Updated: Sep 14
Waypoint 009
Self-awareness is the first step toward understanding ourselves and living more intentionally.
Much of daily life happens on autopilot, guided by habits, thoughts, emotions, and reactions we rarely notice. Developing personal awareness helps us recognize these patterns and begin to understand what may be influencing the direction of our lives. Before we try to change our habits, beliefs or behavior, we first need to see them clearly.
This inside journey begins with three simple questions:
What am I thinking?
What am I feeling?
What am I doing?
Awareness: The First Step of the Inside Journey.
Most of us spend more time on autopilot than we realize.
We wake up and move through familiar routines. We think familiar thoughts, react in familiar ways, follow established habits and make hundreds of small decisions without giving them much conscious attention.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Autopilot is useful. Imagine having to consciously relearn how to brush your teeth, make coffee, drive to work or tie your shoes every morning.
The problem begins when autopilot moves beyond simple routines and starts choosing the direction of our lives.
Old habits begin making decisions for us. Emotions determine how we react. Assumptions influence what we believe. Fear tells us what to avoid. Familiar patterns quietly repeat themselves.
And because these processes happen automatically, we may not even realize they are happening.
We are sailing, but we are not always consciously steering.
If we want to live more intentionally, one of the first places we need to explore isn’t somewhere outside us.
It is inside.
Before we can understand ourselves, we have to learn to notice ourselves.
That is where awareness begins.
Awareness is the ability to observe what is happening within us while it is happening:
What am I thinking?
What am I feeling?
What am I doing?
These sound like remarkably simple questions.
But how often during an ordinary day do we actually stop and ask them?
We can spend hours thinking without noticing our thoughts.
We can become irritated without recognizing that we are irritated.
We can reach for our phones without consciously deciding to.
We can eat when we aren't hungry, procrastinate on something important, become defensive during a conversation, or repeat an old behavior without stopping to notice what's happening.
The behavior happens.
Then life continues.
Self- Awareness is the Beginning of the Inside Journey
Imagine our life as a ship that has been travelling for many years.
Over time, we have developed ways of navigating. Some serve us extremely well. Others may have been established long ago under very different circumstances.
Habits became automatic.
Beliefs became assumptions.
Repeated reactions became familiar responses.
Eventually, we may stop questioning who, or what is actually steering.
Awareness Brings Us Back Into the Wheelhouse.
Awareness is like walking back into the wheelhouse and looking at the instruments.
Where are we?
What direction are we travelling?
What has been influencing our course?
Are we consciously steering, or are we simply continuing along the heading we have followed for years?
We decided we want to become a more conscious and capable navigator for the journey ahead.
Don't Fix It Yet. Notice It.
This distinction is important.
When we begin working on ourselves, our natural tendency is to fix things immediately.
We notice impatience and decide we need to become more patient.
We recognize a bad habit and immediately try to eliminate it.
We notice anxiety and want it to disappear.
But awareness comes before correction.
For now, we are simply gathering information.
Instead of:
Why am I like this?
Try:
Interesting. I noticed that.
Instead of:
I shouldn't be feeling this way.
Try:
This is what I'm feeling right now.
Instead of:
I have to stop doing this.
Begin with:
I noticed myself doing it.
There will be time later to explore triggers, beliefs, causes and recurring patterns.
The first skill is simply learning to see what is already there.
From Autopilot to Intentional Choice.
An automatic reaction often looks something like this:
Something happens → I react → I behave → I move on.
Awareness introduces something incredibly important into that sequence:
Something happens → I notice → I pause → I choose.
That small space ( I pause ) between noticing and responding is where intentional living becomes possible.
Awareness doesn't guarantee that we will make a different choice.
Sometimes we will notice ourselves doing exactly what we have always done.
That's okay.
Because yesterday we may have done it without noticing.
Today, we saw it.
That is movement.
Something that previously operated entirely in the background has entered conscious awareness.
And once we can see something, we can eventually begin to understand it.
Observe Before You Steer.
An old navigational principle is hidden inside this practice.
Before changing course, we first need to establish our position.
The same applies to the inside journey.
We don't begin by deciding everything that needs to change about ourselves.
We begin by discovering where we actually are.
Awareness leads to understanding.
Understanding creates possibilities.
Possibilities give us choices.
And repeated intentional choices gradually change the direction of our lives.
But the journey starts much more quietly.
It starts by paying attention.
Boarding Pass 365 Card 002: Awareness.
For this exercise, don't try to analyze yourself.
Don't search for explanations.
And don't try to change anything yet.
Several times throughout your day, pause for a moment and record:
What am I thinking right now?
What am I feeling right now?
What am I doing right now?
That's all.
At the end of the day, look back over your observations and ask:
What did I notice about myself?
You may discover something important.
You may discover nothing surprising at all.
Both are perfectly useful.
The objective isn't to produce an insight on demand.
The objective is to begin developing the habit of noticing yourself while you are living your life. Don't fix. Don't judge. Just notice.
Awareness is not the entire inside journey. It is where we begin.
Because before we can intentionally change course, we first have to recognize what has been steering us.
Fair winds,
Chef Martin
Takeaway:
We cannot intentionally change what we have not yet learned to see.
Awareness is the first step of the inside journey. Before trying to fix our habits, thoughts, emotions or reactions, we need to notice them. Every time we pause and observe ourselves without judgment, we step out of autopilot and create a small space for conscious choice.
Notice first. Understand next. Choose intentionally.
Observe before you steer.
