, fear and negative thoughts drain your energy which energy can then be redirected to learning, growing, believing and becoming more creative. You will be able to unleash your inner potential, and make better choices in a natural way, thus allowing you to maintain an inner sense of peace.
