I live in Los Angeles.

Actually, the West Side of Los Angeles.

Towns like Venice.

Santa Monica.

Marina Del Ray.

And you know the thing about the West Side of Los Angeles?

It’s the epicenter of everybody who thinks they’re self aware.

There’s almost like this border patrol as you drive into Los Angeles. And you get to the West Side on the 405 or the 10 or any other means of trying to get into the West Side of Los Angeles, and there’s a bearded man and a yoga goddess woman standing there.

They look at you and they feel your energy and your aura.

They give you some incredible mindful tips.

They give you a big giant hug, and they tell you, Welcome to the West side of Los Angeles.

Home of the truly self aware.

Where everybody here has their own self-love practice.

Everybody here can quote one guru or another.

It seems like everybody here on the West Side of Los Angeles has their own spiritual or energy healer.

You sit at a cafe on the West Side of Los Angeles and you’ll always get involved in some type of conversation about spirituality and being self aware.

I go to yoga classes and listen to a self aware person making $40 a class giving a great self-aware message.

When you meet somebody on the West Side of Los Angeles, they’ll tell you how self aware they are.

Here’s how I feel about all this self aware, self help, self love, over indulged Los Angeles culture…

Well, Los Angeles…

I’m calling you out on your bullshit.

Because I have to tell you something: coming from New York City, people don’t sit there and toot their own self aware horns.

They don’t have a megaphone where they stand on the top of a mountain top and scream how self aware they are.

They don’t talk about it on dates, business meetings or anything else.

You see, New Yorkers are action takers.

So many people in Los Angeles are just talkers.

I’m not going to make fun of the business that I’m in, dating and lifestyle and self-help, etc.

Because truly, I do believe that sometimes you have to talk and convince yourself that you are self aware in order to be self aware.

But to me, I judge people on their actions. And on a consistent daily basis, I will run into people in Los Angeles who presume and act like they’re self aware, when in reality, they’re not living the words at all.

As a matter of fact, they’re not self aware at all. They’re blamers.

They’re lost.

They don’t really want to do the work. They would rather just say the work.

You see, if you meet somebody and they tell you that they’re self aware, they’re basically telling you that they want to be self aware.

And those are two very, very different things.

Because somebody who is truly self aware is going to not talk about it. They’re going to, well, do self aware actions so you can see how self aware they really are in their life.

So they’ll truly be able to be that self aware person that they’ve been studying to become.

But if you meet somebody and they tell you that they’re self aware, they’re basically telling you they’re not. Because to be self aware means that you don’t talk about it. It’s called self awareness. It’s not called Facebook posting about how self aware you are.

It’s not called talking about how self aware you are on a date.

Or when you meet people, you don’t need to have a self aware circle and literally just jerk each other’s brains and souls off for an hour and a half.

The true definition of self aware is becoming self aware.

It’s all about the practice of self.

The practice of doing things so you’re self aware. You don’t need to talk about it. You don’t need to tell people you’re self aware, because they’ll notice it through your actions.

They’ll notice it through the words you speak – not the exact term self aware, but they’ll notice how you treat other people. How mindful you are of other people. How you relate to other people. How you work through your days.

But not just saying you’re self aware.

And that’s why Los Angeles, especially the West Side, drives me nuts.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great place to live… If you can just negotiate through all the self absorbed people who are supposedly self aware. Because here, self aware people who actually tell everybody they’re self aware are actually self absorbed.

So chew on that one, West Side of Los Angeles.