Self-aware vs Presence

Presence is a full-body awareness that helps me rest in what is mine.

Being self-aware hasn’t always been kind to me. For a long time, it kept me stuck in my head, anxious, intellectualizing, dissociating, ruminating. I would analyze, plan, and process endlessly, thinking it was helping me, yet healing and connection always felt out of reach. It was like learning all the theory about how to solve a problem, only to feel completely overwhelmed and underprepared when I actually faced it.

Being present, on the other hand, is a very different kind of awareness. It includes my body, my needs, my emotions, my thoughts, my imagination, and how I interact with the world around me; my environment, other people, and the interplay between all of it.

This kind of awareness was hard at first. My system was well organized around protection. Presence invites a new anchor of safety and connection, which can feel very unfamiliar. Slow and steady steps into this invitation has gifted me a new sense of self that feels grounded, and sustainable. It allows me to develop real skill, engage with life intentionally, and genuinely integrate safety and connection through experience rather than just understanding.

Thinking and processing are still part of the picture, but now the picture is more wholesome. There is room for all the pieces that help me settle into my life rather than fix or figure it out intellectually. This creates space for choice, and embodied healing.

True self-awareness isn’t just about knowing myself in theory… it’s about living in myself, meeting myself where I am and responding with curiosity, participating in my life and how it needs to unfold. When I offer myself the kindness of presence, I can navigate challenges with more clarity, act from alignment rather than reaction, and cultivate a the things I’ve been searching for.