9 Steps to Self-Awareness: Steps 5 and 6. Wisdom

In my last post, I explored Steps 3 & 4: Working with the Mind. In this post, I talk about step 5, turn the mind back on itself and step 6, take skillful action. The Taittiriya Upanishad, the philosophical and spiritual source of this contemporary view of self-awareness has this to say about these steps.


“Within the mental sheath, made up of waves
Of thought, there is contained the sheath of wisdom.
It has the same form, with faith as the head,
Righteousness as right arm and truth as left.
Practice of meditation is its heart,
And discrimination its foundation.”
— The Upanishads, translation by Eknath Easwaran


With practice we can employ intuitive wisdom on a daily basis to become aware of and reflect on our habits, beliefs and behaviors but first we need a clear understanding of how intuitive wisdom relates to the mind. 


Intuitive wisdom, for our purposes, is often referred to as higher intelligence, insight and/or intuition. It’s the lamp of self-awareness that illuminates all aspects of ourselves for understanding, acceptance and integration. The goal is two-fold. One, to become aware of and manage any unhelpful core beliefs, habits and behavior patterns until they loosen and release their tight hold on us and two, to recognize, celebrate and share our creativity and talents. 


Intuitive wisdom can be thought of as a layered intelligence consisting of our everyday ability to think, reason, apply knowledge, and manage our environment. It interrelates with, overlaps, and shares space with the mind. To visualize this, imagine two circles that overlap for 30% of their circumference, like a Venn diagram. One circle is the mind and the other is intuitive wisdom. Here’s an example that helps us understand how they work together. 


A core belief that “I’m not good enough,” can exist in both the mind and in intuitive wisdom circles but at different levels of awareness. In the intuitive wisdom circle, “I’m not good enough,” might be seen, and sourced as messages of unworthiness from family, friends and the society at large for any number of reasons; race, gender, gender identification, class, physical or mental ability etc. In the mind circle, “I’m not good enough,” might be believed  and expressed through anxiety, depression, addictions or self-sabotaging behaviors. 


However, intuitive wisdom seeing where the belief comes from, and knowing that, “I’m not good enough,” is not true, does its best to send that message to the mind through the overlapping space the two layers share. This happens often during a relaxing activity when the mind is at rest. It can also include a flash of intuition or a gut feeling. When the mind opens to receive the message, it may experience an aha! moment of total understanding or be able to acknowledge that the cause and source of the belief will need to be examined. In either case, steps can be taken to make a choice for positive change, keep the status quo with full knowledge of the consequences or find acceptance if change is not possible. 


When the light of intuitive wisdom shines, you will be able to employ skillful action to change a habit, replace an unhelpful thought pattern with a productive one, or change an emotional reaction into a productive response. This process results in increased calm and resilience in the way you face the events of your life.


Let’s see how this works with the example from steps 3 & 4 working with the mind where we found ourselves stuck in traffic on the way to an appointment, a class or a friend’s house for dinner.


In working with the mind we first took step 3:

• We identified and labeled our thinking, feeling and behavior. 
• We were worried about being late. 
• We felt frustrated and irritated and reacted by drumming the steering wheel. 

Then we moved to step 4 to explore our beliefs: 

• We realized that our frustration and irritation came from not liking to wait because it brought up a fear of not being in control. 
• With that awareness, we accepted our situation and took a few deep breaths.
• If traffic did not let up in 10 minutes we’d call the studio to let them know the situation.

Now let’s go deeper with steps 5 & 6.


Step 5. Turn the mind back on itself to uncover the source of the wait/fear/control belief

• How long have I believed this? Seems like forever.
• Why do I believe this? If I disappoint others, they won’t like me.
• Where did this belief come from? From my family and from societal expectations.
• Does this belief make waiting emotionally difficult, and uncomfortable? Uh – yep!
• Do I need to accept it, transform it or let this belief go? I think I need to transform it. 

Step 6. Take skillful action

• Ok – I’ve identified the source and decided to make a change.
• Next time I’m stuck in traffic, I’ll have a better understanding of why frustration, irritation and fear pops up. With this new awareness I can take skillful action, move through my frustration/irritation/fear cycle faster or maybe bypass it altogether!
• I can call on this new understanding in other situations where I’m faced with waiting.
• Over time, my frustration/irritation/fear cycle will have less of an emotional charge. 

Sometimes tuning into intuitive wisdom is a two level process.


When it occurs in the moment, it enables you to hit pause in the space between what is happening and how you might respond. 


Sometimes it occurs with reflection. You reflect on a past situation to catch a glimpse of where an unhelpful belief comes from and why it’s impacting your life. If you are like me, you will take one step forward, and two steps back on this journey. This will happen over and over again. Remember, it’s a process, sometimes painful and sometimes joyful but one worth doing because the juice is worth the squeeze.


In the next post we’ll complete this series with step 7, find your bliss, step 8, connect to your bliss, and step 9, bring bliss into your daily life.

---

---