Growing in Self-Awareness Part 2: Heart
Noticing our Emotions may be the most obvious path to gain self-awareness. We experience a lot of depth and meaning through our emotions.
Because self-awareness is a practice, we are going to practice awareness of emotions. We will begin the same way as last time when we practiced observing our body: by noticing.
Take a few deep, slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Keep breathing at a comfortable pace now. Just notice any tension, any pain or discomfort. The body is very connected to our emotions, and we often connect to our emotions through our physical experience. So let’s notice if any emotions are coming up. How would you describe your feeling? Can you find a name for it? You may feel calm, detached, sad, anxious, happy, bored, disappointed, hurt, angry, frustrated. Or something else.Take a few moments to check in and see how you are feeling in this moment.
Now because we are practicing, we can practice staying connected to ourselves in a stronger emotional experience. Let’s think of something recently that made you have a strong emotion. Let’s choose something that happened recently in the past few days, and also something that was not destructive or devastating because that without someone helping you in real-time. So think of that experience. What happened that made you mad/sad/elated? Notice what that feeling is like. Notice how the feeling grows, and what that feels like. Notice how your body feels - any tension or other sensations? Just notice.
With a little time, it is common for emotions to start to dwindle a little bit. Just notice if that is happening, what that feels like. Let the emotion go down if it is doing that.
Practice being non-judgmental. Notice any opinions that come up, and then gently turn your mind back to simple observations of your emotions rather than opinions or judgments. Let your emotion be present. You may find that your feelings are more intense than you realized. Or they may be more subdued than you realized. That’s OK. Just notice your feelings and name them if you can.
If your feeling resolves, you can just allow it to. If not, we are going to practice shifting your focus away from your emotions because sometimes we need that too. Allow yourself now to take a break and return your attention slowly to your surroundings, and get acquainted with the room around you.
How did that feel? What did you notice? Did you notice anything you didn’t expect?
You’ve just participated in the practice of self-awareness. You can repeat this daily to get more in touch with your own experience of life. Stay tuned for Part 3!
Written by Samantha Schlepphort