How often do you practice awareness? I must admit that until recently, I hadn't given this question much thought. I should probably start by defining awareness so that you have a better understanding of how it can be applied in your own life. Awareness is the quality or state of being aware, or having conscious knowledge that something is happening. So, I ask again, how often do you practice awareness? This is a practice that will allow you to grow as a person in any area of your life, when it is applied and practiced regularly.
Over the last few months, I have been working to become more aware of my actions. I have goals that I have set for myself and aligning my actions with those goals is key to accomplishing them. But with so many distractions, demands, and competing priorities, accomplishing these goals becomes difficult. This is where awareness comes into play. For example, one of the things that I recently noticed is that I've had a tendency to prioritize doing things that aren't really a priority in that moment but I work on those things instead of what my real priorities are. Another example, is my phone use when I'm trying to get work done. Although I know that I am supposed to be working on something specific during a designated time frame, I notice that having my phone within arms length has lead me to spend countless minutes and hours scrolling through social media essentially killing my productivity. So, how has implementing an awareness practice helped me?
Well, becoming more aware of my actions has allowed me to identify some of the underlying reasons for these particular patterns and what actions I need to take to get back in alignment with what I am trying to accomplish. I know that practicing awareness is not something that we normally think about. Most of the time we go through life without thinking about how our current actions will impact us tomorrow, next week, or months down the road. Regardless of what area of your life you wish to apply this to, practicing awareness will allow you to grow in any area of your life.
Ask yourself the following questions to bring more awareness to your daily life:
What is/are my current goal(s)?
Have the actions I have been taking align with my goal(s)?
What actions have prohibited me from aligning myself with my goal(s)?
What actions can I take today to align myself with my goal(s)?
How do I feel when I know I haven’t been in alignment with what I am trying to accomplish?
How do I feel when I am taking the necessary actions that align with my goal(s)?
How will I feel once I accomplish my goal?
Like any other practice, awareness takes time to develop. Setting an intention to practice awareness daily will allow you to start aligning your actions with your goals and will allow you to grow in any area of your life whether it's health, exercise, nutrition, your relationships, your career, your finances, and more.
My challenge for you is to go take about 15 minutes to journal on the questions listed above and over the next week, practice becoming more aware of the actions that you are taking that could be holding you back from reaching your goals.
Erick Rivas
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach
Comments