Self-Awareness

"The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts." (from CASEL-SEL-Framework-11.2020)

Focusing strengthens Self-Awareness

How does Focusing relate to self-awareness?

Focusing is the practice that brings you back to yourself. It requires us to develop skills of interoception, that ability to understand our bodies inner sensations. The Power of the Pause is our first step, slowing down to welcome and acknowledge what is going on inside of us in this moment.

Our bodies did not evolve to react to our environment. Our bodies evolved to predict what is going to happen next. Lisa Feldman Barrett says, “This predictive process is the way your brain navigates the world, guides your actions, and constructs your experiences." This process can become rigid, repeating old patterns, if we are not actively participating as relational neuroscience and Focusing helps us understand.

Self-awareness is hugely empowering. We shift our perception to always having a choice in this moment around how we respond to what is going on or has happened to us.

Eugene Gendlin

"Focusing is a way that you do things differently."

Focusing is an experience I can show you.

"The point that I'm trying to make is that Focusing is not a country, a culture, or religion, or tradition, it's not an entity. Once you know Focusing it's just a way that you do things differently. Everything is different with Focusing so then you will have Focusing."

In our Smartview Stories book series, our three Inner Companions developed from neuroscience concepts make learning social emotional skills easy!