Awareness: The Royal Road to Psychological Wellbeing

The creation of awareness moves us from a reactive thinking mode to a contemplative thinking mode. Awareness opens the door to choice and connections to our values, who we want to be, and what we want to be doing. But what is awareness?

What is Awareness?

Awareness is the ability to simultaneously notice, be inquisitive, and be focused. It requires connection, that is, an ability to connect with what is happening within us while being reflective. It is the ability to bring into consciousness multiple parts of us (thoughts, feelings, learnings, values) with a focus on understanding. It requires openness, an openness to being honest and to be accepting. How do we develop awareness?

Developing Awareness

The development of awareness is a process of noticing in the moment, of being able to become contemplative and non-reactive when the body is entering the flight-or-fight mode of operation. It is also important that it occurs when the body is relaxed and the mind can process feelings as they occur and contemplate past experiences. Awareness is developed through practice. It is like a muscle that can be developed through use. The process of developing awareness is simple but requires discipline.

Awareness as a Process

Awareness occurs when the brain and body are not preoccupied with survival, that is, not involved in reacting to strong stimuli. The key is to be able to calm the system so that reflection can take place. Calmness can be achieved through stimulation of the parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. Breathing exercises and vagus nerve stimulation can help achieve this state. For example, when confronted with anxiety, box breathing or eye movement can calm the system. When calming starts to occur, noticing takes energy away from the thoughts and allows focusing. By noticing what is happening to the breath and feeling how it is moving within the body, the system is calmed and our ability to focus enhanced. Simple exercises create a more relaxed state in which reflection can take place.

Reflective Thinking

Reflective thinking is freewheeling, that is, it can lead you to the most unexpected places. Contacting emotions is a good way to guide reflective thinking. Start noticing what you are feeling in the body without naming it, experience the kind of feeling that arises, its position in the body, and whether it is changing in intensity and location. Be with that feeling. Sometimes the feeling just starts to dissipate, to lose its strength. Always remember with any feeling, although it may come back, it will pass. It is what is happening to you now, it is not forever.

Connect with Feelings

Sometimes you can engage with a feeling, that is, to have a conversation with it. If you feel safe, it is important that you do not try a suppress the feeling. Look at it as a part of you that is trying to tell you something, a part of you that wants to be heard. Be inquisitive, talk to it, ask what it is trying to say to you. Often these feelings are trying to protect you, are trying to warn you. Be with the feeling with curiosity and allow whatever arises to come into your mind without judgement and without acting. Although you may not gain an understanding every time, there will be times that you will experience an insight that leads to an emotional shift that creates a greater sense of psychological wellbeing.

The process of creating awareness in the moment can calm the mind and make us less reactive. Reflective awareness can also result in insights that trigger emotional shifts that enhance our psychological wellbeing.

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