“When you expand your awareness, seemingly random events will be seen to fit into a larger purpose.”

Deepak Chopra

In my last post I wrote about getting a grasp of the bigger picture and that the key to a more understanding approach to life (and all it throws at you) is to expand your awareness.

What does this mean? Expanding Your Awareness May Mean Different Things to Different People, And Nothing To Some.

I would describe it as taking your consciousness beyond just you, and the things that directly impact upon you. It’s about becoming less insular, about really understanding and connecting with the world beyond your own. You don’t need to take responsibility for the world, you just need to be aware of its existence.

What Are You Talking About? I Know The World Exists! I Don’t Need To Expand My Awareness To Know That.

Most people go about their daily lives and feel they are pushed from one situation to the next; things happen to them and and they have no control. When even the slightest thing occurs that isn’t part of their usual run-of-the-mill ‘normality’ it has a huge impact on them.
However, expand your awareness and you realise that there is so much more to life, the universe and everything. You feel more in the flow of life, (strangely) more in control, aware that you have choices and that those choices have results. You realise that many occurrences may appear negative at the time but later turn out to be a positive experience after all. You feel less affected by what goes on in everyday life and dare I say, happier?

So, how do you expand your awareness?

I think there are two elements that need to be addressed.
Open Your Mind – Actively seek knowledge and wisdom
Open Your Heart – Make a point to love and empathise with others

In this article we’ll look at opening your mind. In the next one, we’ll look at opening your heart.  

5 Ways To Open Your Mind & Expand Your Awareness

Meditate just for 15 minutes and see how it makes you feel.

Regular meditation not only helps you to deal with the things in life that niggle at you, but it can also help you to have a more spiritual or philosophical understanding of your place in the world and your connections with others. Regular practice is best and has many other benefits too, but if you’ve never really tried it before, or think you can’t meditate just give it a go.

Read up on a subject that you have never really studied before.

Learning new things really gets the brain going, and helps you to see how things are connected within the universe. It can also give you a thirst for more knowledge. Example subjects are: quantum theory, the history of the monarchy, how a car engine works, the planets or nutrition.

Connect With Nature

Borrow or buy a book on trees, bugs or something from the natural world and venture out to identify some of the plants, trees and animal life in your local area. Go with friends or family and enjoy and appreciate your natural surroundings.

Have A Good Chat With Friends

Not just a gossip, a good proper chat about life. Meet up, (maybe even get round a campfire so you can see the skies too) and discuss life, its meaning, spirituality, and philosophy. Be aware that everyone will have a different opinion, and agree to disagree where necessary. No-one is right or wrong, this exercise is about analysing, deciphering, formulating and articulating your thoughts, and the goal is to encourage an open mind not to judge or diminish others’ beliefs.

Make A List Of Things You Have Always Wanted To Do

Write a list of places you would like to visit, things you would like to see, be, do and have in an ideal world. Imagine you had won the lottery and neither money nor time was an object. Allow your imagination to go wild. (Keep this list we’ll talk about that another time.)

These ideas are just a start. If you really want to develop an open and expanding mind and to increase your awareness you need to keep learning, pursue personal development, challenge your thinking and your philosophies, learn, discuss, and debate. And you need to learn to accept that others have opinions too, and that whilst you may not agree with them, you may learn something from them. Listen, enquire and assimilate new thoughts and ideas, and enjoy it. 

This is an ongoing process, you are never done expanding your awareness because there is always more to learn.

What are your thoughts or questions? Let me know below