The only way to access our birthright of a glorious and magnificent life is to know ourselves. The only way to know ourselves is by becoming self aware. Otherwise, we are machines, slaves to forces acting upon us. What we see and are told about the world as children are different things. We go from having an open and unprotected heart to numbness and repression. To live beyond our conditioning, we must know our motives, urges, and reactions. Dependence on an authority and not thinking for ourselves blocks us from being true to ourselves. Studying books and teachings can be useful and point us to a door, but it's up to us to walk through it. We can take an easy road and avoid the risk of seeing things we don’t like or want to see about ourselves, which is unfulfilling. Self awareness happens entirely within ourselves. When we stay with and question our pain, clarity can arise. Once we know what is true for us, we can take a stand. There is value in apprenticing with someone who has gone further on the path, but we can’t just take someone’s word for something. We need to feel the truth of it for ourselves by being aware of what is going on in our bodies. Help comes to us uninvited. We need other people and circumstances to see ourselves. Personal experiences of becoming self-aware are discussed. It’s difficult to stay in our bodies when we want to shut down. One way we pay for self awareness is with our attention. We can only do this work alone, but we are not alone in our experience. Bringing awareness to mechanical behaviors gives us choice. Once we see something about ourselves, it’s easier to see it. We may not be able to learn unless we make mistakes. Being kind to ourselves is a big step on the road to self awareness. Juanita is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.