What is "self"? What is the nature of "self"? Self awareness can mean different things depending on your philosophical outlook. I may say that self awareness is being aware of yourself as an individual and your surroundings. Stableboy would challenge the concept that we are all individuals in the first place - maybe self awareness reaches its peak when we accept that we are all part of the same body? Self awareness firstly requires that we identify what "self" actually is.

To know thyself and know what we are capable of.

True Self-ishness always leads to joy, because it is motivated always by the desire to feel as good as possible. It is only when we are Self-ish enough to be, do and act in accordance with our desires (not someone else’s) that it is possible to stay balanced. Energetically speaking, a desire is a rush of life force energy, a connection to the divine inner self, which can never result in actions that are harmful. It is only when true desires are blocked that they become twisted and ugly. This statement goes against the common wisdom that human nature is greedy, violent and primitive. Human nature is precisely the opposite: we are born knowing ourselves as powerful, eternal, spiritual beings. Petty, competitive, churlish and violent behavior must be overcome with suitable practice. Observe your family, friends and coworkers. Almost all of them are good people, trying to do the best they can. It would simply not be possible to build a sophisticated society if human nature was so base. All successful societies are based upon cooperation, not competition. Competition works not because it is adversarial, but because it inspires teamwork. Ask two angry guys to get something constructive done, it is not going to happen. All success is based upon cooperation. That is because we live in an attraction based universe. These natural impulses are supposed to be dangerous because they stem from a primitive survival instinct. But human being has a bette mind than animals. Just look around at the mess the world is in! But that is a delusional assertion, a denial of the basic nature of consciousness itself. The natural impulses of human nature stem from a connection to life force, and it is resistance to this divine impulse which causes the selfish behavior people object to. If you observe people you will quickly see that those persons who are most alive are full of desire, and those who look lifeless have little or no desire. Desire = life force. Shut off desire = selfish behavior. It's ironic that selfish behavior actually results from self-denial. Human nature is not a primitive, biological instinct based on survival of the fittest, it’s a pure connection to source energy. It is divine. It's only when that connection is closed off that selfish behavior is demonstrated. Every one of your desires is, in its non-resisted state, joyful and balanced, because that is an inherent property of consciousness itself. True selfishness is allowance of desire, without resistance, and results in the impulse to give freely to others. But it is first necessary to allow that impulse within yourself. http://kjmaclean.com/Selfishness.html

There can be two meanings of the self awareness. One is surfacial; means you can say the outer i.e. to know about yourself. What you are?, what can you do, means your capabilities, and the things which threatens you means your weaknesses. It also means that how aware you are about yourself. Things which makes you feel happy and which makes you feel sad, are all comes under the self awareness; surfacially. Second is the depth meaning of self awareness, means to know the reality. This is a bit related to spirituality of oneself.