Self-Awareness – Our Inner Guide

When used correcly, our self is our greatest teacher. To what degree is its voice muted by the constant bombardment of the loud noises and persuasions of the 21st century?
Busy World, Crowded Minds
We live in a busy world. It is all too easy to become full of today’s flavor, crisis, deadline – you name it, it’s there, brooding, brewing, simmering, growing… Some people are far too full of themselves, some too full of what others are full of, some full of the pressure of what needs to be done, some of the stress of what can’t be done.

21st century life does not cater too much for quiet moments of self reflection and reconsideration. So most of us are left with little space in ourselves to feel, perceive, sense and consider at depth that which lies beyond the things we must deal with today and now. As the eastern wisdom goes, a full cup has no space for more.

Living In a Permanent State Of Awarness Blackouts
The powerful tsunami that devastated Asia: The animals made it to the hills; humans were sunbathing, blissfully unaware. Do animals really possess superior awareness and clairvoyant faculties than us humans? Or could it be that being so intensely engaged in being a 21st century human brought upon us a state of affairs of partial disconnect – awareness blackouts – from our natural capabilities?

The study of history reveals that the majority keeps getting caught unprepared – mentally, psychologically and materially, with sudden surprises being a repeating theme.

The Unwelcome Shock Of Surprise
There are two kinds of surprise: good and bad. We all love a good surprise. Another name for a bad surprise is: Shock. Surprise has a profound impact on the human system, especially the nerve structure. Get the statistics of the connection between bad surprise and cardiac arrest.

Outstanding generals, statesmen, successful speculators, business leaders – all are masters of utilizing surprise to their greatest advantage. Surprise, with its many cloaks, catches the unaware person. Examine the surprise factor in your life to evaluate the depth of your self-awareness. I have been coaching leaders for two decades and helping people who have just been caught unaware is an ever-present feature.

Developing Self-Awareness
Every day many of us experience ‘micro surprise tsunamis’. Realising the difference between how we think we come across and how we actually come across to others; the difference between assuming how someone else thinks and they are thinking… And it’s not the fact of being hit by a little or big ‘tsunami’, but the way we respond to it that reveals the quality of our self-awareness.

If you wish to train your self-awareness, a key development pathway is to become aware of the natural doing-being balances of the inner energy fields of the human. Those lost in doing have little space for being and it is the being life of oneself that offers access to depths of awareness that are mostly absent from the daily intensity of the doing universe. Establishing a correct balance between the two – for a myriad of reasons and purposes – is one of the tasks of personal development.

Learning To Open-Up To The Acutely Knowing Parts Of Oneself
Becoming more self-aware means becoming open to oneself. Slow down a bit, take a side-step, relax and above all, don’t mind the new views and very possibly, surprising perspectives that may impress themselves upon you in the process of pushing the inner space envelope. Life is a journey of deepening, evolving self-awareness. Let it happen in how it’s meant to be, to experience the magnificence of organic learning.

For the spiritually inclined, self-awareness is a key player in the ancient motto: “As above, so below, if you want to study man, study the universe; if you want to study the universe, study man”.

Sharing Awareness – The Sum Of The Whole…
Good teamwork is a fertile ecology for shared awareness; where the unique perspectives of each team member combine to form a multi-dimensional tapestry of the picture of what is happening and what is possible; of what is needed and what is threatening; of what needs changing and what can do with a little improvement… where one plus one equals three… how is your team doing today in this regard..? And, how is your awareness serving your purpose?

David Gommé
World Copyright 2012 © David Gommé

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