"If a magic genie appeared and granted you only one wish for your brain fitness, go with to increase awareness." - John Assaraf, Innercise

Increased awareness is what allows us to look at our situation and come up with a more reasonable solution, much like how a detective needs as much evidence as possible before coming up with their accusations.

Awareness is the knowledge of one's situation: the environment, the context and more. There are many ways awareness happens... many people simply tell people to 'pay more attention' to what's happening around them. So, looking around, maybe even cherishing, the lovely things around us... maybe what one is wearing, or how the weather feels on a particular day. Commonly-recommended ways to do this, and I'm sure we've been recommended this before, include partaking in yoga, martial arts possibly... those gross-motor activities that involve understanding your position and that environment around you.

In another respect, awareness can also happen from looking at the same thing, just from a different perspective. This is why I'm writing about this particular quote/subject, so while I could go many other ways about this section of text, I'm going to talk about just one, so bear with me ^^:

One of the reasons why I decided to write about this today is that I was having a conversation with my friend today, and, we got to the topic of critiquing each other. This was something we'd brought up once or twice but never really got anywhere, so it's a conversation that stands out from the rest as of now... we both gave each other criticism that we recognised, and talked about that. No hard feelings (thankful, if anything), just openness and a 'truth' from another's perspective. My friend mentioned how most friends would probably stray away from such conversation as to not hurt each others' feelings. Makes sense, but intimacy comes with that connection that welcomes such criticism because each party wants the best for the other, so in a way that openness for criticism (helpful criticism especially, is what I'm talking about) signifies that sort of bond that has developed and matured into one that encourages one another to grow. That's what I think about intimacy and close relationships, and what I look for in one.

That's my opinion in the sense where we're asking for feedback from others! It seems I've explored two separate topics in this one because I went quite deep into other-perspective awareness. Though, they intertwine in one way or another, so not too off-topic.

What do you think, what do you think about awareness, and gaining awareness through other people's perspectives?

Stay alive... stay and grow aware. Have a nice day!

- teriyakkii_1203