Know Yourself

If you do not fully understand who you are, 

self-acceptance and change become impossible

Last week we focused on decluttering thoughts. This time we throw some light on awareness, but before that let me respond to Ramchandra Bawlekar’s query from Ratnagiri. He asks : What is the difference between Mind & Brain?

A simple diffentiation is.. you can draw your brain (refer to any book on human biology) but can you draw your mind (no matter which books you refer to)? In scientific terms the mind is as yet poorly understood. It is intangible, it has no definite location, and yet it seems to be responsible for much of what makes us who we are. The mind is sometimes seen as the personalization of the brain, depending on the unique pattern of links between brain cells which builds up over our life time as we grow and develop according to our individual experiences. Some say that the mind also extends to every cell in the body.

Practically speaking, this is almost like attempting to identify a drop of water separately in a pond. Each unit of water in the pond, i.e. a drop, is inextricably interconnected with another. Consider your own body with its separately labeled body parts – your nose, your finger etc.; are they separate? If a pin is used to prick you anywhere on your body, it is not that only that portion is impacted… in fact your whole being erupts with an Ouch! And yet, while you are in deep sleep, you hardly notice the sting of a mosquito or a bedbug, because you are not in awareness at that point of time.

One of the basic principles in Marketing is the ‘AIDA Model’ which stands for the persuasive and successive steps of Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. To produce a favorable response from any customer, the purpose and flow of advertising and direct sales efforts is defined as

Create Awareness >> Generate Interest >> Develop Desire >> Initiate Action

Sounds logical doesn’t it? Unless you are aware of something - you cannot be interested; and once interested - you need to have sufficient desire to be motivated to take action. So if we need to make up our mind to do anything, the first step is awareness, particularly Self-awareness, which includes a recognition of our personality, our strengths & weaknesses, our likes & dislikes.

As you grow in self-awareness, you will better understand why you feel what you feel and why you behave as you behave. That understanding then gives you the opportunity and freedom to change those things you’d like to change about yourself and create the life you want. Without fully knowing who you are, self-acceptance and change become impossible.

When we want good, solid information, we turn to the experts. So, who are you going to turn to for information about yourself? Who’s the expert? Obviously YOU! Self-awareness is useful to us throughout our lives. The ability to self-reflect is particularly healthy and forwarding.
Try this simple Yoga-Nidra exercise in self-awareness: Lie down in a comfortable position with your eyes closed in an undisturbed ambience. Take 3 deep relaxing breaths. Allow your jaw to drop and your eyelids to be relaxed and heavy, but not tightly closed. Slowly focus attention on different parts of your body. 

Start with your toes and work slowly up through your legs, buttocks, torso, arms, hands, fingers, neck and head. Focus on each part individually. Spend a few moments at each point. Become aware of your body’s various sensations, whether that’s pain, tension, warmth or relaxation. Where you feel tension, imagine it melting away. Where do you not feel anything? What part of the body feels dull, or even “abstract” (you know it’s there, but you aren’t having any concrete experience of it!)?

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Thought for the Week

“Knowing others is wisdom.
Knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
Tao Tzu
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First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times