Awareness
2022.11.01
As the hours move closer to elections, not only in the USA but also in several countries abroad, many find themselves wondering if their representatives, those politicians for whom they are about to cast a vote, are truly aware of the average citizen’s life. It is a valid question but to answer it, we must first ask: “What is awareness?”
In biological psychology, awareness describes a human or animal’s perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event. Awareness does not necessarily imply understanding, just an ability to be conscious of, feel or perceive. Awareness, therefore, is a relative concept. My cat told me it was snack time. Does my cat understand what prompted her to want a snack at exactly the same time every day? While she really is a very smart animal, I doubt she understands completely her digestive system. She does understand the feeling of hunger and having been a rescue before we adopted her, I think she feels secure in knowing that food is in a cabinet and no longer needs to be hunted or scavenged.
My cat understands her perception of hunger and has a cognitive reaction to that feeling – i.e., coming to me to get her food or snack. In that manner, she is aware. However, a complete definition of awareness goes much deeper than that. In psychological terms, awareness refers to a consciousness of internal or external events or experiences, thought by some to separate human and non-human animals. Evidence of self-awareness in animals is most often determined by whether an individual can use a mirror to groom an otherwise unseen dirty spot on its own forehead. A few chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have shown this awareness and passed this test. My cat spends a great deal of her time grooming herself but she has never used a mirror. She is aware but has little or no self-awareness.
During November, I thought we would delve into the topic of awareness. Andy Puddicombe is a clinical medical consultant and cofounder of the app “Headspace”. He has some very important insights on awareness that I think we should explore. “As often as we might get sucked into thinking otherwise, it’s well worth remembering that we are not what we do, what we say, what we think, or even what we feel. Whilst these things may define our experience of life, they do not define who we are. To train the mind is to witness this for ourselves. To witness this for ourselves, is to find peace of mind.”
Puddicombe explains: “Mindfulness is about finding some space in the mind, less judgement, a greater sense of perspective, in which we see this fundamental truth for ourselves in a very direct and personal way. It is about recognizing that just because a thought appears in the mind, we are not that thought, and just because we might feel a certain way at a particular time, we are not that feeling. It is the difference between being in a storm and witnessing a storm. It is the difference between being outside in that storm, swept away by the wind and the rain, and sitting inside, cozy and warm by the fire, as you watch the storm pass by.’
Social media influences a great many people and shames even more. It is vital that we remember who we are, that we have a sense of self-awareness on our journey of life. By developing a sense of awareness, we can move forward successfully. It is our accountability to ourselves that turns a thought into an action. Just because words come into our mind does not mean we should act upon them. When we take our thoughts too seriously or start believing every minute of life is a competition, we limit ourselves. Life comes with failures and when we acknowledge them. We can learn from them. Awareness can become our perspective, our approach to moving forward into the future.
n2myhead 