An Exercise in Self Awareness

When you are focused intently on something, whether you are working online or reading a book, its all too easy to shut out your surroundings. But even though we blot this out we are in fact still filling our minds with junk. Even though you may not be aware of what is going on in the background, it will still be absorbed into your subconscious and this in turn will have an effect on your mood, state of mind and also the quality of your work.

Listen to your thoughts, your inner voice. Is what you are hearing empowering you or depressing you? It’s too easy to become bound by negative self chatter. Treat yourself as you would your loved ones. Would you tell them how horrible they looked or how useless they were? How about the external sounds around you? Music you are listening to, TV programmes left running in the background? Even the very people around you will have an effect on you

Now close your eyes and just feel, how does your very atmosphere make you feel? Is it calm and peaceful, exciting, irritating, positive or negative?

Now open your eyes, are you happy with how your room looks? Is it clean, tidy and ordered or dusty, cluttered and unorganised? Do you feel comfortable where you are? Can you improve on it?

What does your environment smell like? Stale stuffy air can affect your performance negatively as fresh air, aromatherapy oils or incense can affect you in a positive way.

Everything you absorb through all your senses will have an effect on you. The object of this article is to encourage you to tune into everything around you, evaluate it, changing it if needs be for the better. Filling your life and senses with positive things will empower you. This will bring things in your life to your attention that you no longer need or that are having a negative effect on you. This knowledge will raise not only your personal vibrations, increase the quality of your work but also improve every area of your life too.

Even the very people you mix with can have a deeper effect on you than you realise. How often do you come away from a meeting or even a family gathering feeling exhausted, drained and irritated? How often do you put the phone down after a conversation with your best friend and feel light, happy and invigorated? It’s not always an easy situation to be in, particularly if family members are involved, but just being aware of their potential effect on you can help shield you from the negative feelings and behaviour of people.

 If someone makes me feel very uncomfortable or is really draining my energy a very useful technique to temporarily block this is to cross your legs at your ankles, turn slightly to one side so you are not facing them full on. Look them in their left eye, (your right) so you will still be showing friendly eye contact but they will be unable to dominate you. Put your finger and thumbs of each hand together, this seals off and circulates your own energy flow and prevents them leaching off you or influencing you. You can also put the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth but this may make conversation a little difficult! I hope you find these handy hints helpful.