
Sit a moment with yourself and your thoughts and ponder this question:
What is the most powerful entity in your life?
Your most intuitive response to this question might be God, but contrary to popular belief there is a power within ourselves that is even stronger than God, and that is our very own selves.
Now you’re probably saying come now Doc… there’s nothing more powerful than God in our lives, well let me remind you of a little story in the book of Genesis that begins with in the beginning…..
We know that on the 6th day of create Mankind. When creating man, God took counsel with Himself: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). With the rest of creation, God had simply spoken things into existence (e.g., Genesis 1:3, 14, 20), but God does things differently when He creates mankind. Man is a unique combination of earthly, natural material (dust) and life-giving power from God Himself (the breath of life).
Being made in God’s likeness does not mean that humans physically look like God, since He is spirit (John 4:24). Rather, men and women reflect God in their ability to:
Love (1 John 4:19)
Reason (Isaiah 1:18)
Make Intelligent Decisions (Deuteronomy 30:19)
God did not make us as robots or clones who could only obey his commands and only think like Him, he gave us the power to think and chose our actions for ourselves. He gave us power and authority over ourselves. We know what Adam and Eve used their power of free will choice to choose their own selfish pleasures over choosing to obey God, and that this disobedience led to the utter FALL of HUMANITY.
1 John 2:16 ESV
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Eve’s flesh desired the fruit from the forbidden tree, The fruit looked good to her eyes, and once she learned that she would not surely die, but would only become as wise as God her pride was the final determining factor to eat and persuade Adam to fall prey to the desires of his flesh, his eyes, and his pride.
This Fall of humanity led to an awareness of ourselves and this awareness can ultimately lead us to great victory and success or a great fall and ultimate death and separation from God.
Adam and Eve already existed as the greatest version of themselves, there was no need for self-awareness because they were perfect in the Father's image and likeness. With one wrong decision, they devolved into the lowest version of themselves and became self-aware of their image which was starkly now contrasted to the image and likeness of the father. They had become sinners instead of being sinless. Now here we stand the seed of Adam and Eve born and shaped in iniquity, and on a journey to finding our highest and best selves. This journey is our path to Spiritual Self Awareness
Last month we explored the concept of self-assessment and accountability.
Let’s play a game of word association. I’m going to list a grouping a words, and after reading each grouping I want you to make a note to yourself of how these words made you feel internally……
Self-Love, Self-Care, Self-Appreciation, Self-Worth, Self-Celebration
What feelings arise as you think about the meaning of these words in connection with your life
Self-Awareness, Self-Reflection, Self-Improvement, Self-development
What feelings arise as you think about the meaning of these words in connection with your life
Which words did you feel most passionate about?
Which grouping of words gave you the most positive feelings?
Which grouping of words connects with your most powerful self?
Category 1 or category 2?
The way we feel about these words reveals a self-awareness about ourselves selves.
It reveals the posture in which we are rooted in within ourselves.
Which of these things are you in greater need of in your life for you to live at your highest and best self?
Although Self-Love, Self-Care, Self-Appreciation, Self-Worth, and Self-Celebration feel really good to our flesh if we are not using these words as the fuel to empower us to develop greater Self-Awareness, Self-Reflection, Self-Improvement, Self-development, the first category of words are of very little profit to us.
If you completed the blog challenge then you may be working with your accountability partner, or maybe you may not have been courageous enough to follow through, or maybe you didn’t care enough to even do the self-work to acquire an accountability partner to help you become better.
Our greatest advocate or our greatest adversary can be one in the same, and that single factor is “SELF”.
A huge barrier to effective accountability partner work is our level of self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the habit of paying attention to your own mind and how it shapes your actions, emotions, and values.
A lack or lower level of self-awareness will cause of to develop feelings of there is no need for change in our lives. It can cause you to be content with where you are in life and lack the true desire and determination needed in order to grow in certain areas in your life. It will limit you from evolving into highest and best version of yourself.
God designed us to and desires for us to live our lives as our highest and best selves, through shedding our selfish pride of embracing our selfish desires and through humility to serve God’s will for our lives so that we can find our Highest Self in God.
This can only be done through Spiritual Self-Awareness
Spiritual self-awareness takes all of the concepts to self-awareness and adds to this by knowing who you are as a person and who to lean on for support. It’s about living life with a deeper understanding of yourself and what really matters.
Developing Spiritual self-awareness is the foundation of all important life changes and deep inner work.
At more complex levels, self-awareness involves developing an understanding of your deeper beliefs, inner wounds, mental and emotional defense mechanisms, and repressed unconscious material
It is this Spiritual Self Awareness that allows us to see our need for Christ, to see our need for denying ourselves, relinquishing our pride, and bowing down be as our imperfect selves in humble submission to a perfect savior. Daily crucifying self and yielding our will to God’s will for our lives.
When you’re spiritually self-aware, you are able to acknowledge your faults, your strengths, and all of the struggles you go through on a daily basis.
Spiritually self-aware people acknowledge when they are doing something positive or negative
Spiritual Self-awareness requires self-examination. An honest, non-judgmental self-analysis isn’t easy.
Let’s take a quiz to discover our level of Spiritual Awareness
Discovering the 4 Levels of Spiritual Self Awareness
The following quiz is a VERY general way of determining your level of consciousness or level of Spiritual Self Awareness. Using the information from this quiz may or may not give you a place to start in moving towards greater Self Awareness or towards a Spiritually based positive mental attitude – that is up to you. Respond to the 10 questions by choosing the answer that closest reflects your reaction to the actual question; add together the points and then go to Summary at the bottom of the quiz to find out where you currently stand.
(a) answers = 1pt; (b) answers = 2pt; (c) answers = 3pt; (d) answers = 4pt
THE QUIZ
Question 1. I feel like I have a sense of self-awareness, a connection to an Infinite Presence within me that guides me for the betterment of my human experience:
(a) huh?
(b) I want to believe in an Infinite Presence; sometimes that is really hard
(c) there have been moments that I feel very connected to Source and know for sure; other times I simply have faith
(d) I completely am connected to an Infinite Presence within me; without a doubt I am one with my God-Mind
Question 2. I have an active daily practice that keeps me grounded, Self Aware and feeling good:
(a) yeah it is called a prescription
(b) I am interested in a daily practice but I have not been able to actually commit to anything for a long period of time
(c) I meditate and or pray but not on a regular basis
(d) I meditate and pray daily
Question 3. When I am in physical pain, I tend to:
(a) I am always in physical pain, I cannot remember the last time I wasn’t in pain. Even my meds… wait – what was the question again?
(b) Sometimes I am in pain, but I can ignore it, and when I cannot I will take a pain killer
(c) I sometimes worry about Physical pain; I prefer natural methods to relieve the pain.
(d) Physical pain is rare but if or when it happens I will ask pray for healing and deliverance
Question 4. When I experience extreme feelings of anger, fear, shame or guilt, I tend to:
(a) no matter what emotion that I feel I blow up like a bomb – sometimes I explode outside and sometimes on the inside; either way I am blaming myself or others for the my storm
(b) I do realize that the emotion itself has a hold over me, I don’t necessarily know what I am even feeling and I cannot seem to do anything about it
(c) I react emotionally in stressful situations but I am good at knowing what I am feeling and I am interested in figuring out why I am feeling it; but still try to control how it plays out
(d) I allow my emotions to fruition; I know what they are and am aware of what and how I was triggered. I allow myself the lesson and let go of what I no longer need without condemning myself or blaming others
Question 5. The mental chatter, or that voice in my head, sounds like:
(a) a nagging, aggressive boss that has no respect or appreciation for how hard my life is and how hard I am trying to hold it all together.
(b) a negative friend that mostly criticizes what I think do or say; but sometimes really encourages me
(c) a supportive friend that points out I am a little on the negative side – which allows me to acknowledge before I react
(d) a harmonious yet constructive conversation between equal and intelligent halves of a whole
Question 6. When something in my life seems out of whack or appears as a challenge, I usually:
(a) let it get me down. I am often feeling stuck in a dark and uncomfortable place. Sometimes it is weeks, months or years before the situation seems to get any better.
(b) worry about it, try to figure out how I am going to fix it until I decide it is just better to ignore it and hope it goes away. Sometimes it just goes away – but it always seems to come back.
(c) reach out for help as soon as I realize that I am not really resolving the issue on my own. I want to confront challenges head on.
(d) honour the challenge as it has presented itself; looking for the best way to resolve the situation, understand my role in the situation and to work through any emotional or mental lessons meant for me. I do my best to see the situation for what it is instead of reacting to how I feel about the situation.
Question 7. I would say that my relationship with myself is mostly:
(a) I don’t understand the question? A relationship with myself?
(b) shaky at best; I feel challenged or bored when I am alone with myself and it feels selfish to put my well being before others – especially my kids.
(c) good. I do my best to take care of myself, to listen to both the needs of my body and spirit and do my best to act accordingly.
(d) an intimate love relationship – I love myself, unconditionally
Question 8. I would say that my ability to function in my outer environments (with family, friends, in the workplace, with others in society) feels like:
(a) it is overwhelming almost all of the time; something bad is always brewing.
(b) it is often full of challenges but I am pretty good at getting by and when I am not I just avoid dealing with “them”.
(c) every exterior influence has its challenges yet for me it is generally peaceful and I feel good most of the time.
(d) it is satisfying. I am fully aware of what triggers me, have confronted my traumas and exist peacefully in all situations, scenes and scenarios.
Question 9. I feel like I understand the hidden motivations behind both my own actions and the actions of others:
(a) Most people are stupid and do stupid things. I don’t know why and I don’t care. I do what I have to do to get by.
(b) I spend a lot of time trying figuring out other people’s motivations. I feel better when I can explain to myself why they do some of the things that they do. I am not really sure why I do something’s I do – especially when stuff keeps happening. It frustrates me.
(c) I have learned to spot my patterns of behaviour – sometimes and I’m good with catching myself before I react; sometimes not so good. I am a work in progress.
(d) I have developed the ability to sense the hidden motivations of others and am very conscious of what I think, say and do.
Question 10. Happiness, Success and Prosperity show up in my life:
(a) in hardly any way at all- happiness, success and prosperity in my life; yeah right!
(b) are fleeting moments that I cherish but do not expect to last… nothing lasts forever, right!
(c) often; yet for some reason I am always searching for more – I am not quite fulfilled… yet
(d) everyday, since I create what shows up in my life with a positive mental attitude and a general expectancy of my desires without expectation of how or when they will arrive.
THE RESULTS
ADD your points: (a) answers = 1pt; (b) answers = 2pt; (c) answers = 3pt; (d) answers = 4pt:
1 + 2 +3 +4 +5 +6 + 7 +8 +9 +10 =
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UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE
10 – 15 points Level of Self Awareness = Physical; Level of Spirituality = Unconsciously Unconscious
“You do not know what you do not know; and you simply do not care to know” or better yet: “the way your life is not working is really hard on you and you are not even aware that you are choosing that painful existence”
At this level you:
Self awareness is not awaken within you nor is there a desire for it; and Spirituality is still related to traditional religion where you are guided by others to what you should and should not believe about yourself; you are in a place of fear most of the time and are simply floundering, just getting by and often say things like I hate my life.
Personal development and spiritual growth is most likely not something that interests you and/or you likely have a negative reaction to this topic and to people who have engaged in their own growth; it is most likely that you will not pursuit personal or spiritual development until your life is so painful that something – a serious decline in your health, the collapse of your support system, a near death experience – forces you to “open your eyes to what is really going on around you.
Physically you are bound to your body; it is all that you really have going for you yet you still treat it poorly, to say the least. How you measure your success or lack thereof is determined completely by the state of your physical body and its capabilities or lack thereof. There is no consideration for your emotions or your predominant thoughts.
Emotionally you are completely unaware; you are driven by intense anger and/or worry brought on by fear. Everything in your life is an emotional reaction – either imploding in on you like a punch in the stomach or exploding out into your environment violently. You most likely do not even realize that you are expending so much energy avoiding your own feelings that you think that you are exhausted because of outside influencers – other people, your responsibilities, the challenges you face every day.
Mentally you are driven by blame; by blaming yourself (imploder) or others (exploder) for things you feel are completely out of your control. You are for sure that none of this is your fault.
note: You are not alone. The major of North Americans are in the space of Self Awareness most of their lives. You are simply reacting to life how you were trained to react. You have not had the chance to understand or know how to care for yourself on a personal level. You have never been given any tools or support when it comes to Self Awareness. You may even think all this is crap and deny the usefulness cultivating a strong interpersonal relationship with yourself. That is ok – when you do recognize you own incompetence, and the value of developing yourself, know that I am here to support you. The length of time you spends in this stage depends on how much crap you are capable and willing to take before you crash and burn.
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CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE
16 – 29 points Level of Self Awareness = Emotional; Level of Spirituality = Consciously Unconscious
“You know that you just don’t know; and that is starting to bother you but you do not know why”
At this level you:
Self awareness has stated stirring within you ( perhaps you have started on this path several times before) and there a desire for your life to change; Spirituality is still related to traditional religion to you – even it is somewhere deep inside that you are afraid to go right now – where you are guided by influential others to what you should and should not believe about yourself, about how life really works BUT you are starting to question your beliefs and how those past RULES have not served you; You are adventuring towards competency and self awareness; you are scared but not fearful you want to dump the RULES and finally get on the path for good.
Personal development and spiritual growth are viewed as new opportunities that have most likely been popping into your life for awhile now; you are starting to see a need for change… again – Enough is enough. You have learned a few things but didn’t take any action in implement them into your life, then you forgot about them. You feel like it is time to start anew
Physically you are bound to your body; but realize that there is more to your physical existence than the body you live in – lot of things are going on – body pain, close calls with your health, lack of physical intimacy in your relationship(s), challenges that just wont go away – especially around money and/or relationship. How you feel (which is most likely unfulfilled but you are gonna fake it until you make it) is motivating you to change something or everything; Your body is speaking to you and you really want to listen to what it is trying to tell you.
Emotionally you are beginning to become aware that anger, sadness and/ or fear is directing your actions almost all of the time; you are really trying to be authentic and are often letting it all hang out there for everyone to see – because that is really how you are feeling. You realized, as though it was an aha moment, that when you are driven by intense anger and/or intense sadness that they are usually brought on by fear that you do not know what to do, why it is “this” is even happening and that you feel like you have nowhere to turn to for help anymore.
Mentally you are still driven by blame; by blaming yourself (without taking any responsibility – simply to punish yourself) or blaming others for the things that you feel are completely out of your control; yet there are moments that you do question what your responsibility in this situation could be; most often you ignore that flash of intuition and go back to being comfortable in blame.
note: This may sound like a terrible place to be – please know it is not! This is awesome… you are starting to come out of the darkness of incompetence and are beginning to awaken to hope. You have been able to acknowledge, out loud, that your life or at least a big important part of it is uncomfortable. You also have a glitter of hope that there is so much more to your life, that you are way better than what you have experienced in the past and that you deserve to feel good right now. You are getting excited about the opportunities that are out there to bring new knowledge, new tools and new resources to you and for you. Your eyes are opening and your heart is beginning to open too. Your adventure is just beginning and it is already starting to show up in your life … the infinite possibilities are clearly presenting themselves. Give yourself permission to be open to the ideas, opportunities and people that come your way to guide and teach you. My most sincere advice is to Meditate – however, at this stage in your personal development you are going to find a hundred things (books, classes, memes, groups, etc., note they are all outside influences) that you think are more interesting and better for you. After all, the question most people ask is: “how can sitting in silence with myself for 20 minutes everyday change my life?”. Trust me it does and it will – you will get there. In the meantime… EXPLORE everything, QUESTION everything, DOUBT everything; above all TRUST in God
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CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE
30 – 39 points Level of Self Awareness = Mental; Level of Spirituality = Unconsciously Conscious
“You are very aware that you do not know and that excites you; You know a lot and you are ready to apply it; You are done exploring for the sake of exploring and you are ready to learn, heal, grow and prosper”
At this level you:
Self awareness has not only been awaken within you, you are consciously controlling your thoughts because you know how very powerful they are in creating what you do and who you are. Spirituality is a regular if not daily practise that connects you to your higher self; you spend more time with more evolved like minded people than with those that have a negative attitude; Spirituality and Traditional Religion are not comparable to one another – both have their own distinct role; You are guided by your intuition, your connection to the Universe or God and you are open to receive guidance, protection and healing from within
Personal development and spiritual growth is most likely essential to your wellbeing and the well being of those you support; you most likely have spent much time in Self Discovery – both learning and sharing your knowledge; you are past the consume but do not digest phase of personal development; you feel good in the now yet you are aware that still have work do to
Physically you are grounded in your body and your physical connection to mother earth and/or earth energies. You physical body has aches and pains that you are acknowledging and working through the lessons that come to you; your body is important to you and you find ways to care for it through movement, nutrition and self love.
Emotionally you are completely aware of your main triggers ie: anger, worry & fear, yet you have not completed working through the depth of their existence nor have you completely let go of everything that you no longer need; you are no driven by intense anger and/or worry brought on by fear – you are able to see them for what they are – signals for you to do the work
Mentally you are driven by conscious thought control – you know what thoughts to acknowledge, to cancel and/or to accept; You have a spiritually based positive mental attitude most of the time and are seeking help with those challenges that you have not worked through on your own.
note: Life is pretty darn good; you have experienced enough evidence to be a believer. You Believe. You are still working (sometimes really hard) to create and maintain balance within your life. You are engaged in your purposefulness every day. You understand that your thoughts are what create your perception of your reality so you consciously control what you think, how you act and react. Happiness, success and prosperity are mostly yours and they are the by-product of your spiritually based positive mental attitude. You are adventuring towards complete competency but know it is not a race… it is all about the journey, the lessons and the experience. If you get there in this lifetime – awesome, if you don’t awesome. So go ahead and continue to learn, share, heal and grow! If you do not already have a daily meditation practice then that is the next most imperative step. If you have not gotten intimate with your emotional triggers then that is where the work is – this is where all of this has lead you… creating a harmonious relationship between personal self (ego) and Universal Self (God-Mind). My best advice for you is to love the light and at the same time love the shadow – as you are equally both. I am here if you need me.
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UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE
40 points Level of Self Awareness = Spiritual; Level of Spirituality = Unconsciously Conscious
“You are ONE with the Universe; you no longer need to be consciously aware of your thoughts or actions… You simply Are your Highest Self at all times”
VERY few people ever reach this level, especially in Western civilization. Here you are ONE with the Universe and are enlightened with both Mystical and Self awareness; there is no more work – you simple ARE.
At this level you:
Self awareness is fully awakened within you and you are connected to God; Spirituality is of a mystical nature where you are One with all that is
Personal development and spiritual growth has been mastered; You are an Enlightened Master of Spiritual Self Awareness and can serve as a spiritual mentor/coach to others
Physically you are bound to your body; it is the sacred home of Spirit – to be grounded and connected to Earth’s Energy is why you came to this place and this time
Emotionally & Mentally you are infinitely intelligent; all energy flows freely all of the time; You are One with Universal Life Force Energy of the Holy Spirit and your only purpose is to experience existence in this form through your God Self
Share your Spiritual Self Awareness score and your thoughts regarding ho
w you scored. Then share 3 things you will commit to this month to grow in your spiritual self-awareness. Share these things with your accountability partner and next month's blog will be a time for each of us to check in with ourselves and our GIRLS about our Spiritual Self Awareness Journey
I know I'm late but I must do this to continue being steadfast in my self awareness journey! So here goes, I scored a 35 on my quiz so that makes me CONSCIOUS COMPETENT in my Spiritual Self Awareness. I feel like the description of where I am based on the quiz is dead on! There is definitely more work to do & I'm going to stay committed to the Call because I owe this to myself. Three things I'm going to commit to is increasing my intimate time with God by reading, praying, & mediating more. Second thing is committing to the NEWNESS of my new lifestyle and making the necessary changes to stay committed. Third thing is findi…
This is a Great Blog. I will be back with my thoughts.
Conscious Competence- I will worry less/trust God and always thank Him in and for all things irregardless to Good or bad .
I will stay encouraged while being encouraging. I will embrace my gifts including discernment and petition intercession as needed.
I’m conscious incompetence I’m not where I want to be right not but I am being more self conscious about my ways and working on getting better day by day. This was a great read and it made me more aware of myself as a whole.
Man, what a eye opener, I scored 35 and my 3 things are
1. To continue to make time to read my Bible
2. Make sure to continue to make time for self-care
3. To do better at spending time with my J-10 Queens