Awareness Exercise

We all know about awareness and what we think awareness is. We have to be more in tune with ourselves to know what we are thinking and how that translates into results.

Before you really develop your awareness skills, I think it will be a brilliant idea to revisit the whole subject of suspending judgment. The point of awareness is to suspend judgment. If you judge what you are noticing, you will create false blinders.

The best way to develop awareness is to practice it.

Once a day, please practice this exercise.

Sit in a comfortable chair and get very comfortable.

Taste: How does your mouth feel? Is it dry? Is it salivating? Is it thirsty? Is it full? Rub your tongue on the roof of your mouth and across your teeth and notice how it feels. What is the dominant taste in your mouth right now? What do you want the taste to be?

Touch: Feel the chair that you are sitting in. Feel it support your back. Feel your bottom in the curve of the seat. Feel the back of your thighs supported.  How does the air in the room feel on your skin? What is the humidity level in the room? How do your arms feel? Does your body feel light? Does it feel heavy? Does it feel comfortable? How do the clothes on your body feel? Are they tight? Comfortable? Loose? Thin? Heavy?

Sight: What do you see? Look at your computer screen and take it all in. Take in the key board. Look around the room and take a few seconds to do this slowly. How much green do you see? What colors and textures do you see in the room? Do the things in the room represent you? How much organization do you have?

Smell: Take a deep breath and feel the breath filling up your lungs. What do you smell? Feel the air swooshing past the hair in your nostrils and down your throat. How does the weight of the air feel in your nose and in your lungs?

Sound: What do you hear? Music? An air conditioner? A heater? The sound of the TV in the background? The whirl of the computer?

Inside your body: What is going on inside your body?  Scan your body from head to toe and see what consistent recurring pains you have. Does your neck hurt all the time? Your shoulders? Your lower back?

Enjoy the various sensations in your body.

This exercise is designed to create awareness for the things that you take for granted.

The intention here is for you to notice what is already there that you are not paying attention to.

Now pay attention to your brain. What are your thoughts? What is weighing your brain down? What thoughts do you keep thinking that no longer serve you?

“When most people hear the word meditation, they often think of transcendental meditation or similar practices used to evoke the relaxation response…In the practice of mindfulness, you begin by utilizing one-pointed attention to cultivate calmness and stability, but then you move beyond that by introducing a wider scope to the observing, as well as an element of inquiry. When thoughts or feelings come up in your mind, you don’t ignore them or suppress them, nor do you analyze or judge their content. Rather, you simply note any thoughts as they occur as best you can and observe them intentionally but nonjudgmentally, moment by moment, as events in the field of your awareness.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn Ph.D.

What are the sensations you experienced when you did this exercise?

How is your sense of well being now?