6 Japanese rituals to gradually become more self-aware

We could all use a little more self-awareness.

Here’s why: the better you understand yourself, the better you can regulate your emotions and pursue what makes you truly happy.

Understanding yourself is the key to finding balance in your personal relationships, your career, and your life.

Luckily, you don’t have to do it all by yourself.

Eastern philosophies have spent thousands of years probing the mysteries of the self to create some of the deepest concepts imaginable.

And Japan, with its centuries-old civilization that prizes rituals to bring greater awareness into daily life, is a wonderful source of ways to become more self-aware.

If you want to understand yourself better, consider incorporating some of these Japanese rituals that will gradually improve your self-awareness.

1) Hansei

Simply put, hansei means self-awareness or self reflection. More than just a philosophical concept, it’s an integral part of Japanese culture and thought.

It’s taught in schools. It’s practiced at multinational corporations like Toyota.

Fundamentally, it means reflecting on your actions and taking responsibility for outcomes.

Hansei is practiced when you have a big success, to understand why you achieved your goals. It’s also practiced when you fail, to analyze the reasons for it and better understand how to avoid further failures in the future.

There are many different ways to practice hansei, but it’s easy to get started. Block off time on your calendar every day or every week to think about your actions and the effect they have had, and focus on your future goals.

It’s often helpful to write these things down, and hansei can take the form of journaling.

You don’t need to spend long doing this. 10 or 15 minutes is plenty to get you into the habit of reflecting on yourself regularly.

2) Daily offering

This is a ritual that comes from Shinto, the ancient and indigenous religion of Japan that places a high value on interaction with nature.

But you don’t need to follow the precepts of the Shinto religion to benefit from this daily ritual.

Shinto practitioners often have a small altar somewhere in the house when they perform this ritual. But you can make anywhere your altar. 

You can carve out a sacred space with candles and incense, or photo of a loved one. Even a simple houseplant can help give you a spot to focus and reflect on nature.

The offering itself can be as simple as lighting a candle or placing a small bowl of water. It really doesn’t matter what you offer. What matters is that you then take a few moments to sit in silence, close your eyes, and focus on your breath.

In a sense, this daily offering is a form of meditation, which has been proven to have substantial benefits for mental health.

That makes this a valuable ritual that can improve your awareness of yourself even if you’re not the religious type.

3) Shinrin-yoku

This is a practice that is sometimes translated into English as “forest bathing,” and while it may sound a bit silly, it’s possible you’re already doing this yourself.

If not, you should really start.

Shinrin-yoku means spending time among trees. And it turns out that spending time in a forest can have measurable benefits for your brain.

Researchers in Berlin found that in a study of older adults, living close to forests had a significant positive association with the integrity of the amygdala, the part of your brain that helps regulate your emotions.

Similarly, a 2013 study found that when trees in urban parks were destroyed by pests, the health of residents in the neighborhood deteriorated. 

Another study found that even a picture of a forest can help to lower stress levels.

Spending time in the Forest helps make you more self-aware by lowering your stress and improving your emotional control. Plus, it’s one of the most pleasant rituals you can incorporate into your life.

4) Chado

The famous Japanese tea ceremony is one of the most popular things for tourists to do when they visit this fascinating country.

And the good news? You don’t need to get a long-distance flight to Tokyo to engage in your own tea ceremony at home.

The Japanese tea ceremony is a highly choreographed and elaborate ritual that you’re not going to get completely right on your first or even tenth attempt. But that doesn’t matter.

The idea is to take some time out of your day doing something exactly right. Enjoying a cup of tea and a few snacks is a pleasurable experience however you do it, but the highly ritualized ceremony the Japanese have built around it helps to create a sense of sacred space.

It’s a custom rooted in Zen Buddhism, and it can improve your self-awareness by acting as a form of meditation.

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “Drink your tea slowly and reverently as if it is the axis on which the world-earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”

Taking time out of your day like this will increase your emotional control and create space for self-awareness.

5) Kintsugi

This celebrated practice involves putting broken pottery back together with golden seams. Often, this makes the broken items more beautiful than they were when they were fully intact.

So how does this help increase your self-awareness?

Think about it. We all have our wounds and our broken parts. Kintsugi is designed to teach us that imperfection is part of life, but what is broken can be made whole with care and attention.

It also demonstrates that what is broken in us can be the most beautiful parts of our selves.

Reflecting on your wounds and broken places as you carefully restore a broken bowl or vase is a powerful way to cultivate self-awareness.

6) Ikigai

When choosing a job, we often think about the money, the benefits, and the tangible things it can bring us. But the Japanese idea of ikigai goes deeper to focus on your reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

Ikigai means finding your purpose. And while that may be your career, it can also be found in your home life.

To practice ikigai, author Dan Buettner recommends:

• Making three lists: one of your values, one of things you like to do, and one of things you are good at.
• Examining the lists you have made and finding where they overlap.
• Finding a way to bring the intersection of your lists into your life more and more to find your ikigai.

Finding ikigai means going deep into your preferences and values to understand what makes you tick. In this way, it can not only make you more self-aware, but it can also help you find direction in life.

The importance of ritual

Part of the genius of incorporating these rituals into your life is that it makes focusing on yourself a daily practice.

We all get caught up in the busyness of life, and it’s easy to neglect your self-improvement and self-awareness when you’re focused on your material needs.

But these powerful Japanese rituals provide a way to incorporate self-awareness and spiritual growth into your regular life.

Try some of these fascinating rituals for yourself and watch your self-awareness grow.