“Know thyself” – Socrates. Self-awareness is the act of being fully insightful into one's deepest self; an essential part of life. However, this introspection is not easy to obtain. “Self-consciousness and the selfishness that accompanies it profoundly affect people’s lives, interfering with their success, harming their relationships with others, and compromising their happiness.” (Leary) The individual can be distorted by the influence of society and their beliefs. “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment” - Tao Tzu. This introspection goes beyond the ordinary understanding of life and captures the deepest aspect of oneself. The insight brought by self-awareness leads to the greatest happiness and creates a path for change and personal improvement. One may believe that he or she can make “immediately reliable psychological attributions” (Moran) based on past facts or events. experiences, which may or may not be accurate. However, how others choose to perceive another person can be strikingly different from how one tends to perceive oneself. This self-perspective fits into the characteristics of a first-person position. On the other hand, the vision that one has of oneself can be in contradiction with that of a third person. A third person's point of view has a unique perspective due to their beliefs and thoughts which are capable of influencing the opinions they may have. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are” – Anaïs Neuf. Much of the distortion of vision is attributed to the ego. Because a person's opinions are affected by the ego, perceptions are biased in favor of oneself and ultimately have an effect on one's worldview. We do not perceive evil... middle of paper ... because we learn what inner needs are necessary in life from the materialistic and worldly desires which turn out to be useless. (Priddy) A person's most fundamental identity does not "depend on the body" which changes over the years, nor on society or the position one occupies in it. A person's deepest self is not identifiable to others. Only one can access oneself. Through this enlightenment, one truly obtains happiness. Once we know ourselves, it is easier to achieve the much desired and necessary personal improvement. Self-inquiry is not an easy accomplishment. This is mainly due to personal and societal biases. We tend to look for direction outside of ourselves; however, they do not truly reflect who we are. (van Warmerdam) Clarity and understanding one's emotions eventually achieves clarity of mind, concentration and happiness. (Robson)