Its roots are Germanic, and it comes from the Old English wær meaning “wary, cautious”.

If being aware denotes being aware of a fact, self-awareness (or self-concept or self-perception) does not underlie generic being informed, nor simple knowledge, but refers to a condition in which knowledge of “something” becomes personal and deeper. Self-awareness is the awareness of being aware of ourselves, of our identity and emotional state and our choices and mistakes. If we are aware, we are able to perceive the values that inspire our choices and our failures and the passions and aspirations we lean towards or lack; to contextualise them and connect them to thoughts, feelings, behaviours and strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness is therefore the ability to look at our words and actions from a perspective outside of ourselves. It is an inner self unknown to others.

But we may also have knowledge of ourselves thanks to others. In this sense, we can speak of “outside self-awareness”. Self-awareness is an introspection that does not exclude the outside world, because it also involves understanding how other people see us. Being aware of how others see us makes us more capable of showing empathy and grasping the perspectives of others. Relationships are important for the construction of the self, for the understanding of moral and social rules and what is considered right and wrong and normal or exceptional.

Self-awareness is a skill that has to be developed, trained and cultivated, a delicate balance of two distinct points of view, sometimes even in competition: the internal one and that of others.
A high degree of self-awareness makes us more confident and more creative, able to make better decisions, build stronger relationships and communicate more effectively.