Now, here is where the rubber meets the road… You have a lot of information and new learning about the intricate workings of the brain and central nervous system in the Core Courses section. You now know we need to recondition our nervous system, so I want to remind everyone of Heebs law (Part 3: Neuroplasticity):
Neurons that Fire together, wire together
Use it, or lose it
It is also critical to remember that change and all new learning comes with Intensity and Repetition. This is how to use the Core Courses section… with intensity and repetition. Study these Core Courses so that you know them so well you could almost present them yourself. The more able you are to do that, the more your neural circuitry will have been transformed!
Video Transcript
This first exercise, the Awareness Continuum, is a gestalt therapy technique for experiencing and being with whatever is happening in the “here-and-now”. In the Awareness Continuum, there are three primary zones of awareness; the Outer Zone, the Middle Zone, and the Inner Zone.
The Outer Zone of Awareness is anything outside my skin. In other words, it consists of everything in the world around me and separate from me.
The Middle Zone is anything I am aware of in my mind…my thoughts, including images & pictures in my mind’s eye… and my self-talk…an urge to speak or ask questions…
The Inner Zone of Awareness is anything I am aware of in my body…physical sensations… such as the feeling of the air on my skin… the feeling of a texture or fabric underneath my fingertips… butterflies in my stomach, tightness in my chest, tingling of my scalp, rise and fall of my chest as I breathe, and so forth.
You may even notice a combination of inner zone and outer zone working together…a thought like “this is too weird”… a sick feeling in the stomach… an urge to stop the exercise… Just notice these things and watch them pass by…this will demonstrate to your conscious mind…the fleeting nature of thoughts that are not entertained…
In this exercise, we are going to explore all three zones of awareness starting with the outer zone and working our way inside…but before we do, I need to cover a couple important details:
1) Mindful Awareness is simply NOTICING – not judging…or evaluating…or trying to change anything…just being a curious observer of your experience…like a silent witness… Now having said that… you may NOTICE some part of you evaluating & judging automatically…all on its own…and that’s okay…just notice it… its just another part of you…and you can stand back and curiously notice that…and as it passes by…then just noticing what comes next…
2) also keep in mind that we have a hierarchy of awareness…and at any given moment…one thing is at the top position…sort of at the point of our awareness…notice how quickly that changes…from one thing to another…
So, if you’re ready now…just settle back into that comfortable position…and gently invite those eyes to close…but if they want to stay open for a while longer…that’s just fine too…they’ll know when to close…so now, just take a deep breath in, and let that out…slowly…now, take another deep breath in…and let that out slowly…very good…
now just begin to notice the first thing to pop into your awareness… It helps if you verbally report that either there in your mind…or out loud if you choose…and it’s helpful to say… “now I am aware of…” as you make your observations…
here is an example… “right now I am aware of the sound of the music…now I am aware of the fragrance of cinnamon in the room…and the temperature of the air on my skin…and now I am aware that I don’t know what to do now…and a feeling of confusion…and now I am aware that several things are popping in and out of my awareness…and it seems hard to notice just one thing…so now I am aware that I can notice the sounds…my breathing…and the thoughts about what to do next…all at the same time…”
Now you do the exercise for a few moments…
Very good…now stop and make a journal entry of everything you noticed and sum up your experience of the AWARENESS CONTINUUM... and Remember to do this exercise at least once per day…even without the assistance of this session…just get quite…and be Mindfully Aware… once you feel you have it…move on to the next exercise…do them in the order they are listed here as one exercise builds on the other.
Mindful #2: Awareness Continuum