You are already the Self. Nothing more remains to be attained. It is only because you think you are this body and this mind that you imagine the Self is something far away to be reached.
Cease the false identification, and what remains is what you always have been.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
You become harder to manipulate when you understand the emotional states that make you careless. Loneliness makes you attach too fast, praise makes you trust too quickly, and shame makes you accept less than you should, self-awareness is not softness but a form of protection