“The work of art is a scream of freedom.”
Christo
The Connection to Your “Awareness” or “Self-Aware/Conscious Brain”:
This is one of my favorite topics and is a HUGE part of the Somatic release/Emotional digestion work I offer. You can find some great discussion on it in the “Mind” dropdown (shortcut here). I will further describe it here as well. Please note that I often use the words awareness and consciousness interchangeably throughout this blog.
Let us try here to describe the difference between your center of consciousness and the things you are conscious of. I will start with the easier of the 2 to understand; the things you are conscious of.
I AM CONSCIOUS OF…
- My thoughts, the sound of my own voice in the privacy of my own mind. Common thoughts may be “I like this movie,” “I am hungry,” or “I need to get to my appointment.”
- My beliefs, the stories I tell myself that help create my thoughts. Common beliefs may be “I am smart,” “I am selfish,” “I am religious,” “I am a good husband/wife.”
- My emotions, the feelings that are often associated with stories with tell ourselves about our experiences. Common emotions may be “I feel sad,” “I feel happy,” “I am irritated.”
- What I see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. What my senses percieve in the world around me. Common perceptions may be the sight of a candle, the smell of food, or the feel of a blanket on your skin.
I AM AWARE OF MY OWN CENTER OF CONSCIOUSNESS…
Notice that all of the above perceptions come and go throughout your day moment to moment. You may notice or become aware of a particular sight, smell, thought, or emotion as it appears into your consciousness. This is most obvious with thoughts as they seem to appear out of silence, are maintained as you focus on them, and disappear again back into silence.
All of your perceptions are things you can be aware of but your true conscious awareness is the part of you that recognizes that you are aware of these things. In other words it is the part of you that is observing the object of your attention or recognizing the thought in your mind.
We often become so identified with our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs (the thinking/emotional brain) that we start to believe we ARE the thoughts, emotions, and beliefs rather than the part that observes these things (the self-aware/conscious brain).
Why is This Important to Your State of Mind?
Recognizing when you access your self-aware brain and holding onto that sense of overall awareness is incredibly important to each and every state of mind.
This is because all 3 states of mind have as part of their pathology either a general lack of awareness (mind weakened), a hyperawareness of aspects of awareness to the exclusion of general awareness (mind unsettled), or a loss of general awareness entirely (mind obstructed). By strengthening your connection to general awareness you also strengthen your mind in whatever category it is.
In other words a state of mind has both a physical component (the physical resources needed to thrive) and a mental or cognitive component (the integration of the nervous system and communication throughout the brain). You can improve your state of mind through improving either the integration of the brain itself or though giving the brain more of the physical resources it needs to function properly.
There are many more reasons that strengthening your access to your self-aware brain has tremendous benefit to your state of mind and your overall health that I will delve into in future posts. For now however let’s move on to what you can do today to start improving your state of mind.
How to Strengthen Your Connection to Your Self-Aware Brain:
There are 2 great ways to strengthen your connection to your self-aware brain.
- The first is the natural bi-product of emotional digestion and de-storying. When the Mind is less cluttered by unresolved “trauma” and the thinking/emotional brain is more quiet then self-awareness tends to be more obvious naturally.
- The second is by intentionally cultivating awareness through mindfulness practices and meditation. In short; hyperawareness of thought and emotion becomes habitual overtime and we break the habit by consciously bringing attention to something other than thought and emotion.
Both of these practices are taught throughout the blog and are available on a 1-1 basis through the therapies I offer locally and remotely via zoom.
This topic will be revisited time and again throughout this blog and I will be sharing many of the techniques I use in the office as well as techniques from other healthcare specialists along the way. If your excited about a more in-depth study of this aspect of consciousness I would suggest looking at the Tantrika Institute run by Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis.
Wishing you amazing joy and all the very best all health,
David
Where To Next?
Build on your understanding of your depression in the following post:
Pick a new topic for specific practices/opportunities to heal for your specific challenges in the Pick Your Struggle Tab:
Get personalized 1 on 1 attention by scheduling a private session:
