# How to use language to improve self-awareness

We all use [language](language.md) to increase our [awareness](mind-awareness.md) of the world.

- Our words for experiences are often insufficient because we explored a concept when we were *much* younger and never updated it with new language.

This process is an expansion and improvement on the existing information we had [meditated on](mind-awareness-meditation.md).

- In other words, these techniques can be *disastrous* toward reinforcing self-delusion if we aren't careful to accept everything we are perceiving.

## Specific techniques

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

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.

3-2-1 bridge:

- Before engaging with an observation, write down several things:
  - 3 words or ideas associated with it.
  - 2 questions you have about it.
  - One comparison to something else that comes to mind.