Becoming Aware is the first Pillar of Living the Soul of Recovery, and is one of the basic components of an empowered and enjoyable advanced recovery. What does being aware really entail?
There are three components which comprise Awareness: Mindfulness, Wisdom and Essence. Here is an overview of each.
Mindfulness – How to Be Fully Conscious in the Present Moment
The only time we truly have is now, and the only place we truly are is here. We may remember the past and imagine the future, but we can only act now. Reminiscing and daydreaming certainly have their place, especially for learning and creativity, but if we dwell too long in either, we lose the opportunity of the present. (Their “shadow” counterparts, regret and worry, have no place in Living the Soul of Recovery because they make our energy heavy and sluggish.) Be here now, aware of all that is within you and around you.
Wisdom – How to Access Your Inner Knowing
There is a saying, “Know that you know what you know.” This is not just about intellectual understanding, but intuition and insight as well.
Science tells us that our brains have the ability to tap into the “zero point field,” or universal intelligence. Information is thought and thought is energy . Our brains are like radios, receiving and transmitting waves of thought energy into the field all the time. So we are immersed in this universal ocean of intelligence that we can access at any time. The ability to do that is innate, but the skill must be practiced to master it.
We also have “heart intelligence,” which science is just beginning to discover may be even more powerful than the intelligence of the mind. The intelligence, or energy, of love actually has a measurable frequency which we can learn to maintain and resonate with much more control than was once believed.
And our bodies have an intelligence that we cannot afford to ignore. The brain can forget, and it can twist our memories, but the body cannot. Every experience in our lives and in our genetic ancestry is stored in the memory of the body and impacts how we think, feel and act.
By learning to access these aspects of our intelligence, we gain in the wisdom to know and follow our calling in life, powerfully and joyfully.
Essence – How to Meet and Greet the Real You, Your Life, and Your Dreams
The real you is a combination of your innate values, talents, desires, creativity and love. This is the essence of who you are.
What we do in life changes over time. What we think, feel and believe changes; how we act and react changes; but our essence is the one constant, and it drives everything else.
So it is “essential” to get to know our essence, our deep, core self that is underneath the roles we play, the names and titles we call ourselves, the self-images we hold and project. When we don’t, we tend to feel lost, confused, uncertain, even empty.
Becoming more Aware and conscious of all these unseen but basic inner pieces of ourselves is fundamental in the journey of blossoming into the life we are capable of living, the life we were born to live.