Can Self Awareness Be Cultivated? What has Festival of Holi got to do with it?

Self-awareness is key to good mental health. If you hear advice from any of the modern-day self-help influencers, they always lay emphasis on self-awareness as the most important trait of a successful entrepreneur or businessman or a happy employee. I have heard Gary Vaynerchuk talk about it all the time. Tim Denning writes about it.

Why are we not so self-aware like our proverbial entrepreneurs? And what does lack of self-awareness mean?

It means we are less aware of what we want, what our strengths are, or as they put it we don’t know what our DNA is made up of. We feel our efforts always fall flat. We end up making wrong choices that don’t fit our temperament. We end up feeling unfulfilled.

Then it intrigues us, “Why do I lack self-awareness? Can I cultivate it?”

Why Do We Lack Self Awareness…

Most of us become less self-aware because we give too much attention to petty things around us. We get into conflicts too easily. We get too involved in our judgements and judgements of others towards us.

We get impatient about our achievements. We get anxious about happiness, sadness and boredom. Instead of applying ourselves to work, we brood on imaginary consequences.

Most of the time, a habitual uncontrolled flow of outward attention drives our life. It keeps us caught up in petty events. If events are good, we feel happy. If they are not so good, we get dejected. We get tossed around by events. This keeps us drifting far away from self awareness.

But when we hear a Gary V or a Tim Denning share their ideas and experiences we are reminded that the solution to our problems is in becoming more self-aware. Then we feel inspired. We want to do something about it.

So How Do We Develop Self Awareness

It is not that we don’t have any ounce of self-awareness. Everyone is gifted with self-awareness.

The path to success is to grow its intensity in everyday expression.

To move from a habitual reactionary temperament to a conscious & stable temperament.

And the key to building self-awareness is to flip the outward flow of our attention. Drive it inwards.

The best way to do this is through meditation.

Meditation is the practice of consciously directing the flow of your attention inwards. When we start doing it, our self-awareness naturally grows.

But what is meditation? This is where I want to bring in Holi.

Holi gives us the most beautiful and practical definition of meditation. Like not found anywhere in the world. I wanted to write about it today, because today it being the festival of Holi.

What Does Self Awareness Has to Do With Holi?

While Holi is known for its colors and playful celebrations, very few know that Holi is a great day to meditate or to start a practice of meditation.

One of the many legends around Holi is the love story of Radha & Krishna. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.

But the beauty of the legend goes beyond the story.

Radha, the female protagonist of the story, personifies an inward flow of attention. That is the literal meaning of word “Radha” in Sanskrit — an inward flow. It is the opposite of Dhara which means in an outward flow or a stream in Sanskrit.

While Krishna personifies a fully blossomed self-awareness. The literal meaning of Krishna is the most attractive one.

It is said any attraction in this world is made up of self-awareness. That’s true. If you observe a self-aware person, you will find they have a certain attraction and sharpness in them. If you meet them they are nice to talk to, they are understanding, jovial, and emotionally intelligent. If you interact with them, you feel light and inspired. Now what to say of a person whose self-awareness is fully blossomed. He would be the most attractive person. That is Krishna.

In the story, Radha is in deep love with Krishna. Krishna is in deep love with Radha too. He is enamored by her beauty. You know how lovers are, their attention is always on their beloved, 24/7. Nothing in the world interests them if they don’t have their lover by their side.

So, the love between Radha and Krishna in essence is a joyous inward flow of your attention towards self-awareness in meditation. It is a lively loving flow, like that of lovers. Not a forced pressure.

If you pick up any book on meditation you will find meditation is described as a practice or a discipline. But nowhere has meditation been explained as a deep feeling of love. Nowhere is it explained as the love of the most ardent lover toward the most attractive beau. That is what Holi gives us — the exceptional quality of meditation.

So when we have a deep-loving flow of attention like that towards self-awareness, we feel joyful. Our lives are filled with colorful abilities. We feel fulfilled. We no more get distracted by petty events. We become self-aware.

This is the legend of Holi. An inspiration to bring in the highest quality meditation in our lives so that it cultivates self-awareness is us.