Awareness is something that we can easily increase if we do it correctly. But first, what are some reasons to have good awareness.
- Better Driving Skills, if you have good awareness you will be a better, safer driver.
- Avoiding bad situations. With good awareness comes the ability to avoid things that are bad, uncomfortable and possible dangerous.
Look at the picture really close. She should be paying more attention to her surroundings.
- Help others out before things get worse. Good awareness will help you see things coming that others are ignorant of. You then will be able to help them prevent these things from happening.
Above all I want you to understand that it is not all about self defense, it is about being aware of what is going on around us. For example, if you are in tune with your awareness, you will know that your coworker is having a difficult time with a personal situation, or a work situation etc, and you can help. You will also be able to relate better to people because you have been listening to them and observing who they really are. This is especially helpful in the business and professional world. If you can relate and find common ground quickly it breaks down barriers and lets you help them out and get to know them better.
The interesting thing is all the examples I gave you above are used by the bad guys to break down barriers and get what they want. What bad guys want from us is not a good thing. However, if we have awareness skills we can see these things coming, we can help ourselves and our friends avoid these bad situations.
Some ideas on how to develop better Awareness.
- Pay Attention. Listen, look, feel, take note of all the information that your senses are giving you. Then make note of things that seem odd or out of place. Odd sounds, smells, things that feel out of place. The more you do this the better you will get.
- Keep you eyes open and be looking around. This is the key to awareness, if you are not looking around you are negating one of your primary inputs. You are also looking like a target to a bad guy.
- Pay attention to your gut or instinct. Our sub-conscience will give us signals and clues about what doesn’t feel or look right. If we pay attention to these feelings we will get better at listening to them.
I hope I have helped you understand how being aware is an essential part of living and if you are not doing it you should be.
