How to Develop the Habit of Awareness

Developing awareness can be scary at first because some of us have a fear of being imperfect but you'll probably find that if this is the case with you you're going to realize that being aware provides more benefits than pitfalls including attracting people who trust you more readily. To develop awareness here are two easy things you can do:

1) For one week record yourself in conversation throughout all your encounters with others. You can buy those little spy recorders (yes, some of them are pens or even usb drives as you can see in this entry's image) and carry them around. Then, over the next couple of months listen to how you talk to others and consider your motives. Were you ever trying to invoke negative feelings in a person you were conversing with (jealousy, insecurity, inferiority, fear, etc.) If so, why were you doing that and is there another option? If you can identify your motives in these conversations you are doing a great job already in developing awareness.

2) Try writing a fake journal entry from the point of view of someone who knows you (a friend, acquaintance, enemy, etc.). This works best if you are writing from the point of view of someone who is not fond of you. Write an entire page and see if you don't realize that you can actually see his/her point of view. Then, the next time you encounter this person if things start to get heated try to cool things down by saying "I can see your point of view. Thanks for sharing that with me. I still tend to believe this but......" and then afterward if you feel anger (which is pretty inevitable, take up boxing. Boxing can do wonders for anger release.

After a few of these exercises (and there are others you can search online if you're interested) you'll start to carry awareness with you as a habit. What this will feel like (at least at first) is that you are two people in the same body. You're the person doing things and you're the person observing your actions; you're the person saying things and you're the person observing your words; you're the person thinking things and you're the person observing your thoughts. To me, it feels kind of weird....almost out-of-body but still fun because you get to feel more like a super hero with a super kind of gift......the gift of self-awareness.....which by the way, in may cases, will increase your awareness about what others are feeling or thinking as well.