Everyone has different ways of finding wellness. For some being in a group is fun, energizing, and yields significant happiness. For others, groups are scary, exhausting and a joy sponge, sucking all positive away. For most it depends on the group. The same can be said for family, exercise, reading, and just about anything, it depends on me and the day. People have different interests, desires, and personalities. Knowing and understanding what makes YOU fulfilled is essential to seeking and finding it.

For pursuing individual wellness self awareness is necessary. Understanding how you operate, what influences are positive or negative is based on you, and the current circumstance. Improving self awareness can make a massive difference in your pursuit of life satisfaction. Everyone is a beautiful, unique, delicate lotus blossoms (according to my mother), but often people do not know themselves. The question: “What makes you happy?” is often met with uncertainty, trepidation, and reluctance, often followed by some canned obligatory response.

Many of people with mental illness struggle mightly with self-awareness. Having very little

How can people expect to be happy if they don’t truly know what happiness means on an individual level? Self awareness is the key, but often difficult, particularly for people with mental illness. Self-awareness, and acceptance require conscious thought and choice to better know you.

Tips to improve self awareness

• Journal/Self Reflection
• Counseling
• Feedback from friends or family
• Taking an objective view or others perspectives and input (Those who matter to you)
• Write down goals, ambitions, and progress
• Identify priorities and evaluate
• Mood Metering (A way to measure, assess, and understand how you truly are feeling) Take the Feel Awesomer Mood Meter
• Be aware of your feelings, identify them using as many words as you can think of to explain how you feel
• Be honest, truly and genuinely honest
• Meditation and mindfulness
• Be intentional about self awareness

There are several virtually universal traits of happiness. For this class we will be using six common signs of happiness according to UC Berkeley Center for Greater Good:

• Gratitude
• Mindfulness
• Physical activity
• Forgiveness
• Human connection
• Kindness

While these are important and universal, it is also necessary to find individual specific activities and mind-sets to help find more joy, fulfillment, and sense of true self. Finding and maintaining a list of positive activities and mindsets to improve overall wellness comes from improving self-awareness.

It is paramount to evaluate the decisions, mindsets, and wellness by looking at how these elements influence emotions and overall functioning. When looking for changes (behaviors, attitudes, people, etc.) and evaluating if they are positive and productive choices use this list to help guide you.

• Is it healthy? While many things may be both healthy and unhealthy, is this healthy or overrun by negative side effects. For the most part, this needs to be a healthy and promote long term, sustainable health and fulfillment. Not just a temporary band-aid like drugs or drinking (however if you want to have healthy use of alcohol as something to help with happiness we can talk about that)
• Medicine or Poison? As Mark Palz shared with me, much of life can be medicine or poison. With the same thing transforming from one to the other based on the individual, situation, and the time it is experienced. Exercise can be medicine and very helpful, but injuries, addiction, and other negative emotions can turn it into poison and toxic. Be able to identify when things are medicine, and when poison. Reflection and honest feedback can help this.
• Be honest about the pros and cons. This goes back to self awareness. If you are lying to yourself progress is highly unlikely.
• Maximizing the positive AND minimizing the negative. This can be the minimization of a negative like self-defeating talk, eating unhealthy, destructive tendencies, or other vices. Coupled with introducing positives like yoga, healthy eating, or positive self talk can lead to huge change. Increasing positive behaviors and thoughts, while decreasing the negative can only be done with awareness.
• Create limitations and boundaries. Be aware of the potential drawbacks or negatives that could accompany negative actions and behaviors, set strong boundaries to help minimize their influence.
• Try new things, be open-minded. People often form opinions about things often with very little exposure or understanding. Try new things in your life that could help improve your wellness.

The list below are suggestions for additional “Fulfillment Enhancers”, or ways to improve your overall wellness. Finding activities and ways to bring more positive into your life is important. The list below involves an array of activities and approaches to improve overall mental wellness.

• Yoga
• Exercise
• Positive Self Talk
• Surrounding yourself with positive people
• Art/Creative/Music
• Goal Setting
• Humor
• Perspective
• Intention setting

There are many ways to improve self-awareness. Honesty is the most important place to start. Evaluating yourself, decisions, mind-sets, and more allows for true growth. If you want to be more fulfilled, knowing yourself better is a great way to grow and learn.

Everyone has different ways of finding happiness. For some being in a group of people is fun, energizing, and yields significant happiness. For others, groups are scary, exhausting and a happiness sponge. For most it depends on the group. The same can be said for family, exercise, reading, and just about everything. People have different interests, desires, and personalities, knowing and understanding what makes you happy is essential to seeking it.

For seeking individual happiness self awareness is essential. Understanding how you tick, what influences are more positive or negative is based on you. Improving self awareness can make a massive difference in your pursuit of happiness, we are all beautiful, unique, delicate lotus blossoms (according to my mother), but knowing yourself is paramount. The question: “What makes you happy?” is often met with uncertainty, trepidation, and reluctance, often followed by some canned obligatory response.

How can we expect to be happy if we don’t truly know what happiness means to us as individuals? Self awareness is the key, but often difficult, particularly for people with mental illness.

Tips to improve self awareness

• Journal/Self Reflection
• Counseling
• Feedback from friends or family
• Look at yourself objectively or from others perspectives
• Write down your goals, ambitions, and progress
• Identify your priorities and evaluate
• Mood Metering (A way to measure, assess, and understand how you truly are feeling) Take the Feeling Awesome Measure
• Be aware of your feelings, identify them using as many words as you can think of to explain how you feel
• Be honest
• Meditation and mindfulness
• Be intentional about self awareness
• Use this Self Awareness Activity

There are several virtually universal traits of happiness. For this class we will be using six common signs of happiness according to UC Berkeley Center for Greater Good:

• Gratitude
• Mindfulness
• Physical activity
• Forgiveness
• Human connection
• Kindness

We will be spending a week on each of these subjects and how they can influence our happiness. There will be activities and opportunities to practice these qualities, as they have been proven to be effective for all people to enhance happiness. These opportunities (and reflections) are designed to improve your happiness, and will also be used as the points for grading in class. If you are not in this class, you should still participate in the activities as they are awesome and the best way to truly grow!

On top of these six traits, each student will use his or her self awareness to identify four other areas that make lead to sustainable happiness. There are some guidelines/recommendations for choosing the other 4 happiness enhancers:

• It must be healthy. While many things may be both healthy and unhealthy. For the most part, this needs to be a healthy and promote long term, sustainable health and happiness. Not just a temporary band-aid like drugs or drinking (however if you want to have healthy use of alcohol as something to help with happiness we can talk about that)
• Medicine or Poison. As Mark Palz shared in class he often views things as medicine or poison, with the same thing transforming from one to the other. Exercise can be medicine and very helpful, but injuries, addiction, and other negative emotions can turn it into poison and toxic. Be able to identify when things are medicine, and when they poison.
• Be honest about the pros and cons. This goes back to self awareness.
• Maximizing a Positive or Minimizing a negative. This can be the minimization of a negative like self-defeating talk, eating unhealthy, or other vices, or introducing positives like yoga, healthy eating, or positive self talk. Attempt to frame the traits in a good light using positive words.
• Create the limitations and boundaries. Be aware of the potential drawbacks or negatives that could accompany the happiness enhancer, keep it is as positive as possible.

Reflection Questions

What are the four areas of happiness enhancers that you selected? Why did you choose each activity? What are three actions/ideas/etc. for each category to help you make this a part of your life?

Here is a video designed for children to improve their self-awareness. As I said at the beginning of this class it could and should be taught to 3rd graders. So, let’s at self awareness from a children’s standpoint and think more basically.

To reference this article

Mikita, D. (2018, October 12). Self awareness and happiness. Retrieved from Free Psychology Help: http://www.freepsychologyhelp.com/?p=903.