I was reading Make the Connection by Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey and this sentence grabbed my attention.
"Only when you have self-awareness can you achieve self-acceptance"
So I decided to look up what self-awareness means. According to Merriam Webster Online dictionary (www.m-w.com), self means the union of elements (as body, emotions, thoughts, and sensations) that constitute the individuality and identity of a person. Awareness means: Having or showing realization, perception or knowledge. So by combining both definition, we arrive at a basic logic that self-awareness means having realization of the union of elements that constitute the individuality and identity of self.
With the definition in place, I decided to look back and see what my self-awareness of me was like when I was a child. I had a sense of disappointment and sadness because I am deaf and my parents are deaf, but my brother and the rest of the family weren't deaf. I felt like an outcast. I couldn't really communicate with my family well, and it didn't help that I went to the deaf school and rarely was home between age 5 to 11. It was a hard blow to me when my mom yelled at my brother "You know Tommy doesn't live here during the school year. You can't expect him to have friends here, so go play with him." When I was 11, I kept getting in so much trouble at the deaf school that the principal suggested to my parents that I might do better if I went to public school. Of course I did well in public school, I was all alone, no other deaf friends. I had maybe 2 or 3 friends until high school years and had no friends the entire 4 years except for 2 in my senior year.
As I moved into my 20's most of the things I can remember revolved around my weight. It was like the elephant in the living room. I wanted to avoid it but most people wouldn't let me forget about it. I did manage to lose a lot of weight in 1997 and in 1999-2000. However I gained it all back and more. I slipped into severe depression about my weight when my dad died in 203. Finally when time was approaching to my 30th birthday, I decided enough is enough, I want to lose weight. My doctor referred me to a dietician and as we were talking about food. She said "You have issues with food, have you thought about going counseling?" It was like a light bulb going on above my head. Now I am more aware of my emotions and connecting that to my eating habits. I am getting better about not eating when I am emotional.
Now that I am spending time taking care of myself by exercising and watching what I am eating, I think I have achieved some level of self-awareness that leads to some level of self-acceptance. From the same book, Make the Connection another line comes up that reminds me what I am doing. "And remember, out of self-acceptance comes self-love". This is exactly what I want to do and I am going to work on this so that I can love myself and actually have a life that I am happy with.
"Only when you have self-awareness can you achieve self-acceptance"
So I decided to look up what self-awareness means. According to Merriam Webster Online dictionary (www.m-w.com), self means the union of elements (as body, emotions, thoughts, and sensations) that constitute the individuality and identity of a person. Awareness means: Having or showing realization, perception or knowledge. So by combining both definition, we arrive at a basic logic that self-awareness means having realization of the union of elements that constitute the individuality and identity of self.
With the definition in place, I decided to look back and see what my self-awareness of me was like when I was a child. I had a sense of disappointment and sadness because I am deaf and my parents are deaf, but my brother and the rest of the family weren't deaf. I felt like an outcast. I couldn't really communicate with my family well, and it didn't help that I went to the deaf school and rarely was home between age 5 to 11. It was a hard blow to me when my mom yelled at my brother "You know Tommy doesn't live here during the school year. You can't expect him to have friends here, so go play with him." When I was 11, I kept getting in so much trouble at the deaf school that the principal suggested to my parents that I might do better if I went to public school. Of course I did well in public school, I was all alone, no other deaf friends. I had maybe 2 or 3 friends until high school years and had no friends the entire 4 years except for 2 in my senior year.
As I moved into my 20's most of the things I can remember revolved around my weight. It was like the elephant in the living room. I wanted to avoid it but most people wouldn't let me forget about it. I did manage to lose a lot of weight in 1997 and in 1999-2000. However I gained it all back and more. I slipped into severe depression about my weight when my dad died in 203. Finally when time was approaching to my 30th birthday, I decided enough is enough, I want to lose weight. My doctor referred me to a dietician and as we were talking about food. She said "You have issues with food, have you thought about going counseling?" It was like a light bulb going on above my head. Now I am more aware of my emotions and connecting that to my eating habits. I am getting better about not eating when I am emotional.
Now that I am spending time taking care of myself by exercising and watching what I am eating, I think I have achieved some level of self-awareness that leads to some level of self-acceptance. From the same book, Make the Connection another line comes up that reminds me what I am doing. "And remember, out of self-acceptance comes self-love". This is exactly what I want to do and I am going to work on this so that I can love myself and actually have a life that I am happy with.
posted by Tomas at
10:55 AM
