Awareness/Mindfulness/The Now…Call It What You Will, Just Do It.
So far I’ve talked about becoming aware of your little voice and practicing awareness and the importance of practicing present moment awareness or staying in the Now. Because I want you to have and know how to use all the tools in your toolbox, I should also talk about mindfulness. Honestly, I don’t really care what you call it nor should you. If you’re getting hung up on terminology you need to let go a little.
Mindfulness is just another term you can use to think about being in the moment or present or aware or being in the Now.
One definition of mindfulness is:
A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
When You’re Really Mad or Sad, Practice Awareness
It’s easy to say “Practice Awareness” but it’s actually not that easy to do. Our minds our usually whirring along as fast a hummingbird’s heartbeat (which, if you didn’t know, is really really fast) so it’s pretty easy to ignore all the random thoughts and usually useless information going by.
One way to learn to practice awareness is when you’re really emotional about something. If you’re really angry or really sad take a moment to listen to what your little voice is saying. Chances are once you start to focus on it, it’s going to quiet down a little bit. It’s almost like it gets embarrassed that it’s been caught talking in class or something.
Only you will know what it’s saying in this moment of high emotion but I can almost guarantee that it’s only adding to the drama.
Top 10 Teen Examples When U Know Your Ego is at Work
So, in my last post I revealed the 1st Secret for Teens which is:
Secret #1: You are not the little voice in your head.
That little voice/your ego is so chattery and yabbery it can sometimes be hard to know when you’re barely hearing it versus when you’re listening and reacting to it.
Here are some examples of when your ego/little voice is at work and when you’re all ears:
1. You text your friend and she doesn’t immediately text you back.
Your little voice says: “She didn’t text you back. She’s probably mad at you. What did you do? I bet she’s actually talking about you to someone else right now.”
You: Spend the rest of the night worrying about it and check your phone every 5 seconds.
The Secret Handbook 4 Teens 