Why are so many self-aware people so miserable?

Wake-Up Call #16

We talk about self-awareness as this gorgeous thing.

It is.

But, it has a dark side.

To know who we are, to be aware of our true nature, presence, gifts, desires, strengths, values, traits, tells, and smells. All the yada yada yada that make us uniquely us.

Knowing these is a good thing, right?

Self-awareness gives us the raw data to better align our actions with our essence, to step into and bring that gorgeous, essential being-ness to the world. To see and be seen, as we are. For who and what we are. To step out of the fog, into the light, and live as the person we know ourselves to be.

Then, riddle me this.

Why do so many “self-aware” people still live stifled lives?

I’ve wondered about this for years. I’d see it all the time when I was more deeply embedded in the world of meditation and yoga. People would show up for class, do retreats, develop practices, journal, read, listen to, and watch all the things.

I know myself so much better, they’d say. And, they did.

Still, there lives didn’t…