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The definition of Awareness from a personal development perspective with an example of usage.
Awareness
Definition: Paraphrasing Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Awareness implies vigilance in observing some thing or experience and alertness in drawing inferences from what one observes.
Awareness in a personal development sense is a consciousness of who you are being and the impact that you are having on others. Heighten your awareness by imagining a small creature on your shoulder who watches over what you think and what you do and whispers what he observes in your ear.
Example:Jeremy was shocked when he became aware that his whining and complaining were causing his friends to avoid him.
Related Articles:
Personal Development Toolkit - Awareness
Admitting and Owning Your Problems
James Prochaska's Change for Good
Personal Development 101
Reflection on Your Life Purpose
The copyright of the article What is Awareness? in Personal Development is owned by Jerry Lopper. Permission to republish What is Awareness? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Aug 20, 2006 10:06 AM
Pink :
. Awareness as in accumulating knowledge of what it is that controls
one's life? . What a novel idea? . :)
Aug 20, 2006 1:41 PM
Jerry Lopper :
I don't know that I'd use the word controls; perphaps I'd say ...of what it
is that is going on in one's life, or ...of what it is that triggers
behaviors in one's life.
Aug 20, 2006 2:08 PM
Pink :
. Do you mean the knowledge or the awareness <i>"triggers
behaviors in one's life."</i>? .
Aug 21, 2006 5:34 AM
Jerry Lopper :
Behaviors stem from beliefs. So it's what we believe about events, people,
etc. that triggers our behaviors.
Awareness helps us to monitor
behaviors and the beliefs that triggered them by raising consciousness.
Once conscious of the process, we can reflect on our behaviors and
(hopefully) recognize the underlying belief(s) that triggered or sponsored
the behavior(s).
Aug 21, 2006 8:12 AM
Pink :
. So, indirectly, you are saying that beliefs control behaviors. . Beyond that, when we are aware of THAT reality, we are able to put
ourselves in a position to question our behaviors in such a way that we
might be able to further question our beliefs? . I'm thinking
about the similarities between lifetime presuppositions and long term
goals. Humans tend to believe in presuppositions in the same way they
believe in their goals. It's an hypothecation. Are you aware of any
studies on the subject? .
Aug 22, 2006 4:35 AM
Jerry Lopper :
Yes, I'm saying that beliefs cause behaviors; behaviors result from
beliefs.
How does a presupposition differ from a belief? I don't
see a distinction.
Goals do relate to beliefs
(presuppositions?) in that we will only strive to accomplish something that
aligns with our beliefs. Goals are an end point, a target destination, for
some new or modified behavior. But still related to beliefs.
If
I have a goal to reach a certain weight, which requires that I eat smaller
portions, less fat, etc., the goal and my eating behavior modification must
be supported by a belief that the target weight is better form my health,
or I'll feel better about myself, or be more attractive, etc.
Aug 19, 2008 3:29 PM
Guest :
Evolutionary awareness must have occured at some point, but this awareness
absolutely cannot be the awareness that allows energy and matter to
literally observe itself.
Because everything in the universe is
really limited by this:
1. Energy and matter only move or have
the potential to move. 2. Energy and matter only transform or have the
ability to transform. 3. Despite what one's subjectivity tells them,
transformation only changes the shape, the way something moves, and the way
something affects something else.
That makes the entire physical
universe limited to movement, or rather, location over different
dimensions.
So, yes, energy and matter can organize itself into
an intelligent being over a long series of processes, and later gain an
evolutionary awareness, that is a collaberation of cells working together
to make an animal feel centered, thus giving it the desire to defend
itself.
How we as human beings can comprehend being does in fact
make sense with all the brain cells we have, but the fact that we actually
do have an awareness is bizzare, and somewhat irrelevant to science, other
than the fact that we can observe that its here.
7 Comments
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