Today's Friday • 10 mins read
Mindful self-awareness enables you to look within yourself without judgment.
- Mindful self-awareness blends “mindfulness” (present-moment, non-judgmental focus) with “self-awareness” (the state of being aware of yourself as an individual).
- It involves paying attention to your inner experience (thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations) in the present moment with a non-judgmental, curious attitude.
- In research perspectives, this involves “decentering” or “re-perceiving,” that is, seeing thoughts and feelings as events in the mind rather than facts or the self.
Self-awareness is your ability to see yourself clearly, to understand who you are, how others see you, and how you fit into the world. And when you can do so without identifying with or reacting to them, you become more flexible, accepting, and peaceful.
So, mindful self-awareness helps you become the best version of yourself.
Let these quotes inspire you.
10 Quotes On Mindful Self-Awareness
- “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” ― Jon Kabat Zinn
- “Mindfulness is a pause—the space between stimulus and response: that’s where choice lies.” ― Tara Brach
- “Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom.” ― Bhante Gunaratana
- “Mindfulness is deliberately paying full attention to what is happening around you – in your body, heart, and mind. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgment.” ― Jan Chozen Bays
- “Strong people have a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness; they don’t need the approval of others.” ― Roy T. Bennett
- “Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves… Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.” ― Sharon Salzberg
- “When the mind is still, the beauty of the self is reflected.” ― Vanda Scaravelli
- “With awareness, we can make conscious choices, instead of letting our habitual thoughts and patterns run the show.” – Tamara Levitt
- “Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into mindfulness.” ― Jon Kabat Zinn
- “Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.” ― Joseph Goldstein
20 Curated Quotes On Mindfulness
Mindfulness = being present and accepting experience without judgment, cultivating calm attention, and steady focus.
- “Be happy in the moment. That is enough.” — Mother Teresa
- “You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.” — Pema Chödrön
- “Wherever you are, be there totally.” — Eckhart Tolle
- “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have.” — Eckhart Tolle
- “The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment.” — Thích Nhat Hanh
- “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” — Thích Nhat Hanh
- “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
- “Happiness, not in another place but this place… not for another hour, but this hour.” — Walt Whitman
- “This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” — Alan Watts
- “The perfect moment is this one.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.” — Anne Lamott
- “Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “No matter how difficult the past, you can always begin again today.” — Jack Kornfield
- “In today’s rush, we all think too much, seek too much, want too much—and forget the joy of just being.” — Eckhart Tolle
- “The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” — Sakyong Mipham
- “The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.” — Tara Brach
- “The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment.” — ThíchNhat Hanh
- “We are sitting under the tree of our thinking minds, wondering why we’re not getting any sunshine.” — Ram Dass
- “Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.” — St. Francis
- “The perfect moment is this one.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Quotes On Letting Go & Emotional Freedom
- “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.” ― Ernest Hemingway
- “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” ― Charlotte Brontë
- “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” ― Ralph Ellison
- “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” ― Carl Gustav Jung
- “When you’re different, sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t.” ― Jodi Picoult
- “But you can’t get away from yourself. You can’t decide not to see yourself anymore. You can’t decide to turn off the noise in your head.” ― Jay Asher
- “There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. And then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking in mirrors.” ― J. Michael Straczynski
- “I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.” ― Hermann Hesse
- “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I think that we are like stars. Something happens to burst us open; but when we burst open and think we are dying; we’re actually turning into a supernova. And then when we look at ourselves again, we see that we’re suddenly more beautiful than we ever were before!” ― C. JoyBell C.
- “At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are, and you know what you want.” ― Lao Tzu
- “We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold… Your treasure… is within you already.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert
- “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself… and that person is not to be found anywhere.” – Sharon Salzberg
- “The first and best victory is to conquer self.” – Plato
- “Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.” ― Janis Joplin
- “My friend… care for your psyche… know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves.” – Socrates
- “You are capable of so much more than we usually dare to imagine.” ― Sharon Salzberg
- “You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!” ― John Lennon
- “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
- “Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.” – Bryant McGill
- “I think … you still have no idea. The effect you can have.” ― Suzanne Collins
- “When you focus on the good, the good gets better.” – Abraham Hicks
- “Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.” – Nicole Reed
- “The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size.” – Albert Einstein
- “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” – Frank Zappa
- “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
- “When you replace ‘why is this happening to me?’ with ‘what is this trying to teach me?’ everything shifts.” – Unknown
- “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” – Albert Einstein
- “We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, melting like a snowflake.” – Francis Bacon Sr.
- “What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” – Buddha
- “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.” – Yuval Noah Harari
- “It takes courage to say yes to rest and play, in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a symbol of status.” – Brené Brown
- “I will breathe. I will think of solutions. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress level break me.” – Shayne McClendon
- “To produce at peak level, you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction.” – Cal Newport
- “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” – Dalai Lama
- “All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.” – Jon Kabat‑Zinn
Knowing Self-Awareness
“Self-awareness is the bedrock of emotional intelligence that enables you to see your talents, shortcomings, and potential.” ― Goleman, Kaplan & Eurich, 2018
“Self-awareness is defined as one’s ability to focus attention on the self or the external environment.” ― Duval & Wicklund, 1972
- Self-awareness can be external (how others perceive us) or internal (how we perceive our personality traits, behaviors, and feelings).
- Neuroscientists think the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) in the brain plays a vital role in developing self-awareness.
- More self-aware people are better at having higher levels of overall happiness.
Further reading: The Mindful Self: A Mindfulness-Enlightened Self-view
A Simple Way To Define Mindfulness
Mindfulness is simply paying non‑judgmental attention to the present moment, and being aware of your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and surroundings with calm acceptance.
It’s the opposite of being distracted or mind-wandering.
Mindfulness is a concept that has been around for thousands of years, with its origins in Buddhism. It was popularized in the West by Jon Kabat‑Zinn through his Mindfulness‑Based Stress Reduction program in the 1990s.
Mindfulness vs. Self-Awareness
- Mindfulness: Nonjudgmental, present‑moment awareness of experience (internal and external), often trained via meditation; it includes observing thoughts and feelings without fusion and with acceptance.
- Self‑awareness: Metacognitive understanding of one’s internal states, traits, motives, and behavior; often involves reflective appraisal and can be trait‑like or situational.
What bridges them:
- Decentering/metacognitive awareness: Seeing thoughts or feelings as temporary mental events rather than literal truths about the self is central in mindfulness‑based interventions and related to, but distinct from, generic self‑awareness.
Final Words
Why do we need to be mindfully aware of ourselves?
Because mindful self-awareness teaches us to notice our unhelpful mental habits without self-criticism. It lets us be self-compassionate as we improve how we act, think, and respond to the world. It helps us craft the best possible version of ourselves.
Even though most people believe that they know themselves quite well, Tasha Eurich says true self-awareness is present in just 10%–15% of them.
√ Also Read: 7 Powerful Ways To Reclaim An Attitude Of Gratitude.
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