How can mindfulness lead to self awareness?

My takeaway from the discussion of self awareness in this chapter was that applying practiced attention to our emotions leads to a dispassionate assessment of them which in turn can allow you to more accurately understand them. This seems like a sensible idea as by applying mindfulness to our emotions we can both avoid getting swept away by them but also by being attentive to them for an extended period of time we can observe them through all of their phases which should naturally lead to a better understanding of their cause and resolution.

I also liked the approach he took to understanding personal weaknesses and how this could actually lead to natural self confidence. Everyone likes to focus on their strengths as they give you a positive self image but truly understanding your weaknesses takes more effort and can be just as rewarding. Knowing your weaknesses means you can anticipate them and plan around them giving you the confidence to approach a task knowing how you can deal with the things that might hold you back.

Experimentation in self awareness practices

I wanted to experiment with journaling as I have used body scan before during meditation and I have always found the idea of free writing appealing. The prospect of revealing hidden parts of your psyche was exciting and a little scary but I also thought the process could be very useful for gaining a greater insight into my thoughts and emotions. By writing down what naturally flowed through my mind I felt that it allowed me to view these thoughts from a new perspective. Since I was able to read through these thoughts disconnected from how they arose I found I reacted to them in a different way to how I did in the moment. I also think I was able to get a bit of a meta understanding of how I was flowing from one thought to another.

Reading this chapter of the book also inspired me to try to build a basic app using what I have learned so far that will serve me a random prompt and give me a set time to write on it. I think I should also look into how I can set a text input that prevents the backspace or delete input so that I'm forced to record my thoughts in an unedited, free-form manner.

Emotional distance (in a good way)

I certainly think the benefits offered by achieving a state of emotional self awareness such that you are able to view them in a dispassionate manner in the moment are well worth working towards. I've experienced some of this through the journalling practice though realising this state as you experience emotions in real time is something that I think will be quite difficult. As well as reducing stress I can see that having this kind of emotional distance could lead to much better decision making.