Awareness is a quality that should be practiced and developed in daily life. The tiger is associated with awareness in eastern cultures specifically relating to feeling powerful and content. This comes from the tigers incredible self awareness. Think about how a tiger moves, each step is deliberate and confident. The tiger is aware of itself and beause of that the tiger is then able to navigate its world with purpose to achieve its goals.
Self awareness is the foundation and cornerstone from which to develop other forms of awareness. Knowing and and being confident in who you are is key. The warrior knows and is comfortable with his or her self. Know your weaknesses and strengths. Confidence in our strengths can create confidence in who we are and weaknesses are things we can and will constantly work to improve as warriors. Awareness of our own weaknesses can help prevent setbacks and defeat in whatever we set out to accomplish. Once we are confident in who we are we can focus on our surroundings without feeling self concious. This frees our minds to focus on the world and those around us. Its like giving a speech in front of a huge crowd. If we are confident then instead of thinking about how others are perciving us as we give the speech (which is distracting and causes snowballing anxiety) we can focus primarily on what we are saying and we will do a better job at delivering the speech. With self confidence as we engage in the world we can focus on the task at hand and on others.
In daily life awareness can improve our effectiveness in how we relate to others. Being aware of how others are feeling and how to address them at a given moment is critical to having compassion for others. Are they upset? If so, your awareness of their state creates the opportunity for you to comfort them thus strengthening your relationship with that person. People do more for you and are more willing to help you when they know you care about them. This is an outstanding side effect of awareness and the virtue of compassion.
Consider awareness of where you are and how you are precieved. Be aware of how you present yourself. Are you approachable in a social setting when it may be advantageous to be approachable? Are you associating with the right people? Are you cognisant of how who you associate with can effect your personal growth or career in a work environment?
Its not always about how much you do but rather if you are doing the right things.
