mind
These are your thoughts, the stories you tell yourself, the assumptions you make, how you evaluate yourself and others. Are you aware of how you speak to yourself? Have you spent time observing patterns in the way you think? Do you tend to think in black and white, over-generalizations, or worst case scenarios? Do you tend to notice only the negatives or talk yourself out of acknowledging the positives? Do you imagine what others are thinking about you? Are you often telling yourself you “should” be doing something else, rarely satisfied with where you are? We like to think that we have total awareness when it comes to our minds, but often these kinds of patterns are happening so quickly and so often that we barely notice them.
Emotions
You know what emotions feel like — you have them all the time — but are you able to identify them by name? Are you able to describe complex feelings made up of many different, sometimes conflicting emotions? Can you observe the way an emotion moves through you — how it changes in intensity depending on your response, how quickly or slowly it fades, or how it can become something different? Do you struggle to notice emotions at all, wondering if you feel the way other people feel? Feeling our emotions is a skill, especially in a world that tends to favor matters of the mind over matters of the heart.
body
This can be a hard one, especially if you have experienced trauma. Our bodies are our most sensitive instrument for being in the world. They have adapted to keep us alert, safe, and resilient. They reflect our thoughts and feelings in such a seemless way that we may begin to look past the immediate, small changes that trigger or signal something else in our awareness. Have you ever asked yourself, what does my body do when I am scared? Sad? Angry? The body is never “offline.” It is always responding.
past
We use our own history to create the narrative of our lives. It is human and helpful to imagine how experiences will unfold. How will someone react to you if you behave a certain way? How will opportunities come in or out of your life based on the decisions you make? How will your problems be resolved? Or how will they stay with you? Our history has given us answers to past questions, but that does not mean it holds the answers to your future. Developing awareness of our past can help us become free of it, ready and able to appreciate the here and now, and to create a future that we desire.
parts
The whole of ourselves is made up of many parts. This is not a sign of weakness or brokenness, but rather a sign that we are evolved beings who are not meant to feel, think, or behave simply. Our complexity is what makes us brilliant. But it is awareness of our complexity that allows us to access our brilliance. There are parts of you that cover a wide spectrum of diversity and it is to be expected that they are not always aligned. They may even even be in conflict, or perhaps some have become strong while others have languished outside of your awareness. To give voice to all parts of you is to receive information that will help you live from a place of wholeness, where all parts are included and integrated into who you are.
relationships
All of life is relational. We come alive in relationships, we get to know ourselves through relationships, and relationships can change us. Are you aware of how your relationships, past and present, are shaping your life? Are you aware of how your life experiences are shaping your relationships? This is a complicated exchange, in the best and worst of times. And it is important to be attuned to the complexities of your relationships so you can improve them, deepen them, and utilize them on your journey to self-awareness.
culture
Some people, maybe you included, are more attuned to the cultural patterns of our world, usually because you have been victimized by them. You must remain attuned to protect yourself, to reinforce your authentic worth, and to seek out resources and support in smaller communities who offer understanding or pursuit of change. And yet even for those who have great awareness of the impacts of culture, aspects of our experience may be hidden in complicated ways. Developing awareness of our relationship with culture may require a suspension of “reality.” It may require a journey into a deeper sense of truth that may not be reflected in the norms of the world. Awareness of how culture impacts us can help us understand when it is no longer serving us to identify with a cultural narrative that does not reflect our personal truth.
whole Self
All forms of awareness may come through different channels, but within us, they interact in beautiful, mystical, perhaps confounding ways. Your mind, emotions, body, past, parts, relationships, and culture are in constant relationship with each-other. It can seem simpler to categorize our lives into distinct modes of experience, but to assess the many parts of our being without understanding how they function as a whole is to misunderstand their functioning all-together. You are greater than the sum of your parts. Can you welcome awareness of all types? Can you sit with your shadow? That is how you access the power of your wholeness.
