Awareness...just the beginning

Awareness..definitely one of those things that we strive for in mental health and through engagement in therapy. It is a fundamental cornerstone to building new action, decision making, progress, and meeting goals. However, the second component that is absolutely necessary to meeting those goals is action based on that new awareness. If we only have awareness and our therapy journey continues to take us down the path of awareness and yet nothing else shifts based on that…we stay stuck. That is because awareness is only the first part of the equation and without action to support it, the awareness we continue to seek, talk about, and process becomes storytelling. Though action can be terrifying, uncertain, and at times, paralyzing, it is necessary to break through the patterns of behavior that are keeping you from reaching your goals, changing narratives, and reconstructing your life into exactly what you want it to look like. Essentially, action is the catalyst for taking awareness outside of the chapter book you are writing about yourself in your head, and creating the life you deserve, desire, and is calling you. With repeated new action, your brain will learn that this new way is safe, preferred, and ultimately create a habit or pattern to repeat.

This action may show up in a wide variety of modes of awareness including the following aspects:

·      Being mindful or present-based, choosing to focus on the now

·      Understanding your own self in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and becoming genuinely curious about where that comes from, then offering yourself grace, space, or permission to experience what is occurring

·      Recognizing how you are in your body and any physical sensations that are present and moving based on what you need

·      Taking stock of the environment with social and natural surroundings along with what is occurring around you and leaning into what you in the moment requires.

Note that in none of the aforementioned, choosing comfort is highlighted. Often, you will experience some level of discomfort while focusing on awareness and then creating and choosing action.

It’s also important to note that awareness can change with an individual’s experiences, trauma, and neurotype…essentially with what we know or experience as safe, normalized to us as individuals, or has the ability to produce what we need in the moment. With that in mind, this also includes the avoidance of such when things become overwhelming or too much for our nervous systems to handle.

Bottom line…start with awareness and then move on to action in small, sustainable ways. Repeat.