# What awareness is

We can't live healthy lives when our subconscious always drives us:

- Constant fear of loss leads to more stress.
- We experience less [connection](people-1_why.md) with others and trouble experiencing [love](people-love.md).
- A false sense of crisis can lead to neglected needs.
- We'll fixate on something and ignore important details around it.

The basis of all [understanding](understanding.md) starts with knowing yourself.

- Awareness is the first step to *all* conscious [change](people-changes.md).
- Without self-awareness, our subconscious [habits](habits.md) automatically run our lives.
- We are the main curators of our mental health, as well as the first to experience its consequences.

When we're unaware, we frequently respond wrongly:

- If we don't know what causes things, we'll work to [fix something](https://adequate.life/fix/) that might not be broken or can't control.
- Sometimes, our [fear](mind-feelings-fear.md) will compel us to "fix" things that destroy even more than what we had observed.
- And, when we're unaware of *those* consequences, we won't see what we destroy or try to "fix" things further!

When we stay unaware, we become [dysregulated](awareness-dysregulation.md).

## Awareness isn't easy

We all have inner [conversations](people-conversation.md) with ourselves called "thoughts".

- While they're *always* [logical](logic.md), they're not always reasonable or well-adjusted.

[Meditation](awareness-meditation.md) takes discipline through patience, which is proportionally less necessary with increased [success](success-1_why.md).

We're in constant conflict.

- Each [decision](people-decisions.md) and [uncertain thing](unknown.md) in our minds is a guaranteed source of inner conflict.
- These conflicts start within ourselves and branch out to [others](people-5_conflicts.md).
- We [constantly hear new things](information.md) that interfere with our thoughts.

The more we do, the less we're aware.

- Doing things requires us to pay attention to tasks, which means we're not paying attention to our thoughts.

Gaining self-awareness can often be lonely.

- Nobody else sees or knows our thoughts, no matter how well we [communicate them](language-speaking.md).
- Barring [a higher power](religion-answers.md) directly speaking with us (such as [God](jesus-gospel.md)), we often sense nothing.

## Language

We understand the world through [the words we use](language.md).

- Our words are often insufficient because we explored a concept when we were *much* younger.

Learn to make comparisons for your feelings:

- Describe your experiences and feelings with a story.
- Create fictional stories with characters that represent your different feelings.
- Use colors to describe the mood as you experience the different things you feel.

Write a journal:

- Even when nobody reads it, [writing](language-writing.md) forces you to clarify exactly what you're thinking.
- Venting in a journal articulates the experience and helps to differentiate fact from fiction.
- It doesn't have to make sense, follow a pattern, or capture your feelings.

Immediately before *any* important experience, take about 30 seconds to write down the most important points of that upcoming experience.

## Don't overdo it

If things become *awful*, we may need help attaining awareness through outside help.

- Prescription drugs such as antidepressants, antianxiety medications
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing ([EMDR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing))
- Neurofeedback
- Somatic therapies
- acupuncture/acupressure/EFT tapping
- Cognitive behavioral therapy ([CBT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy))
- Guided yoga/meditation
- Various forms of [writing](language-writing.md)

Awareness is *only* useful for detecting problems.

- Effective [solutions](mind-creativity.md) typically exist beyond our minds and understanding.
- If the answers *were* within our minds, there'd be no reason to learn or do anything else *but* meditate, since we could just find the answers through introspection alone.

Too much awareness can sometimes make people more *selfish*.

- The large-scale purpose of increased awareness should be primarily to [serve others' interests](people-3_respect.md).
- Depending on your [social status](groups-member.md) and [culture](people-culture.md), knowing certain facts can inhibit your [success](success-1_why.md) or prevent you from being a [decent human being](people-3_respect.md).

Further, we sometimes must pace ourselves, since too much truth at once may overwhelm us.

## Additional Reading

[Relaxation Response](http://www.relaxationresponse.org/)