Self Awareness

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

– Aristotle

SELF-AWARENESS: The ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts.

Self-awareness is knowledge of how you are feeling in various situations and the ability to accurately label those feelings. This includes the ability to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a sense of confidence and purpose. The process of learning how one thinks is called metacognition. When military children begin to understand the process of how they think, they will be able to better understand and label their feelings and manage their emotions and reactions in particular situations. Having a strong sense of self-awareness helps students to achieve academic success, manage stress, problem solve, set appropriate goals, learn how to develop healthy relationships, and how to interact in social situations.

CASEL describes self-awareness:

• Integrating personal and social identities
• Identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets
• Identifying one’s emotions
• Demonstrating honesty and integrity
• Linking feelings, values, and thoughts
• Examining prejudices and biases
• Experiencing self-efficacy
• Having a growth mindset
• Developing interests and a sense of purpose

“Labeling emotions accurately increases self-awareness and helps us to communicate emotions effectively, reducing misunderstanding in social interactions.”

– Mark Brackett

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