Skills of awareness

There are several basic skills we must have before we really can begin to develop our awareness:

- Learn to distinguish between life-long stories and reality. Start to notice what is actually real, what is present, in contrast to what you believe.

- Be aware of your triggers and limits. Learn what situations are likely to trigger you, and prepare for it ahead of time. Have a plan of action ready to keep yourself safe when you are in the presence of something that triggers you - something that will make it less likely that you will lose your awareness and fall into old stories and dysaction [action contrary to your own values]. Do what you need to do to keep yourself in a place where you can think clearly and act rightly.

- Handle your triggers. When we get triggered, we may say and do things we regret, and our thoughts and beliefs may become distorted. Handling our triggers means we eventually come back to a place of responsibility - we apologize and clean up any mess we have made. We articulate the distortions in our thoughts and actions, and restate to those affected what our true intention and beliefs are, so that trust can be rebuilt.