Self-Awareness for Everyone

Undesirable, annoying, upsetting, and disappointing things happen to everyone I recently had to deal with such a situation with the publishing of my latest book. My initial, visceral reaction to what went wrong was anger, and a desire to curse, scream, lash out, and rail against the Universe. But that was only the immediate, visceral reaction I had. What good would any of that do me? Pause, reflect, redirect I stopped and took a deep breath. Okay, this is upsetting, annoying, disappointing, and frustrating. All true and all, I think, justifiable. But now I have a choice in front of me. React in a useless but potentially releasing way. Shout, curse out my luck, blame myself for failing, get angry, and generally let this negatively impact me, my day, my weekend, or however long I choose. - Or – I can acknowledge that this sucks and ask, “What the what?” Then take whatever action is available to me to resolve this problem. Admittedly there’s a third option, too. Do nothing, walk away, ignore it for now. While there are certainly times, happenings, and circumstances where that might serve – this is a form of inaction. I believed that action of some sort was my best course to choose. Getting angry and reacting by screaming about it and cursing everything and everyone out gets me nowhere. Knowing that, I made all my choices for how I’d respond with a positive approach. What you do next is always a choice Your visceral initial reaction to things that happen is automated. Some things that happen will make you squee with excitement and joy. Other things that happen will make you scream, curse, and throw a temper tantrum. Then there are the reactions that fall between these extremes but are no less automated. Immediately or near-immediately after your visceral reaction, you have a choice. Respond with continued anger or continued joy? What if you make the wrong choice for what you do next? This has paralyzed lots of people along the way. What if I choose wrong? What if how I respond does me no good? Frankly, unless this is a life-or-death choice, it’s always changeable. If you choose wrong, and you’re still here, you can choose again. How you respond in-depth is always a choice that can potentially disempower or empower you. Wouldn’t you prefer to feel empowered over feeling disempowered by how you respond? This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This might not be immediately applicable. When something unexpected happens, unless you’re incapacitated, please write it down, as well as how it made you think and feel in the moment when it happened. Be as detailed as you can. Now that some time has passed since the initial reaction, what do you desire to do next? Look at what happened, how you reacted to it, and where you are now. Write down at least 5 positive steps you can take next, as well as 5 negative steps you can take next. Please note, this can only be things that YOU can do. Also, they can impact only your life experience, because you can’t change anyone else’s. When you’re done, read what you’ve got. Which of the options do you desire to pursue? This is all about what’s next after an initial, visceral reaction to something happening to you. The main purpose is to affirm that any and all choice related to it belongs to you, and you alone. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Empathy can better the world around us The holiday season has begun. This can be extremely difficult for many, stirring up a host of wildly different emotions. How we feel the emotions we feel differs. Feelings have both a how and why to them. Depth, sensation, the actual way in which we feel things varies from person to person. This boils down to every single emotion because we’re all individuals. However, the similarities in what these emotions are shouldn’t be ignored or disregarded. And, further, nobody’s emotions and how/what of feelings are greater or lesser than anyone else’s. Empathy is for everyone Empathy seldom stands alone. It frequently tags along with kindness and compassion. The world we live in today is rocked by so much fear, and so many messages of scarcity and lack. Apart from more accountability, the one thing that I think would be of tremendous help to the world would be more empathy. Empathy allows you to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. This is where some confuse this for sympathy. I can best describe it thus: sympathy is saying, “Wow, I’m so sorry you are going through that,” whereas empathy is saying, “I see how you’re feeling, and I desire to understand your feelings.” Gaining understanding Empathy is understanding, and I think we need a lot more of that in this world. Feeling empathy towards other people is how we build bridges and create the best world we can. Empathy is where we can see that this is a world of abundance with room for more prosperity and good for everyone. When you see the terrible things happening in the world at large, consider your response. Can you empathize with people who are suffering? I think that if we find and feel more empathy, we can do a whole lot more to make this world a better place for everyone. But first, we must empathize with ourselves. Empathy for health, wellness, and wellbeing Human beings have 4 elements to their health: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. If one is out of balance, they all tend to be unbalanced. When you apply empathy to yourself you become more empowered. That can be more readily turned outward. Before you know it, you can be more empathetic towards others. Mindfulness is key to empathy, as well as kindness and compassion. You’re worthy and deserving of empathy. Experiencing optimum health, wellness, and wellbeing is right for all. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This one might be a challenge if everyone around you is largely okay. So it might not be immediately applicable. If someone you know is suffering in any way – can you put yourself in their shoes? Can you imagine in your mind’s eye what they’re thinking and feeling? From there, can you picture what it would be like to be going through whatever they’re going through – even if it’s something you disagree with or take issue with in any way? Write this down. However, write it down as if you are that person. “I’m thinking about ‘x’” and “I’m feeling ‘y’” and the like, in first person. Read what you wrote down. How does this make you feel? This is a way to practice empathy. However, please note – empathy in no way means you can help another that doesn’t want help. It gives you a perspective that can be applied to others and yourself, which can lead to more kindness and compassion all around. The world can never have too much kindness, compassion, and empathy. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mindset gives choices direction and intent When it comes to choices you do or don’t make, your mindset will set up your outcome, at least to a degree. It’s imperfect, but that’s the nature of the Universe. When you go into a situation expecting a negative outcome, you’re very likely to get it. Shouldn’t that mean if you go into a situation expecting a positive outcome, you’re very likely to get it? Yes, but not exactly. That’s due to the unpredictable nature of the Universe. Mindset and competition When you have a mindset that you’re going to lose, it’s not much of a stretch to call yourself a loser. Then, before you know it, you’re expecting shit to go wrong, problems, failures, and you set it all up to go precisely that way. Of course, this can be reversed. When you have a mindset that you’re going to win, it’s not much of a stretch to call yourself a winner, develop confidence, find possibilities, potential, and set yourself up to grow, evolve, and take control of your self. Mindset matters in everything we choose to do We have control over very little in the Universe. Most, if not all of it, is within ourselves. Specifically, we control our thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. Doesn’t seem like very much, does it? The truth, however, is that it’s everything. Thought + Feeling + Intent + Action = A creation! Mindset enters into this if you stop and question the validity of the process, or if someone else causes you to question it in some way. Only three things are guaranteed and true for everybody. Birth, life, and death. Everyone is born, everyone lives, and everyone dies. Mindset matters to mindfulness and control When you engage in active conscious awareness – mindfulness – you open yourself to assuming control of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. When all is said and done, that control is pretty much the only control you really, truly, have in life. Mindset isn’t permanent. You can control it, choose it, and change it as necessary. This ultimately empowers you. If you’re having a bad day, mindset will show you if this will be the whole day, or if you can act to change it. That’s why mindset matters with everything you choose to do. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Let’s apply mindfulness to check on your present mindset. Take 5 minutes and put yourself somewhere that you’ll be uninterrupted. Take a deep, deep breath in, hold for a two-count, then let it out. Repeat twice. Write down these questions and their answers: ·Right now, what are you thinking? Is it positive or negative? ·Right now, what are you feeling? Is it positive or negative? ·Right now, how are you feeling? Is it positive or negative? ·Right now, has your day been positive, negative, or neutral? If 2 of 4 are negative, you’re likely in a neutral mindset (also if the answer to the last is neutral). You might need to check if you’re applying active conscious awareness or living subconsciously by rote, routine, and habit. If 3 or more are negative, you’re likely living in a negative mindset. Ask why your answers were negative to get insight into changes to make. If 3 or more are positive, you’re living in a positive mindset. How empowered are you feeling recognizing and acknowledging this? Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does everyone experience overwhelm from time to time? Absolutely, yes. But not everyone chooses to actively reduce and separate themselves from overwhelm. Human beings were not designed to have overwhelm be our default. But here we are. Everywhere you turn, someone is trying to sell you something. Then, we’re being pulled every which way by friends, family, so-called leaders, influencers, and total strangers with a virtual bully pulpit of one form or another. We don’t recognize the danger The major downside to the instant, constant connectivity of our smartphones, the bombardment of messages in our environments, coupled with the need for acceptance and human interaction is a potent brew that, unchecked, ferments to overwhelm. According to Gallup, as of 2022, 72% of people have their mobile phone with them when they sleep. And 64% of people check it first thing in the morning, whether it was with them in the night or not. We’ve been increasingly indoctrinated to not recognize the danger. We just accept half a dozen billboards back-to-back-to-back, advertising on busses, music in bars and restaurants, and the propaganda of the “new normal”, until we’re so overwhelmed that we lose perspective, lose awareness, and have no idea how we got here. You can recognize overwhelm in yourself The only person in your head, heart, and soul, is you. Nobody else can think, feel, intend, or act for you. If you don’t work it, nobody else can or will. When you stop and consider all the data you are absorbing daily – passively and actively, subconsciously and consciously – it becomes apparent that it’s a lot. But you can recognize this. That, then, empowers you to do something about it. The choice is yours You live in this world with all the messages constantly scrabbling for your attention. Thus, you get to decide if you allow them to reach you, impact you, and sink into your psyche passively or actively, subconsciously or consciously. The choice in this is whether you allow it to settle in and be your norm. Or not. You can mindfully take steps and various actions to reduce, lessen, and fix the impact of overwhelm. But it’s not passive, it’s only achievable via active choices. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Overwhelm reduction tools Each of these can help you reduce overwhelm in your life. I’ve employed all of these myself and found them to be quite helpful. Put away your smartphone Put your smartphone/tablet/laptop down and walk away. Go to nature or out on the water Go somewhere without the constant advertisements and messages. Journal therapy Journal. Write down what’s overwhelming you. The vessel of overwhelm A visualization tool my therapist taught me. Find a place you can have privacy for at least 5 minutes. Take a deep breath. Visualize a container of some sort. Visualize opening the container. Once it’s open, take everything that’s currently having an impact on you – mentally, emotionally, physically, and/or spiritually – and place it, item by item, in the vessel. Take all the pains, fears, discomforts, annoyances, and all else you don’t desire to deal with now, or that you recognize you have zero control over, and put it in the vessel. Once done, seal it up. Feel free to visualize locking it tight, placing it in a safe, or otherwise setting it somewhere secure and away. Take a few deep breaths in and out, staying with the visual of those things you removed and placed in the vessel. Welcome back. How do you feel? Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gratitude empowers – given and received I have an amazing life. And for that, I have tremendous gratitude. Gratitude is something we easily take for granted. That’s not anyone’s fault, per se. But when you live in a mass-consumption, consumer-driven, fear-based society, gratitude is easy to shunt away and take for granted. By having gratitude for what you already have, you can get what you desire. However, having and expressing gratitude for all you already have alters your desire in positive ways. Gratitude and mindfulness Mindfulness – as I define it – is active conscious awareness of your inner being. It’s achieved by a combination of sensory input (via your 6 senses) and knowing – in the present, here and now: ·What you’re thinking ·How and what you’re feeling ·What your intentions are ·What actions you are or aren’t taking Being consciously aware of these makes you mindful. And it tells you, right now, who, what, where, how, and why you are. When you’re present and actively consciously aware, you can recognize what you do have. Material and immaterial, mindfulness opens the door to look and see what you have for your life. With this awareness, you can offer thanks and practice gratitude for those things. Why is that important? Because if you’re not grateful, how do you expect to change anything or get anything new? Thinking, feeling, and saying “thank you” builds bridges When you practice mindfulness, you’re creating inner self-awareness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. That active, conscious self-awareness in the now makes you wholly present. Once you gain mindfulness within, you can look at the intangibles you have. Your emotions become clearer. Then, you can turn your head, heart, and soul to your outer world. With a clear perception, you can see the things you have, the people in your life, and the good therein. When you see this from such a clear, mindful perspective, it’s apparent the good you have. Gratitude also shows you – and the Universe – if your desire is genuine or based on consumerism. When you’re grateful for what you have, what you need – really need – becomes clearer and easier to get. Ergo – yes, gratitude for what you have can get you what you genuinely desire. And there is never, ever such a thing as too much gratitude. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Every day for the next week, at the end of your day, write out 5 things you’re grateful for. These can be either tangible or intangible. They can be big or small, significant or insignificant – it doesn’t matter. Seek, find, and choose 5 things (people, places, whatever) for which you have gratitude. When you’re writing this out, please do so in this manner: “I am so very grateful that I have *insert tangible or intangible person, place, thing, or whatever* in my life.” Then, read each one, aloud, three times. Don’t just read the words, feel the gratitude. Say “thank you” aloud after the third time reading them. After a week of this practice, see how it makes you feel. Do you feel the empowerment that gratitude creates? Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if it’s staring us all right in the face? The quest to find the meaning of life has occupied the human mind for most of recorded history. Why are we here? What are we doing? What’s the answer to the question of life, the Universe, and Everything? (That one we know – it’s 42). It’s easy to argue that philosophy, religion, and science are all on the exact same quest – to discover the meaning of life. Each has their own approach to the question. I believe that the answer to the meaning of life is quite possibly the simplest thing ever. Without further ado – what if the answer to the meaning of life is this: TO LIVE. How can it possibly be that simple? Here are the reasons why I make this claim. First – how many people do you know that don’t genuinely live their lives? Secondly – how do you feel when you are acting intentionally Thirdly – We are all energy. Why transmute from pure energy to a body if not for one reason – TO LIVE? Lastly – Occam’s Razor. The idea of Occam’s Razor is that when presented with multiple possible answers, the simplest is usually the correct answer. Shouldn’t the answer to the meaning of life be deep and complicated? The idea that the meaning of life is abstract, deep, and complicated has led to discourse, disagreement, argument, violence, and ultimately to war. Rejecting simplicity is human nature. While knowledge is certainly power, and better than ignorance, it comes with a price. The loss of innocence. There are necessary complexities. It takes time, study, will, desire, and training to learn skills like medicine, piloting, and electrical work. We add all sorts of unnecessary elements to our lives – often in the hope that it gives us a deeper sense of meaning. If I have it all, won’t I better know the meaning of life? Mindfulness to recognize the meaning of life Active conscious awareness is not about what’s in the world around you. This is about your inner being. It’s current, present awareness of your conscious mindset/headspace/psyche self. When it comes to the meaning of life, mindfulness informs you if you’re merely surviving and existing or living and experiencing. Are you making choices and decisions to learn, grow, see, do, feel, and experience all the potential, possibilities, and wonders of this life? This is not about grand and glorious purpose. It’s about the choices we make daily. Rather than make ourselves crazy seeking challenging answers to the meaning of life, isn’t it entirely possible it’s simply to live? This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this – go live. Do something that gives you a new experience, teaches you something new, and exposes you to potential and possibilities you’ve never been exposed to before. Visit that place near or far, read that book, make that call, sign up for that class or experience – just make the choice to do something not rote, routine, or otherwise the regular in your day-to-day experience. Don’t do something idiot or unsafe – but don’t utterly avoid risk, either. Accept that acting to live like this might cause you mental, emotional, or spiritual pain (more likely than physical pain). After you’ve done this thing – or even made the appointment or took the first step to do this thing – write down what it is, why you desire to do it, and how it makes you feel. Note especially how alive and connected it makes you feel. Does it make you desire to do more things and experience what it’s like to live? Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are the only you there is Do you like yourself? Be honest. Let’s take this a step further. Do you love yourself? This might bring up questions of conceit, arrogance, narcissism, and so on. But self-love is not any of these things. It’s about treating yourself how you would prefer that others treat you. Many of us put ourselves last. The journey of a thousand miles… Your health, wellness, and wellbeing will fluctuate over your lifetime. Multiple factors will impact them. These will be tangible and intangible, and further variable with time and experience. This means something that threw you off or made you ill yesterday could empower you and make you stronger today. Ceding all your power to anyone is pointless. Know why? Because nobody but you can be you. The only person that occupies your head, heart, and soul is you. What does it mean to care for yourself? Nearly everything related to self-care in our culture is focused on the physical. Diet, exercise, body modification, buying things – all ties to our physical selves. But the physical is only a quarter of our total self. Mental, emotional, and spiritual health gets too little attention and respect. They’re treated like an unwanted child of our health, wellness, and wellbeing. Whole generations and marginalized communities see therapy and mental health care as taboo. Most of your mental health is rooted in your subconscious. There, seated amidst your beliefs, values, and habits, the base of your mental, emotional, and spiritual self exists. You’re the whole package Self-care must address all of you. You should be mindful of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. This can be done by practicing active conscious awareness. This is done by asking: ·What am I thinking? ·What am I feeling? ·How am I feeling? ·Why am I doing (or not doing) this, that, or the other thing? ·What are my intentions? Each of these puts you in touch with the intangible elements of your health, wellness, and wellbeing. That’s where caring for yourself starts. Why should you care for yourself? I think that I’ve figured out the meaning of life. It’s so simple that it feels too simple to be true. But that’s why I’m convinced it is - To live. If you’re listening to this, you probably live a largely comfortable life. When you care for yourself, you give yourself the power to make more choices and decisions. That is empowerment, and that’s how you can optimize all that you do. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Do one thing – for at least 5 minutes – for you, and only you. Read, meditate, take a walk, eat a treat, take a nap, turn off your phone, get a massage, watch something that makes you laugh, blast your radio, take a drive, or whatever. Do something that feels good and is for you alone. Immediately after your activity is done, write down (or type) what you did, why you chose to do it, and how it made you feel. Do this at least once a day, every day, for a week. See how that impacts your overall health, wellness, and wellbeing. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Action to change your life is only as difficult as you make it When it comes to finding the best ways to complicate my life, I’m an expert. This tends to come from overthinking things, overanalyzing, self-doubt, uncertainty, fear, and similar factors. However, no matter what the factor is – it all comes down to me. Nobody but me is in my head, heart, or soul. Thus, nobody but me can determine what works or doesn’t work for me. When it comes to my life and any changes I desire to make to it – I alone can choose those. More complexity doesn’t mean better. Sometimes simple really is the answer. I’ve learned this through 30+ years of fencing. Working to change your life is never one-and-done The truth is that there is no one-time-only change that you can make for your life. Or rather, you can’t sustain your life on a single change. That’s because change is constant. The only constant in the Universe. Change can, will, and does occur all the time. And most of it is not yours to control. But there is change you can control – that’s your approach to life, the universe, and everything. Your life, your reality, can be altered by choice by you. And that’s through conscious awareness. In other words, mindfulness. Mindfulness is easy Being actively consciously aware is easy. All you need to do is focus on being present, here and now. Then, to gain mindfulness of your life, ask questions answerable only here and now, like, ·What am I thinking? ·What am I feeling? ·How am I feeling? ·What am I doing? ·What are my intentions? These questions can only be answered in the now. Thus, they make you actively consciously aware/mindful. Changing your life – depending on where you’re starting from – can look incredibly difficult. But does it need to be? No. It’s only as difficult as you choose to make it. Change your life step by step Changing your life will take time. Recognizing and accepting this is super important. Chunking it down – when it comes to changing your life – is a matter of not just focusing on the end goal, but stepping stones along the way. You must take steps to get from where you are to where you desire to be. But it really is that easy. You don’t need to overanalyze every idea, just start taking steps. As Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” If you’re working on changing your life, take at least one small step every day. It might simply be altering how you approach things, your self-talk, or general thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. Keep it simple. That’s all you need. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Change something today. Change your bedtime, when you wake up, your toothpaste, your morning routine, a route you regularly drive, how you prepare your tea or coffee, how you part your hair – anything small and relatively easy to change. Then, change one thing tomorrow. Note – nothing that you change must be changed permanently. This exercise is designed to make change more familiar and something that you can control. This also helps show how big changes can start small. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who are you? This is a massively loaded question. Who you are can vary depending on the time of day, the company you’re keeping, your mood, and numerous other factors. The short answer is that you are you. No matter what happens, the only one in your head, heart, and soul is you. Yet being yourself can be challenging because of the need to be accepted. The truth is that you are always yourself. And you should be yourself because you can’t be anyone else. Ever wonder what the world would look like if you – and everyone – could just be yourself? Kindness, compassion, and empathy matter In the United States, over the past decade or so, you’ve probably noticed a trend. Certain people, claiming liberties, rights, privileges, and the like – in the name of being themselves – have been utter dicks to everyone else. That’s because a key element of being yourself gets ignored. And that’s kindness, compassion, and empathy. You have a choice. But consider this – do you desire to receive kindness, compassion, and empathy from others? Being yourself means being true to yourself Have you ever created a version of yourself that you presented to one group or person but not another? And has that identity been difficult to maintain because – though created to gain acceptance by another – it wasn’t true to you? That’s why being yourself means being true to yourself. It's the only way to really, truly, genuinely know and be you. Being yourself is not a license to be a dick There is a common thread to this – kindness, compassion, and empathy. Or a lack thereof. You know right from wrong. Not the black and white variants, but the shades of greys and color between them. You know not to randomly murder people just because, not to shove every slow walker on the street before you out of the way, not to urinate on public sidewalks, and so on. If you think something someone does makes them a dick – don’t emulate them. Don’t do what they do. Don’t be a dick. It’s a surprisingly simple measure. The world needs your unique self in it. Because even if the why isn’t entirely clear – that is why you are here. To be yourself - and all the good and bad, potential and possibilities - that comes with it. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: To know if you’re being yourself – right here and now, write down the following questions one at a time, with the present answer – before writing and answering the next question: ·What am I thinking about right now? ·What am I feeling right now? ·How am I feeling now? ·What’s my current intent? ·What are my present actions? This establishes in the present moment the basics for who you are. Based on this, write this question, and answer it immediately: ·Am I being myself or being disingenuous to myself? If the answer is yes – more power to you! If no – being mindful of this information gives you the control to change what you dislike and do what it takes to better be yourself. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do You Think You’re the Only One Feeling Uncertain? Though we tend not to talk about it in this way – COVID-19 changed the world. Here we are - a few years after the pinnacle of the crisis - and find ourselves left with tons of paradoxes. For every good thing learned in the pandemic, a bad thing was learned, too. Rather than address these things and use this as a growth opportunity, more often than not attempts are made to go back to how it was before. That has caused a largely ignored and unaddressed mental health crisis for nearly everyone. That’s why – more likely than not – you’re feeling uncertain. You are utterly not alone I had high hopes that maybe, just maybe, we’d emerge on the other side of the pandemic with a new sense of ourselves. We’d all have a better sense of self, of being self-empowered, and of having control of our life experiences. Choosing to quarantine ourselves, maintain social distance, and masking would open us to seeing how interconnected we all are. Maybe I’m naïve, and maybe that was overly optimistic. But I’d thought we might just learn a thing or two we could carry forward. When you are bombarded with conflicting info you can’t help but feel uncertain Extremism was spotlighted during and immediately after the pandemic. Good and bad, extremes were highlighted as if they were directly in front of us all, in ways humanity has never experienced before. Never before have we as a society had the technology for instant information. The immediacy of news and information gets used and abused to spread messages of fear, hate, distrust, and other negative emotions to make you and me uncertain. When you get uncertain information poured over you like a never-ending waterfall, feeling uncertain will take root in your head, heart, and soul. Why is nobody talking about this? Because uncertainty also says that talking about this could make you an outcast, pariah, or in some other way shunned. Active conscious awareness Everyone has at least passive beliefs, values, and habits. These exist in our subconscious minds. Many are rote, routine, or just accepted by us as being what’s what. However, everyone also has a conscious mind. That is where you can be actively aware of the world around you, where you are, who is with you, what you are taking in, and so on. But more importantly, your active conscious awareness makes you aware of yourself. You are worthy and deserving of making choices and decisions that alleviate feeling uncertain. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This exercise should create mindful certainty in this moment. Look around you. Choose an object you can reach to, take hold of, and look closely at. Do that. Look at the object and really observe it. Examine, study, notice its imperfections, nuances, and whatever else you can. Does the object cause you any thoughts or feelings? If so – what are they? Don’t overthink this – be here, present, and in the now with your thoughts. Pause. Consider the object. Note how you can be certain that it is, that it’s in your hand. The physical presence of the object, here and now, is a certain thing. Write down your final thoughts and feelings about this. What and how it makes you think and feel related to the certainty of its existence and being. See if you can expand that out to other parts of your life. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs:titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices