The Expanding Awareness: Roots of Understanding
Step into the realm of awareness, where a reflective observation of thoughts and feelings intermingle to shape our perception. In this article, we will picture awareness not merely as a cognitive function, but as a dynamic interplay of external and internal states. We’ll learn that awareness can be elevated or enhanced, and discover that a central tool emerges to recalibrate our engagement with life; empowering individuals to cultivate purposeful and enriching lifestyles.
Defining Awareness
As a noun, awareness is the knowledge or perception of a situation or a fact. Conceptually, it represents the ability to notice, feel, and comprehend the things that exist within and without. It is a mental state experienced to varying extents, with changes occurring in the flow of daily routines.
Being a fundamental facet of consciousness, the meaning of awareness is a relative concept that resides in the intimate link between perceiving and knowing. This involves the capacity to focus attention on specific stimuli, retrieve information from memory, and engage in complex cognitive tasks. To do so, awareness encompasses the perception of both the external and internal worlds, shaping our sense of reality.
External Awareness: Engaging with the World
When we particularly pay attention to an object, we tend to get immersed in its enclosed frame: The focal point narrows, and you become deeply engaged. Whether it’s reveling in your favorite music, appreciating each note and auditory ambiance, or, relishing a delightful meal, savoring its flavor and texture… These have to do with your sensory awareness, finely attuned to an object of your interest.
Sometimes, our object of interest is a wider body, and our focus expands to embrace a broader scope. Imagine yourself being immersed in a breathtaking landscape —absorbed in the sights and sensations around you: The rustling of leaves, the warmth of sunlight on your skin, the distant hum of city life… This is about your environmental (or peripheral) awareness, focusing on the general elements that made up your entire environment.
Roughly put, awareness can be either general or specific. These constitute our daily mode of external awareness, depending on whether one’s focusing on details, or embracing a broader perspective.
Power of Extrospection
Extrospection is the default condition in which the perceiving subject finds itself. It’s the process of directing one’s attention outwardly, focusing on external stimuli, environment, or the world. It simply means being aware of and engaged with objects, fields and happenings in the ordinary sense of perception.
This is a critical function of our consciousness that lets us understand, comprehend, and make sense of our external reality. Therefore, the clearer and more sustainable your external awareness; the more precise, fulfilling, and meaningful your sense of reality becomes.
The exciting part? This ability is trainable, and can be nurtured through certain techniques, much like how regular exercise builds a healthier body. In this sense, extrospective practices serve as effective exercises for cultivating one’s external awareness.
However, awareness is not just about perceiving the environment as it also extends to an inner knowing.
Internal Awareness: Monitoring Within
Have you ever been in a situation where you dodged an accident, thanks to your quick reflexes? Or perhaps, in a moment of emotional turbulence, your feelings surged, and you acted out of character? These are automated responses we unconsciously perform, and they are a natural part of our human condition.
Now, take a moment to recall such an incident, and vividly picture it in your mind. Reflect on how you were perceiving the situation at the moment of reflex, or trigger. How was your point of view? Were you fully conscious of what was happening, or, were you somehow distant to your responses?
Interestingly, if you deliberately pay attention at such times, something significant occurs: For a brief moment, your attention turns inside, and you become an observer of your own sensations. Almost detached from your usual self, you end up watching the situation unfold.
Now, if you think of this conscious state, observing your feelings, thoughts and actions from within: That is, your internal awareness.
Power of Introspection
Introspection is the process of directing one’s attention inwardly, focusing on internal stimuli, inner space, or the internal world. It is the simple act of being aware of and engaged with one’s thoughts, feelings, and other internal states in the ordinary sense of perception.
Given that our self-perception is intricately linked to our internal experience, this function of consciousness significantly determines our internal reality. As one might anticipate, the clearer and more sustained your internal awareness; the more proper, fulfilling, and meaningful your sense of self becomes.
What’s particularly intriguing is that, this ability is trainable, and can be developed through certain methods. In this sense, introspective practices serve as effective exercises for cultivating one’s internal awareness.
Tuning Back to Conscious Awareness
Surely, the default modes of awareness differ for each individual, reflecting their unique perception and background. Also, awareness is a dynamic state, and can fluctuate over time, within a day and throughout one’s life. In fact, in the hustle of our daily lives, we mostly operate within a relatively unconscious mode of awareness; making our way with the aid of automatic responses, behavioral patterns and a dull perception of reality. This autopilot mode of living might be beneficial in some practical senses, although it’s also the root cause of many personal and social problems we all encounter.
When we lose touch with the moment, it’s like setting off a chain reaction of automatic behaviors fueled by our hidden fears and insecurities. These issues start piling up over time, leaving us feeling stuck and disconnected. If we don’t tackle them head-on, we might find ourselves questioning our ability to steer our life in a direction that brings more joy, fulfillment, and overall well-being. It’s like losing confidence in our power to make positive changes for a happier and healthier life.
Thankfully, the opportunity to enhance awareness is accessible to anyone, and at any given time. For that purpose, various teachings throughout human history have focused on elevating awareness, with the aid of education and contemplative rituals. In this sense, meditation can be viewed as the kernel element of such practices, found in almost every attempt of elevating human awareness.
Conclusion
In the fluid landscape of consciousness, awareness stands as the focal point, connecting the links of perception. This uncovers the interplay between extrospection and introspection, revealing the dance of the outer and inner worlds. Like a seasoned navigator charting a course, our capacity to traverse these realms empowers us to shape a purposeful and enriching existence. Challenges surface when the current of awareness drifts away, sparking automatic responses fueled by latent fears and motives. Mindful practices, particularly meditation, serve as potent tools for recalibrating awareness, fostering a deliberate and connected engagement with life.
