Books or other resources on developing self-awareness

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Crearan
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02 May 2014, 11:59 am

What books or resources with exercises for adults on developing self-awareness have you found useful? I'd like to do work on basics like using people's names when I talk to them, getting used to people saying my name (always a surprise!), telling "I" stories about my own emotions and actions, etc. I feel like there have to be some resources out there to help adults cultivate self-awareness skills.



ZenDen
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02 May 2014, 1:38 pm

Crearan wrote:
What books or resources with exercises for adults on developing self-awareness have you found useful? I'd like to do work on basics like using people's names when I talk to them, getting used to people saying my name (always a surprise!), telling "I" stories about my own emotions and actions, etc. I feel like there have to be some resources out there to help adults cultivate self-awareness skills.


The book/idea going around now for raising awareness seems to be a technique called "mindfulness." It's being used by many organizations to teach self-awareness to their people.

Googling: "mindfulness books" gives you a choice of many. I am unable to recommend any particular book but I understand everyone from the U.S. Marines, to Buddhist monks to Google, Inc. (and everyone in-between) use this technique so I'm guessing it must work.

Good luck,
denny



Crearan
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02 May 2014, 1:50 pm

Thank you! I am already using a few mindfulness books (Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are, right now, in connection with meditation), as well as a dialectical behaviorial therapy workbook (which I love; it's from New Harbinger). So far, I've found that mindfulness focuses on awareness, which is great for forcing me to notice and articulate my emotions and my negative and self-aggrandizing thoughts, both. There's not that much that I've found yet that's focused on developing a better sense of 'you' and 'I,' 'them' and 'us,' though.



TungleVatn
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02 May 2014, 2:42 pm

You should check out The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

That's one of my favorites. I feel like he is pretty precise and to the point. He seems to word things clearer than more popular authors of the sort.