Change begins with awareness
I know why you’re here. Not “here” on this planet at this particular time in history (although I do have thoughts on that too), but here in this community, reading these words.
YOU’RE HERE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO EVOLVE AS A HUMAN. YOU WANT TO MASTER YOUR MIND, ELEVATE YOUR PERFORMANCE, AND EXPERIENCE MORE EXPANSIVE JOY AS YOU PURSUE YOUR GOALS.
You’re a striver, a seeker, and someone who doesn’t settle.
I love that about you.
But, here’s the truth. You can’t get to where you want to go without knowing where you’re starting. You can’t take incremental steps towards a greater version of yourself without the ability to check in with yourself.
Change requires awareness.
You have approximately 70-80,000 thoughts a day, but how many of those thoughts are you actually aware of? How many of those thoughts have intention behind them? How many of those thoughts are repetitive (answer: most of them)?
Awareness takes a lot of work, but you are fully capable of cultivating it. It just takes practice.
If you’re committed to change (side note: you’re incredible as you are, but you’re also capable of so much more), then try implementing one, or all, of these practices to cultivate greater awareness of your inner landscape:
Tally it up. If you have an inkling that you’re having the same ineffective (or even harmful) thoughts over and over, then this will be an eye-opening exercise. Each time you have this thought, or a fragment of it, mark it down as a tally in your phone’s notes or on a post-it. Try to keep self-judgment out of it. Just tally, then count at the end of the day.
Keep a daily log. Write down your loudest or most recurring thoughts throughout the day. Commit to this practice every day for a week to make sense of the swirl of thoughts moving through your brain. You’ll gain a thorough understanding of what you’re working with here.
Sit and observe. Find a quiet place to sit in stillness, without any distractions, for 2 minutes. Notice the thoughts that arise and the frequency at which they pop up. Do this check-in 3 times a day: morning, lunch time, and evening.
In our quest to make the mind work for us, we have to become intimately aware of our mental landscape. Our thought patterns tell us a lot about where we’re spending our precious mental energy, so invest time into recognizing your patterns, because only then can you reprogram them to your benefit.