Awareness.

You are reading this text. These letters make words. The words create a text. Awareness is amazing. Unfortunately the process of achieving awareness is tricky, because we have a tendency to instantly interpret and judge. Understandably, because otherwise you may still be stuck on that first sentence. Some behavior turns into routine, which helps to not get information overload, so that’s good. But every now and then we should question our behaviors and break our patterns to evaluate consciously what we are doing automatically. With awareness we can take them apart. We just need to see clearly what’s right in front of us.

Achieving awareness of what is,
is the first step to initiating change.

Let’s talk about stress. Stress has an enormous effect on our mind and body. We all know it. Among other things stress narrows our attention (Horn, 2008, p. 404) and we become unaware of peripheral cues. A narrow focus of attention is fine, when we are consciously concentrating on something. But it’s not good when it’s happening all the time. Awareness occurs when we broaden our focus. We expand what we see to include as much as we can. So that we can see everything and see it clearly.

Creating awareness in our lives in difficult, because we often just consider one side of the story. Some beliefs are so deeply engrained in our mind and in our experience that we don’t realize them – in yoga they are called samskaras. We look at things with a narrow view and move on.

Awareness is not a goal, but it is an ongoing process. Things constantly change. And ironically we can be aware of it, when our awareness is limited. That realization, though, is a first step.

Awareness of things does not necessarily mean understanding. We sometimes believe we understand certain things, although really our attention is narrow and we don’t notice the entire picture. A great practice to broaden awareness is looking at the opposite. I made this experience when I was participating in speech and debate competitions. We had to be prepared to argue equally convincing for and against a certain statement. “Prostitution should be legalized.”, for example. Just before the competition the toss of a coin decided, which position we would take. This really helped in considering both sides, becoming more aware of the whole story. Things are not limited to the one perspective I choose. Sometimes there is no right or wrong.

As an athlete try observing your thoughts during training. Every now and then stop to register muscle tension. You can also do this at work. Develop a habit of noticing your thoughts, your habits and your physical being occasionally.

Awareness opens our eyes. It requires us to be still and observe and arrive with a willingness to see everything for what it really is. Awareness has an incredible clarity. It is the foundation and groundwork to create an unobstructed, clean slate. So look around you every now and then to take it all in. Look at what you choose. Look at the alternatives. Look at how things really are. And finally turn your awareness inside. Towards your heart. And listen to that song.

References:
Horn, T. (2008). Advances in sport psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.