originally published in the Legacy Magazine November 2023 Issue
"What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself…."
attributed to Abraham Maslow
In 2021, I found myself at the beginning of two significant journeys: one, as a newly hired Environmental Education specialist with a municipal organization; and the other, transitioning into a new home, new community, and, with my new position, a forty-minute job commute. Both paths offered distinct challenges, but I learned to navigate them successfully by implementing a timeless tool: Self-awareness.
The Power of Perspective
So, I dove eagerly into my specialist duties. My first task? Update and co-lead a summer program with a historically underinvested community. As we were putting the program pieces in place, I found out that my co-leader was relocating out of state, leaving me responsible for training new volunteers and running the program solo. Furthermore, unexpected issues arose with our house purchase.
Personal and professional pressures mounted, and I found myself feeling increasingly distracted and overwhelmed. My initial response was to do more and move faster along the path of progress, only to find that some tasks were slipping through the cracks with projects half-finished. Meanwhile, my nights were spent grappling with how to fulfill the responsibilities surrounding our new home and my job.
Though my circumstances remained unchanged, my perspective needed to. I needed a better understanding of my emotions, thoughts, and beliefs about my current situation. I needed self-awareness. Organizational psychologist, Dr. Tara Eurich explains that knowing ourselves or self-awareness is “the ability to see ourselves clearly, to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world.” Self-awareness, combined with acknowledging our strengths and limitations, increases our capacity to respond effectively to our environment.
Understanding ourselves considering our reactions and responses serves as the gateway to self-compassion and overall well-being. Instead of focusing on why this was happening to me, I needed to shift to what I could do to support my situation: build relationships, encourage revelation, and restore rest. While I began implementing these tools to increase my self-knowledge, I delved into the historical context of self-awareness.
The Quest for Self-Awareness: From Aphorisms to Interdependence The pursuit of self-awareness has been central to philosophical inquiry throughout history. As far back as the 5th century B.C.E., the aphorism, “Know Thyself” was inscribed above the entrance to Apollo’s temple at Delphi. People traveling to this ancient Greek site may have noticed the maxim while visiting the oracle inside the temple. Socrates popularized the phrase through his dialogues, as recorded by his student Plato. The result of the examined life? Socrates felt that understanding could be sought through dialectical engagement–exploring different viewpoints–rather than mere introspection. In other words, being aware of what you don’t know reveals the extent of your knowledge.
Shifting from philosophical imperatives to interconnectedness, Siddhartha Gautama—commonly known as the Lord Buddha—asserted that enlightenment recognizes the authentic nature of both reality and the self, especially their inherent interconnectedness. The Sanskrit word for “Buddha” means “a person who is awake,” underscoring the idea that enlightenment unfolds as one awakens to reality’s true nature. Many Western and Eastern philosophies converge on the importance of self-awareness, albeit via distinct paths.
For many historically collectivist communities–cultures that emphasize interdependence versus independence–self-awareness was formed and nurtured in tandem with other awareness, encompassing both the living and ancestral aspects of the community, as well as the natural world. For example, the Ubuntu philosophy, the roots of which are found in the Zulu and Xhosa communities of Southern Africa, acknowledges that our identity is grounded in relationship to others, supporting the belief that “I am because you are.” Similarly, the Akan proverb, “Man is not a palm tree that he should be complete,” reinforces the social ethics of interdependence and cooperation in understanding our needs and identity. The Akan peoples, a cultural-linguistic group who reside primarily in modern-day Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, understood that proverbs served as an effective means of conveying their shared beliefs and values regarding interdependence.
Expanding on the concept of mutual dependence, for many Native American collectivist communities, traditional knowledge of identity and self-awareness is found through co-existence with both people and the natural world–the land, animals, stars, and sky. Specifically, The Beauty Way, “hoozho naasha,” of the Diné or Navajo Nation centers on embracing self-awareness by living in equilibrium with the unfolding of existential beauty that surrounds us in nature and people. Likewise, the Alaskan Yu’pik culture illustrates that self-awareness develops through a connection with one’s ancestors, family, the land, the sea, and animals.
Following my exploration of how diverse communities cultivated self-awareness, I opted to assimilate some of this newfound knowledge into supporting myself. Clearly, the current situation demanded hands-on strategies to lower my stress while bolstering resiliency. With that in mind, let’s delve into three tools I implemented for achieving this goal: Relationship, Reflection, and Rest.
"What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself…." attributed to Abraham Maslow
Cultivating Self-Awareness: The 3 R’s: Relationship, Reflection, and Rest.
1) Relationship. Living in connection with the Earth and with others creates introspective opportunities because people and places serve as mirrors to reflect our actions and beliefs–if we let them. Moreover, in human relationships, our awareness is rooted in how we are perceived by other people. This is commonly known as external self-awareness.
To gain clarity in how others see us, Human Performance and Leadership coach George Mallory offers questions for us to ask trusted friends and colleagues: “How would you describe me?” “What is something that I have to work on?” “How do I come across to you?” Be open to feedback, accept praise, and consider the next steps for growth. Most importantly for me? I recorded the input in my journal–the good, the hard, and the change.
2) Reflection requires more than just thinking about us. Dr. Tara Eurich agrees: “Thinking about ourselves isn’t related to knowing ourselves.” We need tools to understand our thoughts, emotions, actions, and behaviors both in the moment and beyond - key components of mindfulness. The pursuit of self-knowledge takes time, effort, and planning. My nightly plan to encourage personal reflection included asking myself: What is going well? What is not? What is next? When I developed this habit, I was able to see patterns of behavior -some good and some not.
Of note, self-reflection when combined with personal revelation may increase internal self-awareness. Revelation emphasizes seeking insights through spiritual texts or topics of personal interest. It requires a willingness to explore new ways of thinking and doing that may challenge existing beliefs. A few tools that I used to nurture revelation with reflection: reading self-help books, such as those by author, Brene Brown, drawing in coloring books, and learning Spanish on my phone.
3) Rest starts by stopping. Recharging through sleep and relaxation allows us to gain clarity about our inner life. By slowing down, we can observe thoughts and emotions that simmer below the surface when we are busy. Research shows cultivating daily stillness and silence reduces stress, improves mood, and increases creativity. I chose techniques like box breathing and guided meditations for taking much-needed rest breaks.
Ritualizing or creating a routine around even 1 of the 3 R’s creates space for personal growth. But how does personal growth benefit our professional careers? Studies have shown that self-awareness positively impacts job-related well-being. In a 2015 study published by The European Journal of Training and Development, researchers found, “Employees reported gaining a greater appreciation of diversity, improved communication with colleagues, and increased confidence due to increased self-awareness” (Sutton et al.).
Increasing Interpretive Opportunities. So, what does self-awareness mean for interpreters? Creating interpretive opportunities not only requires building knowledge of our audience and our resources. Bill Lewis’s “Interpretive Dance” touches on this. Similarly, the “Y’ in NAI’s POETRY acronym for communication (Purpose, Organization, Enjoyable, Theme, Relevance, and You) recognizes “YOU'' as part of the interpretive model.
However, these calls to action focus primarily on harnessing your passion while increasing skills for professional development. Though professional development creates a pathway for knowledge and growth, interpreters should also prioritize self-discovery, thus fostering personal development alongside professional skills.
As I discovered, interpretive programming can improve when we assess our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. For interpreters, integrating self-awareness into our interpretive approach bridges deeper connections with ourselves, our audience, and the world around us.
And my crazy-busy summer? It was spectacular. I was available for relationships, reflection, and rest while settling into a sustainable cadence at work; little by little, I chipped away at the new home tasks. During my quarterly performance review, my supervisor commended me for exceeding expectations through the opportunities and challenges that I encountered in my new position. It was clear: implementing tools to increase my external and internal awareness reduced job stress and increased personal resilience.
Building a bridge to self-awareness is a transformative journey that empowers interpreters to navigate life's infinite challenges and choices. Employing these tools in our personal and interpretive work reduces stress and builds the capacity to engage with themselves and others. By putting the 3 R’s into practice, we can unlock new levels of understanding and connection, enriching both our personal lives and our professions.
References
Cajete, Gregory. Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence. 1st ed, Clear Light
Publishers, 2000.
Communications, CVMBS. “Walking in Beauty: A Navajo Scientist Confronts the Legacy of Uranium Mining.” News from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 27 Apr. 2020, https://cvmbs.source.colostate.edu/walking-in-beauty-a-navajo-scientist-confronts-the-legacy-of-uranium-mining-impact/.
Eurich, Tasha. “What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It).” Harvard Business Review, 4 Jan. 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it.
Green, Mitchell S. Know Thyself: The Value and Limits of Self-Knowledge. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
Gyekye, Kwame. “African Ethics.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Fall 2011, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2011, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011/entries/african-ethics/.
Increase Your Self-Awareness with One Simple Fix | Tasha Eurich | TEDxMileHigh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdsOXZpyWE. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.
Mallory, Alan. “External Self-Awareness - How People See Us.” Alan Mallory - Speaker, Author and Performance Coach, https://alanmallory.com/2021/10/self-awareness-how-people-see-us/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.
O’Brien, Barbara. Who Was the Buddha, and What Did He Teach? - Lion’s Roar. 5 Sept. 2023, https://www.lionsroar.com/who-was-the-buddha/.
Reflections on the Relevance of “Self-Regulation” for Native Communities | Research Connections. https://researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/36703. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.
Sutton, Anna, et al. “A Longitudinal, Mixed Method Evaluation of Self-Awareness Training in the Workplace.” European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 39, no. 7, 0 2015, pp. 610–27, https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-04-2015-0031.
“Understanding Collectivist Cultures.” Verywell Mind, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-collectivistic-cultures-2794962. Accessed 8 Sept. 2023.
Yetunde, Pamela Ayo. Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are - Lions Roar. 3 Jan. 2022, https://www.lionsroar.com/ubuntu-i-am-because-we-are/.
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