How to develop awareness? 4 exercises + advice from a psychologist

A lot of people are talking about mindfulness now. But not everyone understands what it is. Walk and look at your feet, looking at every bug and every blade of grass? Not really.

Wikipedia defines mindfulness as continuous monitoring of current experiences, a state in which you focus on experiencing the present moment, trying not to be distracted by events of the past and future.

I would say that this is a kind of childish ability. We all know that children live for today and fully experience the current moment, forgetting about everything around them. The space for them is expanded, filled with many, many factors that we do not notice.

Benefits of Mindful Living

So, a person leading a conscious life is able to:

Break out of the circle of problems and mistakes that always lead to the same result and take up precious time;
Realize your fears and causes of troubles, overcome obstacles and change beliefs that have a destructive impact on life;
Become wiser, increase your self-esteem and get rid of bad habits;
Move away from the duality of thinking and actions and become a more holistic person;
Gain confidence in yourself and your abilities, increase willpower and faith in success in any endeavor;
Learn to work with your subconscious;
Come to an understanding of your true purpose and find your Path;
Learn to live in harmony with yourself and the world around you.

It is obvious that the development of awareness in everyday life is an extremely useful and effective skill, the beneficial effects of which are reflected not only in changing the quality of external life, but also in the development and enrichment of the inner world. But what do you need to do to start leading a more conscious life? There are several effective strategies for this.

Final Thoughts

Mindfulness and awareness are extremely important in today's world. And the mindfulness techniques presented are powerful tools for improving our lives. They are effective in reducing anxiety and unhappiness. Helping us appreciate every moment of our lives. So make a conscious effort to practice these techniques and change your thinking.

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How to develop your awareness?

Any person who has come to the understanding that he needs to develop his awareness in life must first determine exactly where to start working on himself. You should not immediately try to comprehend all the basics of this process, because excessive load will most likely only discourage the desire to act. We need to approach this gradually. You can even compare the process of developing awareness with the process of developing physical qualities: there is a main direction - general physical training, and there are separate components - the development of special physical skills. The main focus here will be to increase awareness in general. And the following exercises contribute to this.

What is mindfulness and why awaken consciousness?

Mindfulness is the awakening of consciousness that occurs through continuous concentration on every moment of life and monitoring any changes in mental and physical state. Coming to awareness allows you to stop living by inertia, acquire a view cleared of emotions and expectations, and explore the world, filling it with meaning.

In addition, mindfulness training helps:

Become more successful. A person who approaches his work with maximum dedication and dedication cannot do a bad job.
Fill your life with impressions. Concentrating on one action will make dishes tastier, the weather more beautiful, and various events brighter.
Become healthier. Conscious living involves taking care of your body and understanding its needs, respecting the body and emotions: this motivates you to lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid stress.
It’s better to manage your psyche, learn not to take the tactlessness and negativity of the people around you to heart. In addition, people who work on their consciousness are freed from phobias and are less likely to suffer from depression, neuroses and panic attacks.

It is important to understand that the path to awareness is long and painstaking work, which may require giving up some foundations, habits and priorities.

Mindfulness Practice

The first is breathing . Breathing is the basis of life and first you need to learn to track this process. Strive to constantly control your breathing: anywhere, at any time, with any people, while performing any action, pay attention to how you breathe.

The second is sensations . Feelings accompany us every moment. Make it a rule to be aware of them throughout the day: pay attention to the state of each muscle group in your body, what makes your body feel comfortable and what makes you uncomfortable, how this is interconnected with the events occurring during the day. Over time, you will see that any situation, any mood, negative or positive emotions - all this is reflected on the body in the form of sensations. Ask yourself: “What are the sensations in my body right now and what is causing them?”

Third is emotions . Emotions, like sensations, are constant companions of our lives. Mindfulness is about controlling emotions, and control is about monitoring. Whenever a particular emotion arises in you, simply observe it. Do not give her any assessments, trying to look at her as if from the outside. The more impartial you are to your emotions, the more stable your state will be, and the faster you will learn to neutralize negativity if it appears. Ask yourself: “What emotions are dominant in me now and why?”

The fourth is thoughts . Thoughts are the most difficult to observe, but they are the most effective part of the practice. The fact is that our mind is constantly absorbed in the internal dialogue that everyone conducts with himself. And even if you can track it for a few seconds, you will not notice how deeply you are already immersed in new thoughts. But the more often you remember your thoughts, the more they will be amenable to your observation and control. Ask yourself the question: “What am I thinking about right now?”

These four components are the basis for the development of awareness, its foundation. Initially, master this at least to a small extent, for example, practice for 1-2 months, and only then move on to more specific techniques. And keep in mind that observing your breathing, sensations, emotions and thoughts is a rather difficult process, because, most likely, at first you will be distracted and forget about it. But with practice, this skill will develop and it will become easier to act. If you are diligent, then observation of all your states and manifestations will eventually become part of your nature, which means you will be constantly aware.

Next we will briefly look at some specific areas of mindfulness.

Practice developing individual aspects of mindfulness

Values Awareness – Be clear about your ideals, values and beliefs. And in your everyday life, be guided only by them.
Awareness of reality - always and everywhere strive for a full perception and understanding of what is happening around and inside you.
Awareness of speech - carefully monitor everything that others say and what you say yourself, think about your words and be an attentive listener.
Awareness of movements - try to feel any of your movements, watch the sensations in your body, do not rush into actions. If you are used to doing something quickly or mechanically, do the opposite - slowly and being aware of any muscle contraction.
Awareness of actions - before committing any action, consider its result from different points of view and positions of perception, take into account not only your desires and needs, but also those around you.
Awareness of activity - strive for flawless execution of everything you undertake. Do even the smallest things at the highest level. Complex actions are broken down into several components.
Awareness of life - at the beginning of each day, think through its plan, during the process - check with it, keep your personal time under control, beware of people and unnecessary things that take up this time. At the end of each day, analyze it and draw appropriate conclusions.

And the last thing I want to say is that this is an effective way to develop awareness, which, in principle, includes everything that we said above. This method is constant self-monitoring . Your main task is to track yourself, all your stereotypes, habits, reactions, emotions, thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, speech and everything that is directly related to you. Develop and train your inner observer. If you forget, remember, create “triggers” for yourself to remember your practice (an unusual object in your pocket, a cross on your hand, a sticker on the monitor, etc.). Don’t let yourself “fall asleep”, wake up from your waking sleep in all possible ways and you will not notice how your life will change, and you yourself will be able to say with complete confidence: “Yes, I live my life for real and I am always here and now.” .

We wish you success on your path to a conscious life!

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
Mindfulness and its benefits
Mindfulness: Five Practices
Qualities more important than IQ
Eight Strategies to Improve Self-Regulation
Mindfulness
Mindfulness Exercises
The benefits of keeping a diary
10 signs of an unconscious life
How effective is meditation: an alternative view
Journal of Professional Development

Key words:1Psychoregulation

Anchoring

This technique is needed in order to:

To consolidate the constant presence of an observer in you, teach him to stay awake all the time, accompany you through life at every moment, help you decide what to do with specific emotions, how to specifically experience them and how to react to life situations

Destroy any autopilots, help stop automatic reactions, such as resentment, anger, feelings of insignificance, fears, anxieties, reactions of avoidance, withdrawal, etc.

Actually, first you need to select an anchor. It can be very different, only one thing is important - that it catches your eye as often as possible. This could be a picture on the refrigerator and on the desktop (it is best if it is a simple and understandable sign), an item that you carry on your arm, a piece of clothing or accessories that is always with you.

I will give examples of such anchors. I often offered my clients an image of a “brick” road sign as an anchor. It is bright, noticeable, its meaning is clear to everyone - “stop, you can’t come here.” In this case, “stop, don’t react on autopilot, give yourself time to become aware of yourself.”

Or, for example, a bracelet, a ring, a watch. They are on your hand, your hands are often in your field of vision, your eyes will often bump into your anchor, and it, in turn, will remind you of the same thing - “don’t forget to ask yourself the right questions, don’t react automatically.”

Some put a similar meaning in the mug from which they constantly drink (moreover, they bought two identical ones for themselves - at home and at work, so that the anchor would always work), someone used a bag keychain for this purpose...

In general, there is complete scope for your creative imagination. There is only one condition - you must see this item as often as possible. And it should be filled with meaning for you: remind you that you can become conscious at this very moment .

How to achieve this, how to “link” an item to this reminder? Sometimes a simple internal attitude is enough: “every time I look at this object, I will remember awareness, the presence of an internal observer.” By remembering it several times, the “object-state” connection will be reinforced.

But, to be sure, it is better to do the procedure as deeply and thoroughly as possible. Sit in a comfortable position. Try to feel your whole body (see the point about concentration).

Then, when the sensation of the whole body can be more or less retained in consciousness, add to this the perception of colors in the room or place where you are. Then - sounds, smells. Try to sit and perceive. Look at the anchor object.

And then try to remember some situation that worries you. First, name the feelings - take your time, list everything you can find in your verbal repertoire. Decide on the names of the feelings. Keep looking at the anchor.

Now ask yourself why these feelings happened to you. “I feel hurt and annoyed because I had expectations that he would appreciate my efforts to clean the house, but he didn’t seem to notice.”

Remember all the points that we discussed in the last article. Is this important to you, and if so, why? What really matters? Is this the only way you could get it? Try to answer these questions for yourself. Look at the anchor.

Next, suppose you find out that the problem is not specifically with cleaning the house today, but with the fact that you lack kind words and attention. Now ask yourself a question - what would you like in essence? To be told kind words? Did you pay attention? How could you convey this to your partner without causing a scandal with your insults?

Another option is that you name your feelings, and you understand that you are offended and angry about this not at all. When did these feelings first arise today? In the morning? What happened in the morning? And in the morning you had a severe stomach ache, and not for the first time, and it turns out that you have been worried about your health for many days now...

And unspoken words of praise on the part of your partner only added fuel to the fire and intensified the already existing resentment towards your own body, which, for some reason unknown to you, keeps hurting and hurting, and you feel more and more unhappy, since “he didn’t even notice.” that I tried...”

And here is the time to switch to techniques for working with your own body, and not cultivate resentment towards your partner. Moreover, when, as a result of awareness of your own feelings, the source becomes at least somewhat clear to you, you will no longer have the desire to automatically react with reproaches to your partner.

In general, a psychologist during a consultation helps you ask yourself the right questions in a timely and competent manner. This is, in a sense, learning by doing; it is faster and deeper than trying to learn theory first. But you can achieve a lot on your own.

Yes, not all questions will be answered immediately. And you won’t immediately be able to become so aware that you stop reacting automatically. And yet, the more you practice in different situations, trying different questions, the ultimately higher your awareness.

If during all training you look at your anchor object, it, in turn, will prevent you from slipping into automatic reactions and will remind you that it would be nice to first become aware of yourself in space, and then ask yourself the right questions .

In addition to such “meditations” on your own acute situations, you can try to do all this right when negative emotions arise. It just seems that technically it is very cumbersome - first to feel your body, then to name feelings and ask questions...

But in fact, it is better to practice body awareness as often as possible and generally try not to lose touch with it, and regarding feelings and questions - our brain actually works very quickly.

The only question is how to use it. After all, he can quite quickly draw you scary pictures about “how everything will be” or whisper “how everything should be.” Why then, in order to become aware, don’t you teach him to ask questions just as quickly?

You may feel slow in the first few moments of mindfulness practice. And who said that you must immediately take your resentment to your partner? Perhaps if you “slow down” you will save the situation rather than worsen it?