Have you ever thought about who you are and what makes you special? Knowing yourself is an amazing power called self-awareness! It helps you understand your feelings, thoughts, and actions. Let's explore the different parts of self-awareness together: beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours, and results.
Beliefs: What you think is true; for example, you might believe that telling the truth is important. If you see your friend cheating on a test, your belief will remind you that it's not right. Our beliefs sometimes come from our faith – our worship of God through our religions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and many others. You should know very well what your religion teaches about love, peace, and success and hold on to these beliefs as the truth. Maybe someone tries to get you to tell a lie or use the money meant for buying a book to buy candy; your beliefs will remind you of the right thing to do.
Values: What matters most to you, they usually come from your beliefs. For example, because you believe that everyone was created by God and that God loves us all and wants us to love others and leave peacefully with others, you value relationships with others, friendship, and kindness. These values then determine how you think and react to situations. It means that you hold on to these values and never allow them to be taken from you, even when things are difficult. After a while, people start to see that these values mean so much to you that you cannot change. Maybe someone tries to get you to do things that are wrong, like cheat in an exam or bully another classmate; your values will prevent you from doing those things. Without strong values and beliefs, children will end up with bad friends who will convince them to do bad things that will get them into trouble. Our parents also play a very important role in teaching us about beliefs and values, so we should learn from them.
Attitudes: How you feel about something. If you have a positive attitude, you see the good side of things. Let's say you write an exam or submit your homework, and you didn’t score as high as you wanted. Your positive attitude makes you accept the results and pay attention to the mistakes that you made so that you can go back, study hard, and do better the next time. People who do not have a positive attitude may blame others for their problems or become so sad that they give up trying to work hard and pass their exams in the future.
Behaviours: What you do – your beliefs, values, and attitudes help you choose your behaviours, good or bad. Good behaviours include sleeping on time, not watching too much TV or playing video games, studying and completing your homework, tidying up your room and doing chores at home for your parents, and of course making choices each day at school and at home that are based on the positive beliefs and values that you have, like sharing with others, avoiding fights, and being honest at all times. Behaviours have consequences. Good behaviours make you and everyone around you happy and successful, but bad behaviours cause pain and problems for everyone, even though sometimes they may look like they are enjoyable.
Results: What happens because of your actions and because of your beliefs in God and the values that you have? You want to achieve good results not just in school and in your home, but when you grow up and have your own family, work, or business. You also know that results are not just about being rich, popular, or good-looking, but more importantly about what you do in society, the impact you have on people’s lives, and what happens to you at the end of this life here on earth, when you go back to meet God who created you.
Self-awareness helps you make good choices and helps you to be successful all through your life and beyond. When you know what you believe in, what matters to you, and how you feel, you can choose the best actions. Remember, self-awareness is like a friendly guide that shows you how to be your best self! So, keep discovering yourself and enjoy the journey. You can learn more about self-awareness by getting your parents to get you a copy of our storybook, My Big Book of Leadership Stories, where you can read the amazing story of Fadil and his friends at Cairo Montessori School and his journey of self-discovery.
To learn more about these and other life skills, please click the link below to get a FREE copy of our storybook "Birthday Savings for Omo" and learn more about other amazing storybooks and games you will enjoy.