Self-awareness

Self-awareness is defined as being aware of our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. It is about knowing ourselves without judgment, about understanding our strengths and weaknesses. It is achieved through practice and development of several Virtues, most specifically Reflection. By being aware of how we contribute to our own successes and setbacks, we can begin to remove the obstacles we place in our own paths. We often do things without realizing it, and we all have subconscious behaviors that hinder us from success. We also all have cognitive biases and thoughts and behavior that is influenced by our environments, social conditioning, etc. We must work toward being aware of these things if we are to overcome them. Self-awareness is a necessary component toward achieving self-mastery.