#self-awareness — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #self-awareness, aggregated by home.social.
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When has a failure improved your judgment, leadership, or direction more than an easy success ever could? #FailureAndSuccess #GrowthMindset #Leadership #DecisionMaking #SelfAwareness #PersonalGrowth #ThoughtOfTheDay
https://stayingalive.in/thought-of-the-day/the-courage-to-get-it-wrong.html -
Nothing to Hide
To believe one has nothing to hide or keep private is to reveal one's own ignorance. -
The Practice Doesn’t End
There is no graduation from this practice. Not because you're doing it wrong. Because the practice is not the path to something else. It is the thing itself. The ongoing, never-quite-complete project of knowing yourself honestly and responding to what you find. The work and the living are not sequential. They are the same thing.https://journalingwrite.wordpress.com/2026/09/04/the-practice-doesnt-end/
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I am Me, It Would Be Nice if You Could be You
I am a bit different than average. Okay, maybe that is to mild of a way of looking at it. In reality my focus is never on the metrics I observe others using. For instance, I do not care what your political views are or your pronouns, biases or what your other identifiers may be. What I focus on is how you behave despite how you would like the world to perceive you. I tend to always believe a person is of the best intentions until they give evidence otherwise. In short I am evidence driven rather than being dragged around by my emotions. Does that mean I do not have emotions? Of course not, it means that how I feel about what you said is far less likely to have an effect on my view of you than my evaluation of your intent.
It is all to easy for us to say 'I do not like labels.' and this may be true. It does not change the fact that labels is how the human brain tracks. We label everything. That is how we developed language in the first place. When I think about my own identity I am not focused on accidents of birth like my hair color, eye color, race, gender, nationality. I am more concerned about the attributes I play a role in. Such as humanity, apprecitation, awareness of my surroundings, awareness of now.
It is easy to define yourself by common labels such as Christian, Atheist, Muslim, CIS, Trans, etc. How important are these to your identity and why? When a person thinks of me I would far rather their first thought be 'He really cares' than 'He is a great Software Developer'. I really do not even care what pronouns they use as long as they are comfortable with them. To me if you confuse my identity I do not find that as a flaw in you. I find it a a flaw in me. How am I not representing my ideals? How can I more clearly reflect my ideals. If I have failed in this, it certainly is not your fault. Identity is a real issue these days. Though, the next time someone tries to set boundries ask yourself this. Are they building a privacy fence around their yard or are they building a fence around my yard? Respect the fence around their yard, do not accept their trying to control the way you think or express yourself. If a person offends you at the moment then do not dwell on that. Just move past that moment to now. If they tend to always be offensive toward you then move on in a way that seems most productive. These are ideals I live by not just talk about. Were most people tend to be very critical of others. I am most critical of myself. The reason is quite simple. I control my behavior not other people's. So I am only responsible for my behavior not theirs. It is about accountability. I am me, it would be very nice if you could be you. No one else has a right to impose on who you are. The good news is that they only can if you allow them to.
Unus Nemo
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We all need to look into the dark side of our nature — that’s where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we’re busy denying.
Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American novelist, screenwriter
Interview (1997-02-07) by Jeffrey Zaslow, “Straight Talk,” USA Weekend magazineMore about this quote: wist.info/grafton-sue/85859/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #suegrafton #character #darkside #darkness #denial #humannature #passion #selfawareness #selfdeception #selfdenial #selfdiscovery #selfexamination #selfimage #selfknowledge #selfunderstanding
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“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer. Which challenge deserves a fresh perspective? #Perspective #Mindset #PersonalGrowth #Leadership #SelfAwareness #Reframing #WayneDyer #ThoughtOfTheDay
https://stayingalive.in/thought-of-the-day/perspective-changes-the.html -
Sometimes, the hardest cage to escape is the one that gives us a reason not to change.
What are you gaining by staying stuck?
#Psychology #SelfAwareness #VictimMindset #PersonalGrowth #Accountability #Podcast
مين المستفيد من إنك تفضل ضحية؟ - بداية أخرى 🌷 - Apple Podcasts https://share.google/QS6wpTOl4CQR6tvWD
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What if you’re not trapped by what happened to you…
but by the hidden benefits of staying the victim?
Sometimes, the hardest cage to escape is the one that gives us a reason not to change.
What are you gaining by staying stuck?
#Psychology #SelfAwareness #VictimMindset #PersonalGrowth #Accountability #Podcast
مين المستفيد من إنك تفضل ضحية؟ - بداية أخرى 🌷 - Apple Podcasts https://share.google/LzFsSrzbmrl10hGkE
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Sometimes people think they know you. But the truth is, that isn't you. That isn't you at all. By Leila Sales
#mentalhealth #mentalwellness #selfawareness #identity #mentalhealthmatters #ymhc -
The pain you keep outrunning does not leave. It waits with the truth you postponed.
#PerformancePsychology #SelfAwareness #MentalSkills #Wellbeing #HumanNature
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Learn from challenges. Build resilience. Know where you stand in life.
#Quotes #LifeQuotes #Resilience #SelfAwareness #HayleyWilliams
https://quotes.thisgrandpablogs.com/know-where-you-stand-hayley-williams/ -
A quotation from Thomas Carlyle
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/733/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyle #firststep #honesty #rascal #reform #scoundrel #selfawareness #selfcorrection
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And certainly a wise man never loses anything if he has himself.
[Certes l’homme d’entendement n’a rien perdu, s’il a soy-mesme.]Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 38 (1.38)), “Of Solitude [De la solitude]” (1572) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #loss #possessions #selfaffirmation #selfassurance #selfawareness #selfesteem #selfpossession #selfregard #selfreliance #selfrespect #selfsufficiency #understanding #wisdom #integrity #importance #value
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Maybe it's time to build technology that helps us question why we're choosing it.
#Edorena #DecisionIntelligence #DecisionMaking #BehaviorChange #HumanBehavior #IntentionalLiving #AI #FutureOfTechnology #SelfAwareness #Innovation #BuildInPublic
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DATE: August 25, 2026 at 01:53PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Your brain may not actually “make” decisions
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260823094148.htm
A neuroscientist is challenging the idea that the brain contains a central system that actually “makes” our decisions. What we experience as choosing may instead emerge from the continuous interaction of perception, movement, the body, and the world around us.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260823094148.htm
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #neuroscience #decisionmaking #brain #consciousness #perception #cognition #neuroscienceresearch #habits #behavior #selfawareness
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I think we are missing out in genuine #communication, and true relating.
Simply because we are ignorant of who we are and that we are attempting to talk from our:
🔸perspective
🔸truth
🔸and level of #consciousnesswith almost zero #awareness (or care) of the other's:
🔸perspective
🔸truth
🔸and level of consciousnessIt's like we know and understand the words yet speaking different languages.
△
#ConsciousCommunity #SelfAwareness #Mindfulness #PersonalGrowth #Empathy #Presence #SelfKnowledge
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"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel." Fair? Read the blog. #SelfAwareness #Confidence #PersonalGrowth #Mindset #SelfWorth #LifeLessons #ThoughtOfTheDay #Perspective
https://stayingalive.in/thought-of-the-day/the-comparison-trap.html -
What Will End With Us? Ancestral Healing and the Courage to Break Generational Cycles
Some of the patterns we carry did not begin with us. This reflection explores ancestral healing, inherited survival responses, and the choices we can make to create a healthier emotional inheritance for future generations. -
From FB, and so relatable. The Self There is a particular kind of shame that comes from looking around one day and feeling like everybody else got a head start on being a person.
They built careers while you were learning how not to panic. They formed healthy relationships while you were still mistaking familiar pain for love. They saved money, took risks, travelled, studied, made plans and developed confidence while enormous parts of your energy were being spent simply trying to feel safe inside your own life.
But nobody sees time that way.
They see the age.
By thirty you should have this. By forty you should know that. By fifty surely you should be further along. There are invisible milestones everywhere, and when your life doesn’t match them it can feel like evidence that you’ve somehow failed at adulthood.
So you compare your chapter to somebody else’s without accounting for what it cost you just to reach the page you’re on.
You forget the years spent recovering from things you didn’t cause. The relationships you had to unlearn. The beliefs about yourself you had to dismantle. The energy lost to anxiety, hypervigilance, grief, dissociation, people-pleasing or simply getting through days that looked completely ordinary to everybody else.
That time wasn’t empty.
You were doing work.
It just wasn’t the kind of work society knows how to put on a résumé.
You were learning that love shouldn’t frighten you. You were learning that saying no doesn’t make you cruel. You were discovering which parts of your personality were actually yours and which were adaptations. You were learning how to make decisions without asking what would upset everyone else first.
Some people got to spend their early years building a life.
Others had to spend part of adulthood rebuilding the person who was supposed to live it.
Of course those timelines look different.
This doesn’t mean trauma should become the explanation for everything that hasn’t happened yet, or that we have no agency over where we go from here. But shame is a terrible starting line.
Maybe you aren’t lazy. Maybe you aren’t immature. Maybe you haven’t “wasted your potential.”
Maybe you’ve been measuring yourself against people whose energy wasn’t being spent fighting battles you couldn’t see.
There is no prize for arriving at somebody else’s version of life on time.
And perhaps I’m not behind at all.
Perhaps this is simply what my life looks like after taking the long way back to myself.
#theself #knowthyself #feelingbehind #complextrauma #cptsd #childhoodtrauma #traumarecovery #healingjourney #selfworth #selfcomparison #selfawareness #psychology #mentalhealth #survivalmode #latebloomer
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DATE: August 19, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The complex science of positive affirmations, and why they occasionally backfire
Scroll through social media and you’ll quickly encounter phrases like “I am worthy” or “I choose happiness”.
The tantalising promise is: repeat these positive affirmations often enough and you’ll be happier, calmer and even healthier.
Given we are biologically hardwired to avoid suffering and want to feel safe and happy, no wonder it is tempting. But is it backed by science? And are there downsides?
What are positive affirmations?
Self-affirmation theory was proposed by psychologist Claude Steele in the late 1980s and remains popular today. The theory suggests we have a deep desire to craft a personal narrative that we are “adequate” and “worthy”.
But painful experiences that trigger shame or embarrassment – such as getting bad grades, making a mistake at work or going through a break-up – can threaten this self-narrative.
You may become more self-critical, and this may make you more likely to experience anxiety, depression and even self-harm.
In contrast, self-affirmation theory suggests repeating positive ideas about yourself can protect you from these negative mental health symptoms, boosting your mood and sense of self-worth.
Is there evidence positive affirmations work?
Yes – in some contexts.
A review from 2025 combined and analysed results from 67 studies. These looked at the effects on participants’ wellbeing of writing positive affirmations or repeating them out loud.
The review found positive affirmations did have a meaningful impact on how participants viewed themselves and connected with others. But the effect was small.
Some studies have found repeating positive affirmations can protect social media users’ self-esteem and boost the overall mental health of university students.
One 2025 study looked at women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. It found those who listened to music alongside recordings of positive affirmations felt less depressed and drowsy, compared to those who listened only to music.
Another study from 2025 examined adults with depression symptoms, but no diagnosis. It found those who wrote personal positive affirmations twice daily reported better self-esteem after 15 days, compared to those who didn’t.
One frequently cited study from 2009 found repeating positive affirmations (for example, “I am a lovable person”) boosted mood. However this was only for people who already had high self-esteem. Those with low self-esteem – in other words, those with a low level of confidence and value in themselves – reported poorer mood.
While these studies show some promise, recent studies have failed to replicate these findings. More research is needed to see exactly who might benefit, and in what context.
The downsides of positivity
But is there any harm in using positive affirmations? Here are some risks to keep in mind.
Toxic positivity
Humans are imperfect and the world is often unfair. Pretending otherwise can lead to toxic positivity, which means suppressing or even denying difficult feelings. When you feel distressed, you may feel pressure to cope and simply “reframe” your thinking. You may feel ashamed when you can’t and be less likely to seek help.
Chasing dopamine
Repeating positive affirmations might give you a quick dopamine hit. Dopamine is the hormone linked to pleasure and reward, and can help us feel in control and competent. But the desire to always feel good is not realistic. And taken to the extreme, it can trap you in a cycle where you’re constantly seeking the next dopamine hit.
Downplaying real issues
Positive self-talk is only helpful in safe environments. In unsafe or harmful situations (for example, an abusive relationship) staying positive may blind you to potential dangers. Over-reliance on positive affirmations can detach you from what’s going on, and override gut instincts it may be better to listen to.
So, what does work?
Recent research suggests how we talk to ourselves may matter more than how positive the message is. Here are two approaches worth trying.
Show yourself compassion
Research shows cultivating a compassionate relationship with yourself, especially during stress or failure, can strengthen your resilience and improve your mental health. For example, telling yourself “this is hard” or “anyone would feel this way” can be more helpful than simply repeating upbeat affirmations. Sometimes being brave enough to acknowledge you’re suffering, and speaking to yourself like a good friend, is what you need.
Create some distance
Talking to yourself in the third person – for example, “Maddie is furious, but has handled far worse” rather than “I am furious” – can help. This creates distance between you and your thoughts, and is sometimes called “non-attachment”. This approach can help regulate emotions, encouraging us to approach feelings with curiosity, observing rather than just reacting to them.
The bottom line
Very few thinking styles are always beneficial or always harmful. The key is to be flexible, not rigid. This means regularly asking yourself “is that thought helpful?” and choosing the approach most suited to your situation.
And if that’s positive self-talk, try to use compassion and understanding – not just upbeat slogans.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PositiveAffirmations #SelfTalk #SelfCompassion #ToxicPositivity #MentalHealth #SelfEsteem #SelfAwareness #Wellbeing #DopamineHype #EmotionalResilience
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AI can give you answers, ideas and possibilities.
But reflection starts somewhere else:
Who are you?
What is happening?
What matters to you?
And what is your next step?My Own Compass was built around that principle.
No account. No cloud for your reflections. No subscription. Your thoughts stay on your own device.
AI can expand your possibilities.
Your compass should still be yours.
#SelfReflection #Resilience #PrivacyByDesign #SelfAwareness #AI #artificial_intelligence
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The silence is over.
For years, he couldn’t say the word. It lived in the shadows of his browser history, a secret shame that corroded his confidence, his relationships, and his view of himself. He felt trapped in a cycle of guilt and compulsion, a prisoner in his own mind. The Word He Couldn’t Speak isn't just another book about the problem; it’s a practical, step-by-step guide to the solution. Written with unflinching honesty and compassionate insight, this book will take you by the hand and lead you out […]https://dottywise.wordpress.com/2026/08/16/the-silence-is-over/
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A quotation from Samuel Johnson
He who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-04-07), The Rambler, No. 6More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/35246…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #attitude #externalities #grief #happiness #humannature #humanity #misery #pursuitofhappiness #reform #selfawareness #selfchange #unhappiness #wasteoftime #humancondition
