Stacks Image 44804

Increase your Awareness

The More you See of Life - The More you can Enjoy Life

Achieving anything needs personal power which comes when you increase your awareness, as you saw in the previous article in this series. But how do you become more aware?
Photo of Albert Einstein at 68
Start by noticing more. The more you notice, the more you realize there is to notice. As Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist and Nobel prize-winner observed:

"The more we know, the more existence
turns out to be mysterious.
The more we know, the less we know and
the more we become aware of the vastness."

Awareness describes an area that you don't yet know about. Whereas clarity is subtly different, it's an area about which you are already aware, but are not yet clear of the important distinctions.

For example, I was aware of the two types of verbs: transitive and intransitive. But until I looked them up, and got some experience using both, I had no clarity on the difference. If you don't even know these two types of verb exist, you're unaware.

Ask Questions about what you Notice

Life Strategies Header Underline
When you notice something new, start by asking yourself questions. There are seven great interrogative adverbs and pronouns: what, when, how, why, who, where, which.

It's said that one of the keys to changing your life is not just the quality of the answers you get, but also the quality of your questions!

Learn How to think not What to think

Life Strategies Header Underline
Check out the answers you come up with, some will be more reliable than others. Don't self sabotage by just believing what others say, check it out yourself. Your own mental effort to think for yourself is essential. You can't think successfully by delegating your thinking, just as you can't get physically fit by delegating your exercise.

Yet many people go through life avoiding the effort of thinking for themselves. The educational system seems to teach what to think rather than how to think. So you have a good excuse, but if you want the benefits of thinking accurately then you'll have to learn how to think for yourself. If you've not been taught how to think, check this teacher's letter out - it's rather alarming!

We don't Believe in Believing

Life Strategies Header Underline
Believer praying to his gods
Are you a believer? Have you been taught to believe what others say and write without questions and investigation? Thinking creatively can be viewed as tiring work. And if you're not used to it, it can be. But why rely on another to think for you? It can be very dangerous to delegate your thinking!

Someone else doesn't know your circumstances which pay an enormous part in your solution. Whatever you do, you'll face the consequences, and you don't want to suffer. Don't be gullible!

Is the person telling you what to believe on your side? They may pretend they are, but even honest people automatically put their own best interests ahead of yours.

Politicians are professionally trained in manipulation and sophism, they can make even the most ridiculous ideas seem desirable. Ask yourself how naively believing someone else will help them achieve their goals. Will it realistically help you achieve yours? If so, how?

Think for Yourself Instead

Life Strategies Header Underline
Explore the significant downside risk to allowing yourself to be manipulated and exploited. Especially by politicians and their promises! Despite what they say, there is no free lunch and those who promise you freebies at someone else's expense are cynically manipulating you for the power your vote can give them. Ask yourself: Why do politicians all try so hard to be re-elected?

The distinctions worth investigating depend on what you wish to achieve. Once again, clarity on your path, as well as your goals is another secret of success.

Don't self sabotage by believing anybody, not even what you are reading here! This is totally sincere, but discover the many benefits of creatively thinking for yourself, investigate the answers you come up with to your own questions!

When thinking for yourself, look for breakthroughs, aha moments in which you see how these general principles can change your life. Such creative thinking improves your awareness and clarity about how life works, which increases your personal power.

Food for Thought

Header Underline

"Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers."

- Anthony Robbins, American author, NLP guru, motivational speaker, fire-walk expert


     |        |