Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Awareness

 

Copyright 1999 by Thomas J. Leonard.  Duplication permitted when intact and with attribution for licensees.  Questions?  Email support@coachville.com

Introduction
The first time someone told me that I 'might want to' increase my awareness, I gave him an accountant's best bewildered look and asked, "Awareness? What's that?" I had always assumed that alertness, perceptiveness and intelligence were synonymous with awareness. Oops! What would have been helpful at the time was a top ten like this one, so I could grasp the elements that contributed to one's expanded awareness.

1. Reduce over stimulation.
We are triggered or numbed by external stimulants such as noise, television, computers, commotion, crowds and stress. Once triggered your senses titillated, but your awareness of self all but disappears, replaced by the adrenaline or electronic rush. I'm not saying you have to live on a mountaintop, but awareness comes more from connectivity (feeling/being connected with self/others/life) than stimulation.

2. Eat more healthful foods.
Bad food puts you to sleep, physically and spiritually. We often eat bad food in order to not feel or to experience a high.

3. Meditate.
For many, meditation is the best -- and fastest way -- to reconnect with self, thus reestablishing awareness because you are connected vs distracted.

4. Spend more time with aware people.
They, their personalities, lifestyle, conversations, priorities, ideas and energy will rub off on you. You'll learn (and become aware of) stuff about yourself and life, without having to study it.

5. Read spiritual-type books.
Awareness is as much a muscle as it is a skill. One of the ways to develop (your muscle or skill) of awareness is to challenge your mind with spiritual concepts that are new to you. My favorite spiritual writer is J. Krishnamurti. I learned two things from him: The difference between true learning and just acquiring information, and the nature of the future.

6. Detoxify your body.
You may have options here: stop drinking alcohol, stop eating meat, go vegan, go to a spa for a week, get on an herbal detox program, do the enema thing. 31 Flavors here. If nothing else, experiment to see what works best for you. Your body is essential in the awareness-expanding process, given awareness is a cellular, not just a mind-expanding process.

7. Improve self-care.
Taking time for yourself is how you heal/recover from the stresses of life and it's how you deal with the extra stress caused by rapid personal evolution.

8. Simplify your life.
Too busy? Stressed out? Too many obligations? Too many goals? Awareness needs space in order to be experienced.

9. Spend more time in nature.
Nature has its own way of centering a person and expanding their awareness at the same time. Senses you haven't used much get a chance to be exercised/stimulated in Nature.

10. Let go and let life.
It's hard to be aware if you're gripping tightly on to something, whether it's a result, problem, belief or situation. As you let go of whatever's tempting to hang onto, you evolve. That's how it works.

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