Happy Sunday!
And welcome to today's edition of 'Conscious living with Purnima'. Today I talk about some of the tools that I have been using to increase self-awareness.
I invite you to begin paying attention to how well you are using these tools (or any other of your own) that are helping you become more self-aware and how that's serving you.
You would have heard that 'awareness is the first step to change'. But have you asked yourself how to become aware?
Unless we have a few tools that we consistently use that serve to increase our awareness, it is very difficult to have the realization that a change is needed.
If I were to depict the process of positive change in a series of steps, then it would look like this:
Step 1: Using tools of awareness.
Step 2: Awareness of the need for change.
Step 3: Taking action to change.
Step 4: Change.
Much is said about step 2,3,4 and much less about step 1 which is key and the starting point for creating lasting changes.
Let's talk a little bit more about these tools today. Tools of awareness, simply put, are anything you practice that helps you enhance self-awareness. I will talk about 3 that I use and benefit from:
1. Breathwork
The breathwork practice that I regularly do is Anulom Vilom or alternate nostril breathing. I do this for about 12 mins, and I find it calms my nervous system and brings more awareness to how I am feeling in the body.
I find that when I am not physically ok my breath is not smooth. I have been practicing regularly for years now and can check in with my breath to gauge how my physical health is.
Do you have a breathwork practice? How does it serve you? Do let me know in comments.
And if you don't have one, then do consider learning.
2. Meditation
This has been of tremendous help to me. I came to meditation to help me hold all of my myriad emotions especially the uncomfortable one's. I am one of those people who think more with the heart. It's not natural for me to think in a detached and objective way. I am more of a red hat thinker, if you are familiar with the 6 thinking hats model.
Regular meditation practice of 20 mins a day has helped me understand myself better and has enabled me to think objectively wherever required.
I encourage you to start a practice of breath focused meditation. Even 5 minutes is a good start. Some of my students find it difficult to sit. For them I recommend the following practices:
A. Walking Meditation:
Walk by yourself (without company). Take a 4-count inhale as you take 4 steps forward and a 4-count exhale as you take further 4 steps forward. Continue for as long as comfortable.
B. Sound Meditation:
For people just starting out with a meditation practice it's easier to focus on sounds over breath. So just pay attention to all the sounds around you as you sit. You can even choose to use ambient sounds from a meditation app like insight timer.
C. 'Calm & Ease' breath focused meditation:
This is a great tool you can use when you see a trigger coming - like having to wait for something/someone or being stuck in a traffic jam. To practice just whisper to yourself 'calm' as you inhale and whisper to yourself ease as you exhale. Focus on lengthening the breath. Repeated practice will make this your auto-pilot response to triggers.
3. Journaling
This is great tool to stay focused on your life. I follow the ‘Bullet Journal method’, journaling everything that’s important to me in one master journal. To site 2 examples, logging my meals (writing down everything I eat in a day) every other day gives me a good sense of my daily food habits. I can catch myself when I am veering away from proper nourishment sooner rather than later.
Having a monthly/weekly goal chart and tracking progress gives me a clear picture of how I am doing, where I am slacking and why.
The goal of all these practices is not perfection but awareness of what's going on and what's needed.
These are the 3 tools I use every day and they help me gain clarity on what I most need. The clarity then helps me explore action steps I need to take to fulfill those needs to feel better in body, mind and spirit.
I hope you will use the coming week to pay attention to how well you are using the tools to increase self-awareness.
Having missed your journals for last 3-4 weeks, felt whether i will be able to relate to the article/topic. But your down to earth approach every week, rapts a readers attention. Talking about my experience, i see to it, daily one hour of yoga asanas combined with breathing techniques keep me engaged for the day, otherwise, feel i am missing something.