Awareness
We are all super aware and born with a very high awareness, feeling and sense for and of what is going on around us. In fact, we are sensing our environments and people around us all the time. For example, we know as soon as we walk into a room how people are, without anyone having to say anything. We notice it and can tell if they are open to us, shutting us down, jealous, in comparison, okay, angry, feeling depressed or down, etc. but currently we are living in a way that shuts this awareness down, numbs it or blurs it.
Instead of staying connected to this awareness as we start to grow up, we disconnect more and more from this natural and innate way of being, becoming instead more dependent on what we see and what people tell us.
Being aware is something that is always there. We cannot ‘turn it off’, but we can turn it down or dull it. Staying with and living with this awareness requires us to be connected with our body which is in constant communication with us.
When we choose to listen to our body we choose to pay attention to our awareness. Our awareness communicates with us all of the time about things, e.g. the food we eat, the people we meet, the situations we find ourselves in, and much much more.
Have you ever heard about the famous story called “The Emperor’s new clothes” (H. C. Andersen) ? It’s a fairy tale about an emperor who is tricked into paying a lot of money for some new magic clothes which supposedly can only be seen by wise people. In truth the clothes do not really exist, but the emperor doesn’t admit he cannot see them, because he does not want to seem stupid. So, when he eventually parades in the street with his ‘new’ clothes on, it takes a child to call out the obvious that everybody around could see, but was denying: That the Emperor had NO clothes on!! This is a great example of how we bludgeon our awareness and instead submit to ‘see’ what is asked of us.
So why is it important to pay attention to our awareness?
To avoid feeling that tension, we turn to eating and doing things that make us not feel it. For example, eating lots of sugar effectively making the body very racy, or constantly being on social media, watching movies, listening to music to keep ourselves distracted and entertained rather than just being with ourselves. Living like this also potentially adds to a feeling of frustration because we don’t always understand why people are acting in a way that is different to what has been felt. This may lead to us feeling that we cannot trust people, are being lied to or feel betrayed. On top of all this we might also adapt certain behaviors, e.g. being reactive, judgmental or emotional – which keeps us in a cloud of reactive behaviors not allowing us to have clarity or see the truth. Ultimately, we often tend to keep ourselves in a stimulated or numbed state so we don’t have to feel what is truly going on.
So, paying attention to your awareness is just putting your focus on it. Focus on what you are sensing and feeling.
If we do this and focus more on it, we develop greater understanding for what is happening in life as well as the capacity to see what is truly going on. This supports us to not live our life in constant reaction to what is happening, but rather to respond to life.
Its like living ahead of what is happening as you sense already what is coming, and then you are prepared and able to respond from that settlement of knowing instead of reacting by the surprise.
There is another super important aspect with this as well … as with greater awareness comes greater responsibility! If we understand and truly ‘see’ what is going on we are asked to be much more responsible for our behavior … the reason being why we don’t want to be aware!!
And yet, ‘being aware and living from and with your awareness’ is actually very liberating. You don’t feel you are a victim of what is happening around you – its like getting into the drivers seat instead of being a passenger, which is a lot of fun.
There are many other people around us that need to be respected, cared for and understood, living this way not only feels more liberating, freeing and empowering but it also reflects to your peers there is another way to live which brings inspiration.
