If you want to create and live a life you love, then you need to dig into who you are and what you really want. It’s all about the mighty power of self-awareness — which is the ability to observe ourselves and understand why we react and how we behave in our lives. Awareness is not only accepting what we discover about ourselves, but it also helps us make informed decisions about the changes we want to make in our lives. 

Awareness is also the ability to be honest with ourselves about our weaknesses and strengths. It's a tool that allows us to better manage our thoughts, motivations, and emotions. Feeling happy or sad is one thing but knowing why you feel happy or sad is another thing — that’s where the beauty of awareness comes in. Learning to improve self-awareness allows us to make better choices and curate a lifestyle that makes us feel engaged and alive.

I am the first person to admit that looking in the mirror and seeing exactly who you really are isn't an easy thing to do. There is a dark side to self-awareness — it can make us angry or sad at our past choices and it can be hard to make peace with our faults and failures. It’s super easy to become judgmental towards ourselves, isn't it? The thing is, though, making time to improve self-awareness is worth the trouble because, without it, you are cutting yourself off from the very tools you need to, not just pursue your desires, but enhance the quality of your everyday experiences.

Here are 18 powerful ways being self-aware helps you create the life you've always wanted:

1. Self-awareness helps you be satisfied with yourself.

Being at peace with who you are is important to a quality life.

2. Awareness allows you to make informed changes.

Everyone needs to make decisions throughout their lives, so understanding yourself more deeply helps you understand how these decisions will affect your happiness long-term.

3. Awareness allows you to change your behavior for the better.

When you choose to be self-aware, you to accept the responsibility of changing your responses and behaviors to any external stimuli (people, situations, or life).

4. Being self aware gives you clarity and purpose.

Awareness is important if you want to live life with a clearer purpose.

5. Awareness helps you gain control over your life.

Awareness allows you to not just reflect on the outcome of life situations. It allows you to be honest about your role in them.

6. Self-awareness helps you feel content.

Living with contentment is a sign of being self-aware.

7. Awareness helps you make better decisions.

Life comes with its ups and downs, but being self aware helps give you the confidence you need to deal with problems as they happen. 

8. Being self-aware makes you focus on leading a quality life.

If you want to curate a quality life, self-awareness is critical.

9. Constant self-awareness puts you in touch with your gut instinct.

If you want to learn to listen to (and follow) your intuition, then you’ll need to grow your self-awareness.

10. Self-awareness is self-care.

Self-awareness serves you in creating a higher quality of self-care.

11. Being self-aware helps you focus on the things that make you most happy.

Pursuing what you really love requires a healthy dose of awareness.

12. Self-awareness helps you feel more prepared for everything life throws at you.

Awareness allows you to roll with life challenges with more grace.

13. Being self-aware makes you a better friend and partner.

Self-awareness allows you to be a better communicator with everyone in your life because you are clear on your personal needs.

14. When you are self-aware, it helps you pursue desires and goals.

When you develop a deeper understanding of yourself, you know what you want and need in your life. 

15. Being self-aware helps you be more emotionally intelligent.

Folks with better emotional intelligence are typically very self-aware.

16. Self-awareness allows you to be more authentic.

Even if being true to yourself means you make "unpopular" choices.

17. Self-awareness contributes to better relationships.

When you are self-aware, you will naturally have higher-quality relationships.

18. If you want a life that feels well-rounded, you’ll need self-awareness to make it happen

Self-awareness is one of those soft skills they don’t teach in school but you need to have a better life. The choice to recognize the power it has to increase the quality of our life is worth the patience and the pain it will inevitably bring about. The beginning is easier than you might think. just ask yourself questions using the inquiry method.

You have other options. You can choose to ignore the opportunity awareness provides. You can choose to just go with the flow and not pursue a life that feels more nourishing. After all, the process of becoming more self-aware can be awkward and uncomfortable, and it can seem easier on the surface to just pretend life is okay. The trade-off, though, is that the unease and discomfort you may feel are only temporary. In fact, those uncomfortable feelings are doing an important job — they’re alerting you to some aspect of your life that needs tending or cultivated before you can move forward. You deserve to live a life you love. In order to create it, you need to know the most important tool you have to do so: knowing yourself.