Updates on a couple of things: one of my friends Neal ran his best marathon ever in Chicago yesterday. Running a marathon is really challenging. The first 20 miles go by pretty well but the last 6 seem to last forever. Maybe 10/10/10 was lucky for him but running that well is not about luck but more about lots of practice.

Another thing I wanted to share is that I have read a majority of papers from my class and they are excellent with very thoughtful responses. It is tough to grade this paper because it is about their level of awareness. I think they all get an “A” for awareness.

Awareness is about being tuned into self and the world around us. Awareness means we are in touch with our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, body, relationship with others, and maybe even our higher nature. Awareness is necessary for humans to function in healthy ways in the world. Unaware people don’t know their own minds, ignore their feelings, trash their body and too often loose touch with their spirit, which gets buried under religious beliefs.

What do we need to be aware of to experience full awareness:

Our thoughts that often seem endless
Our self-talk, which often limits us
Our self-esteem that can be negative because of our misperceptions of self
Our beliefs because often they need to be questioned
Our emotions because they give us feedback about what is working for us and what is not
Our emotions because they color our experience of life
Our heart because we need to be aware enough to know if it is open or closed
Our body because we need to feed it well and we know when we don’t
Our body because its need to be exercised and stretched and rested
Our ability to be present
Our contact with out spirit
If we are carrying tension or are feeling tight
If we are blocked or open energetically
If we are tuned in intuitively
If we are open creatively
If we are open to connecting deeply with others
If we are open in our thinking
If we taking the time we need to care for self
If we are focusing on being or are we just all doing
If we are judging self and others
If we need to be more patient
If we need to be more humble
If we need to be awake to the people and the world around us
If we are a supportive partner/parent/friend to those we love
If we are compassionate to others
If we allow ourselves to enjoy life
If we are are open to the beauty that surrounds us
If we appreciate the moment
If we are in hurry or worry mode
If we are able to tune into our breath and slow ourselves down
If we are in touch with the needs of those around us
If we are aware when we stuff emotions
If we are able to see we have blindspots
If we can use feedback to better ourselves
If we are listening to out intuition and allowing it to guide us
If we are able to quiet down enough to hear the wisdom inside
If we can sense when we are tense and take action to release
If we can play and have fun or are we too serious

This is just a brief list of things we can tune in to and become more aware. Awareness is very empowering because it enables us to consciously choose our experience of life.