- \n
- Feel that your own well-being and functioning matters. Get on your own side; be for<\/em> yourself. Question: How many people does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Only one. But the light bulb has to want to change.<\/li>\n
- Cultivate wanting<\/em> to be in reality, to know the facts of the inner and outer worlds. Know and trust that your greatest safety and hope is in seeing what\u2019s true, no matter what it is. Whenever you move into awareness\/observation mode, you instantly distance yourself from things (inside or outside yourself) that are painful, and center yourself in a place that is inherently calmer and wiser than just reacting. And the only way you can intervene in your experience or your environment in order to make things better is by knowing what the facts are and what has caused them to be.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Bring compassion and kindness to yourself and to whatever your awareness finds. Hold your innermost feelings and longings with the sensitivity and concern you should have received as a child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cBare Witnessing\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Be a neutral watcher of your experience and the outer world, an \u201cobserving ego.\u201d \u201cNo praise, no blame.\u201d \u201cJust the facts, ma\u2019am.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t know mind.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Your observing awareness is separate from experience and world. You have<\/em> thoughts, etc., but you are not the thoughts, etc., themselves. Know your experience without identifying with it. You are being with<\/em> your experience, but not caught or hijacked by feelings, wants, etc. Watch the movie without jumping into the screen.<\/li>\n
- We all repeatedly get sucked into our experience and lose the peaceful detachment of observing it. Don\u2019t worry, don\u2019t scold yourself, just return to an awareness of whatever\u2019s arising.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Awareness Is Never Tainted or Harmed<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Awareness is like a screen on which experience and the outer world register, \u201clike a pond on which shadows are cast by geese flying overhead,\u201d but it is never sullied or changed by the passing show. No experience can hurt consciousness itself, the essence of who you are.<\/li>\n
- Allow whatever is there in awareness to be present, without resistance. Sincerely and resolutely push through any reluctance to seeing the truth, both good news about yourself (often the hardest to let in!) and the world, and painful or dark things. Accept the way it is. Receive it, don\u2019t fight it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Active Inquiry<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Actively peer into yourself, like a scientist. Inquire, turn over stones, look ever more deeply. The textures of experience and the landscapes of personality are endlessly interesting.<\/li>\n
- Track both the breadth<\/em> and depth<\/em> of your experience. \u201cBreadth\u201d means the full spectrum of: thoughts, feelings, sensations, wants, images, memories. \u201cDepth\u201d means looking down into the layered mosaic of the self, which includes (A) structure (e.g., traits, sub-personalities, fundamental values), (B) softer, more vulnerable material beneath rigid positions and anger, and (C) material from childhood beneath here-and-now adult reactions.<\/li>\n
- Look for recurring patterns, \u201cpsychodynamics,\u201d what leads to what.<\/li>\n
- Develop a model of yourself, a growing picture. Be guided by knowing \u201cthe usual suspects.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Awareness and Attention<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Awareness is about attention: a spotlight illuminating objects.<\/li>\n
- Attention is knowing: \u201cBreathing in, know that you are breathing in.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Concentration is a tight \u201cbeam\u201d of attention on something, like the breath or a specific emotion. Mindfulness is a more diffuse, free-floating attentiveness to the whole of your experience. Getting better at both through informal and formal practice<\/em> is the foundation of skillful awareness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for Part II of this post offering additional key points to awareness such as concentration, mindfulness, seeing the nature of experience and knowing your innate goodness.<\/p>\n
The post Key Points of Awareness \u2013 Part I<\/a> appeared first on Dr. Rick Hanson<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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Keys to Awareness Feel that your own well-being and functioning matters. Get on your own side; be for yourself. Question: How many people does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Only one. But the light bulb has to want to change. Cultivate wanting to be in reality, to know the facts of the <\/p>\n
The post Key Points of Awareness – Part I<\/a> appeared first on Dr. Rick Hanson<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1680,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n
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- We all repeatedly get sucked into our experience and lose the peaceful detachment of observing it. Don\u2019t worry, don\u2019t scold yourself, just return to an awareness of whatever\u2019s arising.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Cultivate wanting<\/em> to be in reality, to know the facts of the inner and outer worlds. Know and trust that your greatest safety and hope is in seeing what\u2019s true, no matter what it is. Whenever you move into awareness\/observation mode, you instantly distance yourself from things (inside or outside yourself) that are painful, and center yourself in a place that is inherently calmer and wiser than just reacting. And the only way you can intervene in your experience or your environment in order to make things better is by knowing what the facts are and what has caused them to be.<\/em><\/li>\n