Awareness

[Hardik jain]

Awareness alone is curative.

Absolutely true.

so, can you mention things that builds awareness and things that destroy awareness?

[Christian]

@Hardik jain

Activities that build awareness:

Meditation, self inquiry, practicing open mindedness, reading books (if you are wise), slow deliberate mindful action, being.

 

Activitiesthat destroy awareness:

The modern school system.

Internet browsing

Toxic environment

Religion

Eating Unhealthty foods can lead to a decrease in awareness

Thinking and Building models - then thinking they are reality itself.

Relationships

Social structures and norms.

Parents over the course of your life.

Video games

Falling in love with a girl/boy - and constantly thinking about them.

This second list is just scratching the surface. The activities that we engage in that destroy awareness is incredibly comprehensive.

 

 

[Beam]

A rude awakening or something bad happening in one's life is catalyst for change.


Its amazing how motivated people get when their ass is on the line ..

[FindingPeace]

All of Leo's videos help to build awareness. Most of society helps to destroy it.

Build it by disconnecting from the things that destroy it: entertainment, media, social networking, sociallising, chasing success and acheivement etc

Leo's video "How society fucks you in the ass" provides a good answer to this topic.

[MIARIVEL]

@Hardik jain Minfulness builds awareness and self control in any situation. Teaches you clarity in situations to be able to see things from a broader perspective. Things that stimulate your mind like wacthing educational videos, reading books to develop your mind and challenge your thinking all builds awareness. Same with the quality of people we choose to have in our life and the quality of food we eat and how active we are - all these things can help build awareness. 

Alcohol & drugs take this awareness away from us. Perceptions get misinterpreted, we become delusional and our minds and actions may not be fully functional. Bad foods, poor choice of friends and life decisions can also cloud our judgement making us not aware of what is really happening. 

[Gabriel David Gomez]

I actually just posted something in my topic about the martial arts. It has to do with focus. Just as you use your eyes and switch in between focus on each sense, you should not focus on any one of them so much that you can even switch in between them. Sharpen your focus evenly between your senses.

You should not pay attention to one sense to the point that you are distracted from any of the others. This includes overexertion on a single thought or too much trust with an emotion. A big aspect with not paying attention to any one sense to the point that it distracts you from the other senses is that the mind begins to resort to its animal instincts. it says that comfort was where you were keyed into one because comfort had been associated with safety. But of course that is not the case. A big problem with people is their animal instincts aren't properly honed. They say the pain which is only momentary is danger yet it takes a struggle to gain muscle. This is why people often struggle with working out. You have to gain patience through struggle, and to direct your focus to all of your senses you must have patience and not have a mind which wanders off and is focused on one subject too much. 

By not focusing on one sense too much, your mind says that not enough focus where you feel vulnerable will allow the enemy. But the feeling of vulnerability is only a reminder of what a situation had resulted in in the past. So you must look at it as a suggestion rather than a proper description of the situation. You have to grow past the animal instincts as well as shame and embarrassment which are instincts to keep a reputation up in the survival of the fittest, so that your experience teaches your brain a new manner of approaching something not according to its classic result. Just like when Leo showed a picture of spider to which the brain responded towards as though danger were imminent, multiple views of it will lessen the old emotions reaction and teach the animal instinct that the thing is only a picture, it is inert. The danger your mind hallucinates so that you can actually see it is only an extremely vivid and visual suggestion about what the situation may bring. That is what emotion is; only animal instincts. YOu must dig past these to grow in awareness by not focusing too much on any one sense or thought.

 

 

[Gabriel David Gomez]

I also say that entertainment, media, etc. is not harmful to your awareness. In fact, it is rather how people use their senses (because that is key in perception). Or else, why would two people watch the same movie during a study at a college, one having increased awareness and the other have decreased in awareness recorded before beginning? The mind tends to become lost in thought and direct focus other than towards things in their present state. Remembrance makes things the embodiment of a present emotion even thought what you see is physical. But that is due to animal instincts.