Awareness And Happiness

Written By Leland Lewis

Life can feel like it's going fast at times. One moment we're studying for an exam and the next we're taking our finals. When we feel like things are going quickly it's good to reflect on our emotions. One way to do this is by practicing awareness. Being more aware can help us better track how we feel and in addition, can help us feel happier. Let's see how these two tie into one another.

Learning About Yourself

Learning about who we are can take a long time to achieve. It's something gradual that we discover the older we get and it's worth taking the effort to do. One philosophical concept called Tabula Rasa, coined by John Locke is a great example of this. The idea is that we start off as a blank slate in terms of knowledge, rules, or experiences. A benefit of this perspective is that it can show us the value of choosing what experiences we want to steer ourselves toward to help us define ourselves as a person. By using awareness we can effectively use this to help us discover what we value, how we look at the world along with the role we play in our own lives. By seeing ourselves as a blank slate we allow more opportunities for positivity and in turn happiness.

“Learning about who we are can take a long time to achieve.”

Knowing What Fulfills You

What do we value? What makes us happy? What brings us fulfillment? All of these questions are worth asking since they help serve as a framework for emotional stability along with some goals we can work towards. These are deeply personal to who we are as an individual and some of us may put more weight depending on what we value. Fulfillment comes from a combination of working towards a goal and feeling a sense of satisfaction when accomplishing something. It can be finishing college, or working in a career that you genuinely care about. It's good to give things time to see if it's something worth doing since even the most fulfilling things need a healthy amount of patience.

“What brings us fulfillment?”

Being Patient

Lastly, we want to be okay with being patient. Patience is a great quality to have since it teaches us the value of waiting for what we want. The key thing here is that patience needs to be tempered with action. Without action, we may miss out on unique experiences. Without patience, we won't have the energy to take part in new things. Meditation is a powerful way to help cultivate this since it can let us tap into our sense of awareness. It gives us a quiet place to be still with our thoughts while acknowledging all the feelings and thoughts we have. It can also work as a way to sift through any negative feelings we're going through. Accepting how we feel is necessary if we want to work towards a more positive outcome since all of our emotions are valid.

Leland Lewis
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