Awareness Is The First Step To Healing And Change

Reaching a state of awareness is above all an awakening. It opens your eyes within to make the subconscious conscious and to start a necessary personal revolution. Awareness is the first step to healing, helping us to let go of the things that harm us. To just move forward to the life we ​​deserve.

Many philosophers and sociologists define our current society as a sleeping entity. We live focused on our ‘I’. But this is an ‘I’ that has been numbed by others through consumerism. We experience an eternal discontent, always wanting to achieve and obtain much more than we already have.

Maybe this is true. Perhaps we are a society like in the movie ‘The Matrix’ , forever immersed in a state of apathy. An inner sphere in which emotional voids are filled by the enjoyment of food. Here we alleviate loneliness with ephemeral relationships, limiting ourselves to avoiding boredom through temporary catharsis using the games on our phones or computers. Perhaps…

Some people see it this way. However, something is becoming clearer. Many people actually try to give an authentic meaning to their existence. To do this, they do not hesitate to improve themselves through reading, therapy and taking advantage of different psychological perspectives through which they can find “insight” or “enlightenment” to detach themselves from the ordinary, and reach the extraordinary.

We recommend that you think about this. We recommend that you wake up!

Awareness, a necessary step in our personal development

Within psychotherapy, it is without a doubt one of the most important aspects of the healing process to make the individual aware of the problems that are causing his discomfort. When you visit a psychologist, you are usually very clear about the external sources of your discomfort and unhappy feelings. My partner doesn’t understand me. My parents are suffocating me. My boss doesn’t appreciate me. I don’t have a job and society seems to have forgotten me…

However, a good professional should always guide this individual to new ways of “awakening” inwardly. These therapists will give their patients a more complete and authentic control over their lives. Now this is not exactly an easy process.

It takes some time to reach what is called “a state of consciousness” in Gestalt therapy (noticing or becoming aware of something). Or something that Nippon culture translates as ‘satori’, a process of deep understanding that requires the encrusted layers to disappear to overcome all the blocks that keep our authentic being from coming out. Our authentic essence that still sleeps, slumbers.

Awareness was also an important aspect in Piaget’s theories. He defined consciousness as the delicate and complex process we all go through, from the instrumental knowledge of our reality to a more intimate, abstract and significant conceptualization of things. These approaches are still very common today. Approaches deeply rooted in the idea of ​​’awakening’, the concept or ‘insight’ defined by Lao Tse in four stages. These are sleep, wakefulness, self-consciousness and objective conscience.

As you can see it is all about an inner journey, very similar to the journey described by Plato in the myth of the cave. It moves from the universe of sensations, self-deception and shadows to a much higher, freer and more authentic realm. Now we will explain how to achieve this.

The relief that awakening or reconstruction offers

Just before this we quoted Piaget. In his texts on genetic psychology, he cites a concept that can be of great use to us: the cognitive unconscious. Although it first reminds us of Freudian theory, the father of genetic epistemology offers us a valuable approach to ponder: consciousness is not really an awakening, nor an enlightenment.

It is not only about making the unconscious conscious, but also about reconstructing it.  For example, I may become aware of one of my limitations: my inability to set boundaries and say ‘no’. Becoming aware of this aspect would do me no good if I did not give it a purpose, which is nothing but a change. To reconstruct that part of my ‘I’, to heal myself. To gain more control over my reality by crawling out of that cave of ‘shadows’ and unhappiness.

We now show how to generate this process of awakening and reconstruction.

The three phases of awareness

This process of awareness may seem simple. It seems so. Above all, it requires you to be honest with yourself at all times.

The first step in this awakening requires you to open your eyes from the most intimate and profound part of your being. We are talking about the emotional world. Ask yourself what you feel right now. Explore your feelings and emotions. Ask your body too, your headache, your stomachache… Translate all those symptoms into words (fear, anger, restlessness, insecurity…).

The second step requires you to observe what is happening in your external world. Pay attention to the present and pay attention to the things that are obvious, the things that sometimes we don’t like to face personally. My partner is cold to me. I have friends I worry about. I spend my time and energy on things that are not worth it…

The third step is the most complicated.  You already know what you feel and what is happening around you. It’s time to dig into your defensive walls, your prejudices, your attitudes, the ones that falsely tell you it’s better to cling than to change. That it’s best to turn the other cheek and stay calm and quiet for fear that things might change too much.

Confront yourself. We are our worst enemies. Hence there is no point in becoming aware of your own weaknesses if you do not dare to turn them into strength. Be responsible, muster your courage and heal yourself: undergo a change.