Self-awareness is not an attention that gets carried away… it’s the ultimate life hack for emotional mastery. It’s about observing your feelings without letting them hijack your entire day. Think of it as becoming the calm watcher of your own mental weather.
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Meaning
At its core, this quote means that true self-awareness is the ability to witness your emotions without becoming them. It’s the difference between being in the storm and watching the storm from a safe, grounded place.
Explanation
Let me break this down for you. Most of us operate on autopilot. Something happens, we feel a surge of anger or anxiety, and boom—we’re off to the races, reacting in ways we often regret later. Goleman is pointing to a more powerful way of being. He’s talking about creating a tiny, almost imperceptible, gap between the emotion arising and you identifying with it. You’re not suppressing the feeling. Oh no. You’re actually feeling it fully. But you’re also holding the awareness that “I am feeling anger” rather than the story “I AM anger.” It’s a subtle but profound shift that changes everything. It’s the foundation of emotional intelligence.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Wisdom (385) |
| Topics | emotion general (105), mindfulness (31), self awareness (56) |
| Literary Style | analytical (121), philosophical (434) |
| Emotion / Mood | calm (491) |
| Overall Quote Score | 78 (178) |
Origin & Factcheck
This wisdom comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, published in the United States. You might sometimes see similar sentiments floating around attributed to mindfulness gurus or Eastern philosophy, and while the concept is ancient, this specific phrasing and its application to modern psychology is Goleman’s.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Dr Daniel Goleman (50) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Contemporary (1615) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Self-awareness is not an attention that gets carried away by emotions, but one that observes them without being lost in them |
| Book Details | Publication Year: 1995; ISBN: 978-0553375060; Last edition: 2005; Number of pages: 352 |
| Where is it? | Chapter: Self-Awareness, Approximate page 91 from 2005 edition |