Welcome
…to AWake Self Discovery
Freedom
…the most precious gift you can give yourself
but
…to free yourself, you must first know yourself
“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is ALL powerful ” (Lao Tzu)
“I help you to help yourself “
By transforming your self image
You will not be the same person you are now, when you leave AWake.
About AWake
Are you meant for more?
We are complex creatures. If we don’t take the time to understand ourselves we will forever be in constant unrest and unfulfillment. We optimise our relationships with others when we optimise our relationship with our self.
AWake’s programmes are designed to peel back the layers to help you discover your true self, inner strengths and purpose. knowing who you are and being comfortable with that person is a peaceful and attractive trait that shows, and commands respect. You’ll attract the right people and opportunities, improving your quality of life. You’ll also find you care less and less about what other people think about you.
Discovering who you are is not easy going as you’ll have to face some ugly truths, but it is damn worth it!
Research shows that the top most successful people make up around 5% of the world’s population. It also shows that around 95% of the population don’t know who they are.
AWake consists of the Reset™ and Time Out Programme™, serving individuals who are asking themselves more in-depth questions such as ‘Who am I?’.
The Reset Programme is designed for women over 40 who want more out of life. Whether they want to press that ‘reset’ button and move forwards in a more informed and powerful manner or just desire to level up on their resilience and self esteem.
The Time Out Programme is designed specifically for teens struggling with transitioning into adulthood, as well as teens who just want to get the most out of this transitional period. They will acquire a strong sense of identity, self acceptance and resilience to thrive emotionally, psychologically and socially into adulthood.
These are the years that matter. They’ll never get them back.
The bottom line is… times are drastically changing. Technology is advancing at a stupid rate, the cost of living is becoming unmanageable for many.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are moving further and further away from cohesive communities. You know, the days where people could leave their front doors open and members of the community could walk on in shouting their presence…’Hi Mrs…it’s only me…’ (showing my age). People are being forced into a more individualistic existence of ‘every man for himself’.
We can all benefit from being more informed about ourselves and toughening up. Not only to survive the future but to thrive and show up in a more productive and supportive way for ourselves and our loved ones.
Self knowledge and acceptance are the foundation of resilience.
Remember, no matter how posh, elaborate, beautiful or expensive…the house built on a weak foundation will not survive the storm!
Let me now introduce you to the findings of Bronnie Ware's research
Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse in Australia, devoted several years of her life to recording the regrets voiced by the patients she cared for. If you are interested in reading Bronnie’s findings, start your search here.
Hands of wisdom
Make them count
Her findings:
The 5th most common regret:
There could be several motivations behind denying oneself happiness. However, the biggest culprit here is ‘fear’. Fear of expressing our needs, fear of upsetting other people or not living up to their expectations and fear of leaving our comfort zone to explore and discover things that could make us feel more fulfilled.
Another culprit is lack of self knowledge; searching for the wrong things to make us happy through basing our search criteria on who we think we are and not on who we actually are.
We subconsciously allow other people as well as our emotions to dictate our lives when we don’t possess a strong sense of self and the courage to act in line with our values, beliefs and needs.
The 3rd most common regret:
Our emotions are like our personal messengers. They interpret our environment and relay back to us what is working, what isn’t and what we need to pay attention to.
Repressing our emotions is neither healthy nor natural. They gradually build up inside us until there is no room left and we either explode and overreact or implode into depression, anxiety or both. Expressing our emotions helps us take control over them and use them to learn and grow.
Not having the courage to express ones feelings originate from childhood experiences; not being listened to, taken seriously, being scalded for ‘answering back’ or being a drama queen. As a result these children develop into adults who subconsciously expect the same responses to expressing their feelings.
No one can read our minds (praise the lord) so we need to express our feelings in order to have our needs met; the need to not be insulted, manipulated, taken advantage of, ignored, disrespected.
One of the things we all have in common is the innate need to be loved. By not having the courage to express our feelings we’d deny ourselves the opportunity of love by giving in to the fear of rejection we all experience before deciding to tell someone how we feel about them.
Or, we would find ourselves being stuck in the same boring job through fear of expressing how we really feel about our tasks and asking for something more challenging. There are many ways how not having the courage to express our feelings can negatively impact our lives.
In addition, people who have a tendency to keep their feelings hidden, feel uncomfortable to be around. You never know where your stand with them and seldom get a straight answer when you express concern for them. This can be very frustrating and can often culminate in the ‘holding back’ person being avoided and feeling more isolated as a result.
People with high levels of self esteem, on the other hand, don’t fear potential responses to bearing all. Why? Because they place more importance on their own opinions over that of others.
Finally…
The No.1 most common regret experienced by Bonny’s dying patients:
As Bonny’s patient’s looked back on their years with more clarity, they were able to see that by not making decisions in line with their true self, they missed out on opportunities for growth and fulfilment.
The big problem here is, most people don’t know who they are. I have only met a handful who do.
Live in knowledge
of yourself
Live in peace
in alignment with yourself
Live in fulfilment
choosing for the true you
'Who am I?'
‘How can I live a life true to myself if I don’t know who my true self is?’
The image we hold of ourselves is a product of the information that significant adults such as parents, relatives and teachers, reflected back to us during our formative years; what we heard them say about us and how they received us. These reflections rarely provided us with a true representation.
Remember, as children, our significant adults are our world. We look up to them as Gods, almost.. We hung on to their every word, believed and absorbed everything they told us.
For example, children who are received with no smiles, harsh tones, more interest in mobile phones, etc, internalise emotional neglect. They’ll form the opinion that they are not worthy of being seen, heard, appreciated or having their emotional needs met. These opinions form the basis of their self image in their adult years.
Adults who experienced emotional rejection as children are more likely to suffer feelings of insecurity and experience difficulties in expressing themselves. They won’t feel confident that others could be interested in them. They’ll feel as though they are bothering people if they express their needs. They’ll subconsciously believe that other people’s emotional needs deserve priority, making them more susceptible to abuses such as grooming, coercion, manipulation, being treated as a door mat, etc.
This damage will make it difficult to reach out and engage with people, leading to feelings of emptiness, isolation and emotional loneliness.
A child who is continuously bombarded with criticisms and personal insults such as ‘Why do you have to…, ‘Why are you so…’, ‘Why is your nose so big’, are likely to believe they are defective. They might not be able put a finger on it but they’ll grow into adults who’ll believe they are not good enough and of no value.
Now, this might seem a bit ‘off point’ but consider ‘racism’ for a moment. No child is born a racist. We don’t even see colour as young children. Yet there are so many racially biased thinking people in the world. How did that happen?
So you can see how our true selves are rarely accurately reflected back to us and how the reflection can be tainted by significant adults’ own personal issues. It’s almost like being brainwashed into thinking we are ‘this’ person when we are in fact ‘that’ person. But how are we going to know this unless we see it for ourselves?
In summery, if you do not have a strong sense of who you are, your foundation will be weakened by conflicting self images (the conscious image you hold of yourself and the implanted subconscious image from your formative years).
As adults, this conflict can present as anxiety, depression, disassociation, maladaptive behaviours such as compliancy and narcissism, as well as a messed up perception of the world.
In order to thrive as individuals, we need have the courage to step outside of our comfort zone to attract opportunities that will allow us to find our ‘fit’ and grow.
Another thing to bear in mind is that people who do not have a strong foundation are prone to reacting emotionally when challenged instead of standing their ground and responding from an objective position of strength (’cause they’ll spend all their energy and logic on defending their ego).
A bit of wisdom to hold on to
If you want to know what it means to be ‘human’ observe children. They tell us everything we have forgotten.
Alas, it is of no great surprise that the number one regret experienced by those in their last moments is not having the courage to live a life aligned with their true self, regardless of other people’s opinions, when you take into account the numbers of people who don’t know their true self.
Insecure teens and adults are more likely to indulge in destructive behaviours and activities. People who value themselves want good things for themselves.
Please don't make the same mistake
Ladies, don’t let this be you in your final days. Parents, save your children from living a limited life influenced by fear and other people’s thoughts and wants, in their adult years.
This number one regret of the dying shows us just how important it is to know who we are and to have the courage to be who we are.
…And this is what AWake Self Discovery is all about.
Unfortunately, many people will live out the rest of their days without even realising that they do not know their true self and thus never realising their full potential…’Sad’.
“Change is inevitable. We easily miss opportunities when we cling to our comfort zones”
We can all learn a lot of valuable life lessons from the dying elderly, who are probably in the best position to view their past experiences with more clarity than the rest of us living our busy lives. Man, that sounds morbid.
Your 'now' - is your 'creation'
Where you are in your life right now is an accumulation of all your past choices. But how can you even start to make the best decisions for you if you don’t know who that is? Not going to happen!
Your life could be so much richer by being able to identify what will not serve you and having the courage to reject it. And knowing what is for you and having the courage to go for it. We’d make better life decisions, less mistakes, achieve more – wealth (if that’s your thing), satisfaction, purpose, health and love.
Wake up to your true self
These programmes are designed to improve your self awareness, self worth and self confidence to give you a better sense of clarity, and purpose.
You will also learn to accept who you are, as you are right now, enabling you to continue your journey in strength and wisdom.
You will leave my programme with a much clearer sense of who you are, after shedding the person who approached AWake – they will not be the same person.
Yvonne Bailey
Founder
“Our actions and abilities can only be consistent with our self image; we can not act otherwise”
