Is Awareness Over Rated? #3: Understanding
Is Awareness Over Rated?
- A 7 Benefit Series; #3: Understanding -
This is part of a 7 benefit series in the exploration of gains to be had through the development of our awareness and consciousness.
Benefit #3: A refined understanding of beliefs we hold.
We first inherit beliefs from our parents, then our immediate community. These serve us well for a while until we begin to think for ourselves about the issues at hand and learn to develop more personal points of view. We learn to make choices for ourselves.
Some of the different levels of beliefs are:
- Surface belief: every day opinions, no major issues
- Social belief: circles we tend to socialize with and with whom we share certain common beliefs / ties -dietary, spiritual, business aspects, cultural, voluntary organizations, etc.
- Core belief: deeper spirituals, fundamentals of who we are, unshakable, principles to live life by and the likes.
As we grow and expand out horizons, we encounter new, sometimes conflicting, beliefs. Various things can happen at this point: our current stand on any particular issue might be reinforced and become stronger; it can be influenced and altered, or grow into a new variation if you will; or it might be completely shattered and will have to be replaced altogether by new views we can take on suddenly or form over time.
Why do you think this or that about XYZ?…
Do you have strong opinions about certain things? Where do these opinions come from? Have you ever stopped and really explored why you think that way? Often time, opinions are adopted from parents or social circles without giving it too much thought. That’s what we grew up with, or that’s what we are regularly exposed to through our socializing, and soon these views become our own.
When we explore the deeper reasons and meaning of our belief system, we come to better understand our own values. Critical analysis of what we hold to be true need not be viewed as threatening. It can be a very enlightening process that will lead to better understanding of our self and others, as well as a more thought out, honest opinion, to say nothing about possibly new insights regarding the issues themselves.
It’s important to note that views also evolve over time as we too evolve, and just because we espoused a certain opinion in the past, it does not mean we cannot change our minds in the present and future.
Next; Benefit #4: Become Pro-Active
