Awareness
In, then out.
I got into Atlanta early afternoon this week. After I wrapped up my calls at the end of the business day I went for an easy run down Peachtree. The sticky weather had been blown dry by a high pressure front and even though it was still in the 90’s, it was pleasant.
Peachtree from Buckhead towards downtown is a main thoroughfare and in the early afternoon there is plenty of traffic, both foot and car.
As I passed people I put on a big smile and tried to make eye contact and maybe even say “hello” or a cheery “Good Afternoon!” When cars paused their frenetic machinations to let me cross I would smile and say “Thank you!”
Usually in the somber darkness of the early mornings I don’t get these opportunities for interaction. As a result I’m lost in my own thoughts. When I’m out on these early morning runs I’m not very aware of the space I’m passing through. I’m too tied up in my own mind or the podcasts I’m listening to. I’m inward focused.
On the sunny and populated sidewalks of the mid-afternoon I expanded my awareness to take in the people in the cars and on the street and make a connection with them.
What is the difference? Why do you care?
Because when wrapped up in your own brain you are in a closed loop system. You aren’t allowing any external input or any opportunities for feedback. Without that feedback your self-awareness is stilted. You can only learn what you already know. You’re trapped in a box of your own construction.
When you expand your awareness and solicit feedback you now have unique input from external sources and have an opportunity to learn something new. When you expand your awareness you open that box to the awareness of others. You let in their light.
Everyone you pass on the street has their own story playing in their heads. They are tied up in it. They are scared and harried and caught in that internal story. Their awareness is stilted. It’s a closed loop system that feeds on itself reinforcing the neuroses.
Looking inward is not a bad thing if you do it right. If you simply tune into the story and get carried away and subsumed by the flood of your own noise it does you no good. It just removes you from the world.
But, if you can look inside your head with a 3rd person detachment and observe what’s going on without getting has involved you can learn something. You can take a spanner to the controls and adjust things to remove the noise and find clarity.
Once you have some semblance of clarity, some semblance of self-awareness you can crawl out of your box and look around. You can expand that healthy awareness outward and add the awareness of others to your treasures.
Try this.
Try sitting, or even moving and watching your own mind and thought process with an attitude of detachment. See what you can learn.
Then take that detachment into your next stressful meeting or emotional family interaction and see what you can observe.
Have you ever heard someone referred to as ‘unflappable’ in the face of stressful situations? That person has mastered detachment. That person may or may not be self-aware but they do know how to remove their intellect from the emotional stew of their environment.
I was amazed at how much I saw when I ran down Peachtree in the hot August afternoon. As I smiled into car windshields whole stories unfolded around me. I could sense and see the people and their lives.
Try it.
Take some time for yourself and see if you can find that self-awareness. Take that 3rd person detachment into your life. Let the light of others shine through.