Islamic Life Coach School Podcast
Islamic Life Coach School Podcast
Awareness is Everything
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Discover the hidden power of awareness and its transformative impact on your daily life! Imagine if you could shift from automatic pilot to a higher state of self-awareness, effortlessly managing your stress and enhancing your well-being. In this episode of the Islamic Life Coach School Podcast, we promise you'll gain valuable insights into how sensory adaptation can either be your friend or foe.
By understanding the C-NEAR formula—Circumstances, Nervous System, Thoughts, Emotions, Actions, and Results—you'll learn how to navigate cognitive overload and tap into a more mindful existence.
Join us as we unravel the three levels of awareness and their practical applications, from managing the flood of emails in your inbox to tackling life-changing decisions like moving to a new city and much more.
Find out how recognizing and reshaping your thoughts leads to profound shifts in your life.
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Levels of Awareness in Daily Life
Speaker 1Welcome to Islamic Life Coach School Podcast . Apply tools that you learn in this podcast and your life will be unrecognizably successful . Now your host , dr Kamal Atlar . Hello , hello , hello everyone . Peace and blessings be upon all of you .
Speaker 1Awareness is tricky , but it is everything , and today's podcast topic is exactly about that . Is tricky , but it is everything , and today's podcast topic is exactly about that . We don't become aware of our breathing because we're breathing constantly without consciously thinking about it . This happens because our respiratory system , controlled by the autonomic nervous system , lets us breathe without having to consciously put an effort to think about taking a breath . So , are we aware of our breathing ? Yes , at times , if we direct ourselves to do so , but other than that , it's pretty much automatic .
Speaker 1Then there's peripheral vision . While focused on reading a text , your surroundings are within your vision , but you're not noticing them because they're out of your awareness . Also , on that note , did you know that your nose is constantly within the field of your vision but you don't actually notice it Because it's not in your awareness ? The brain tunes it out ? Or , with background noise , if you're currently working in an environment with continuous background sounds like running a fan or distant traffic , your brain will tune it out . You might notice them with initial exposure , but with habituation the brain filters them out because of constant exposure . This is also true with the pressure of clothes that you wear . When you first get dressed , especially if it's a new texture of clothing , then you'll notice it , but then you'll get used to it , unless it's something that you find irritating , in which case the attention keeps going back to the irritation .
Speaker 1All of this is sensory adaptation , which helps your brain to focus on more significant things in your environment . The biggest example of adaptation is the earth's rotation . Human beings haven't evolved on this earth . All of us are adapted to tune out the atmospheric pressure or the earth's rotation , or the earth's movement that it's moving at such a high speed . Our entire balancing system , the vestibular system , the inner ear , evolved to keep that adaptation in check , so we don't constantly feel bombarded by the information of earth's rotation . Now , if we wanted , we can bring our attention to the clothes that we wear or the smell that we got used to or our environmental noises , but we can't bring to our awareness earth's rotation . Our senses have adapted to completely take that out of our perception .
Speaker 1So I'm telling you all of this because there are multiple other things that are going out of our awareness that the brain is tuning out . That's actually harmful to us . So like when I click in a chart and I have 15 pop-ups of information about regular things that I can notice . Otherwise , my adaptive mechanism just says what's the easiest way to click through all of this without noticing , unless there's a pop-up with new information that I haven't seen before and my brain hasn't adapted before . Then my mind will pay attention . In this case it helps me to notice and slow down . So I don't click out of these pop-ups , especially if they have some important information in them . Or if you receive multiple emails in a day and you overlook an email because your busy work environment requires you to pay attention at other things . It's very common for you to read an email and then forget about it , even if it contains important information on your tasks .
Speaker 1All of this your brain is trying to adapt out of your awareness because of cognitive overload , no-transcript , where the stress is running on a constant like a background noise . Then you might not even notice it after a while , but it's still present . You're on this hedonic treadmill and the adaptation is explained by the psychological concept , which means you quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness that you're used to despite of any significant positive or negative events in your life , so that the underlying hum of a background stress becomes the new normal and less noticeable unless you bring it to your awareness . So there is much more that can be said about awareness and it is a fluid concept . But how is being unaware of your thought processes and internal state hurting you and how can you use the awareness of this internal state to your benefit ? So that's when we go into levels of awareness .
Speaker 1So a higher level of awareness is that where you might be acting like your usual day-to-day self , but you are in a state of seeing how you're acting like your day-to-day self . You're aware that you are not your thoughts and your actions . You're aware of them . This is completely different than you waking up and walking into the kitchen and making coffee for the hundredth time . You being awake is an awareness state , and you watching yourself going to the kitchen and making the coffee and seeing yourself doing these actions is completely another level of awareness . So how can you and I , as ordinary human beings , get there and how can we use this to our benefit ? How can we become more quote-unquote aware like this .
Speaker 1So I do teach a self-awareness formula to you guys , which is C-NEAR , which is an abbreviation C-N-E-A-R stands for Circumstances , nervous System , thoughts , emotions , actions and Results , and I'm going to break down the levels of awareness based on this hierarchy . So circumstances are everything outside of you , they're out of your control . Then , when you find yourself thinking about these circumstances , this is your gateway of interacting with the world and that's how you're becoming aware . This is just a basic , lower level of awareness that you're awake and making the coffee and doing the things you're supposed to do . And this basic level of awareness is through your thoughts and narratives about the circumstances , like now I'm awake , now let me go make coffee for myself . This narrative is being created by your awake nervous system and the nervous system then creates emotions . Each sentence in our mind creates a feeling . These emotions are vibrations in our body and then these vibrations lead to actions , which is the A in the formula , the C-near , and these actions lead to the result , which is the R .
Speaker 1So why do I tell you this ? It's because first level awareness is that your circumstances do not cause your results . Your thoughts do , and so much of your life's problems get solved at this level of awareness . So awareness is impactful when you know you're doing the thinking , but it is much more impactful when you're aware of what you're thinking , about the thinking you're doing . It puts you in an open space if you ever want to question the type of thinking you're doing . Second level of awareness is that you know that your thoughts cause your result . So you stop thinking in a way that hurts you and start thinking in a way that helps you and it changes your result . This requires a foresight of predicting what result you want to create and that way you can recreate real life scenarios of how you think they'll play out , based on your thinking , before it actually transpires in reality around you , saves you a lot of trial and error , saves you a lot of energy and , yes , it is much more profound than the first level of awareness .
Speaker 1Then the third level is that everything is a circumstance , meaning anything outside of you that you cannot control does not cause your result and you have the freedom to think about it any way you want . What do you want to choose to think about your life ? The circumstance this is the ultimate intentional life . This is when you create a very high level of life with the design that you envision and , in my belief , that's why you are here on this planet to work with the circumstances . You're given the qadr that Allah SWT wrote for you and to work towards creating the life of your choosing and creating results that help you in the afterlife . So let me break down these levels of awareness with real life examples .
Speaker 1So let's say you're working with a background stress that you're currently not aware of because you've just gotten so used to it . In the first level of awareness , the formula C-NIR would look something like this you have a job with a deadline . That's a circumstance . Your nervous system thought is that this is overwhelming and I have a lot of workload . Emotion is anxiety , stress , overwhelm and the like . Action that you take is you react by working long hours , you skip your breaks , you don't rest enough , you pressure yourself into meeting the deadline , you justify to yourself how high productivity is the reason why you have this job and the result you create is that you experience burnout . The deadline from the job does not create this result .
Speaker 1First level of awareness is that you're having this thought about the deadline in your job , that this is overwhelming . The second level of awareness with the same job and the same deadline is that I anticipate this workload , meaning you almost predict how you're going to think , because you observed yourself thinking previously on so many occasions and with every deadline you work under pressure . So this time you anticipate the stress and , instead of reacting with anxiety emotions , you create more relaxation technique to maybe help relieve the anxiety . And with the emotion of anticipation , you do the work anyways and you don't stress out about it . You remain calm , focused and all of the actions that you engage in are from the energy of focus . So the result that you create through these actions and this level of awareness is that you increase your productivity and you remain relaxed and you meet the deadline anyways .
Speaker 1So first level is you know you're thinking about the circumstance . Second level you not only know what you're thinking , but you're able to change it through your observation effect . Then comes the third level , which the circumstance is the same that you have a job with a deadline , but you also view everything in the world neutrally , meaning it's a job and there's a deadline and you get to choose how you think about it . You can come at it from any different direction you want , because you've practiced level one and level two with such rigor that at this point , you're a master at it . And in this case , you choose to feel confident and you choose to feel excited . So your thoughts are I love meeting deadlines , I love being productive , I love being able to provide what is expected of and the actions you'll take is prioritizing tasks , taking breaks , maintaining a healthy work-life balance , and the result you create is achieving your goals without stress . And you're doing that by choice ahead of time . If you see your job as just a circumstance and consciously choose your thoughts that empower you , that's when you create the beneficial result of a work-life balance .
Speaker 1Okay , so now let's go through an example of when you forget about an email because you have such a busy inbox . So if you've had a habit of overlooking your email , then how can levels of awareness help you ? So the first level of awareness is the circumstance 100 emails in the inbox . The default nervous system thought is this is a lot of emails . The emotion is overwhelmed , hurried , rushed , anxious , frustrated or any of the like , and the action is that you skim through the email , forget the important ones . With the emotion of overwhelm , you don't tag what needs to be readdressed and the result is that you miss important tasks . So the first level of awareness is when you come to this formula and you realize that 100 emails in your inbox do not cause you to miss the results . Your overwhelm does . And the overwhelm is coming because of your thought . This is a lot .
Levels of Awareness in Life
Speaker 1The second level of awareness is that you become aware of this thought and you decide to change it through the power of observation , thinking about your thinking . So then the circumstance remains the same of 100 emails , but this time the nervous system thought is I can do this or something to that effect , and the emotion is empowered or confident , in which case you skim through tag what needs to be readdressed , and over time you create a structured approach of how to deal with email management . And just through the power of thinking about your thinking , you can learn to predict how your brain will react next time it sees 100 plus emails in your inbox , and then you can choose to respond to it the way you want to . That's the third level of awareness , meaning a circumstance of your inbox is neutral . You choose to come at it through the emotions of empowerment , curiosity , or you choose to come at it with confusion and overwhelm . So here I've given you professional examples of the three levels of awareness , but you can literally apply this to anything . If you've recently moved and you're trying to adjust to a new location , if you're ready to get married , but every time you find somebody it becomes hard for you to trust them . If you have a skill and a career but you're doubting your ability to manage your own finances , you can literally apply the level of awareness method to anything in your life and in that spirit , I'm just going to give you examples of each of these .
Speaker 1So if you are relocating , the first level of awareness is around the circumstance that you're in a new city for a new job or for a new marriage , the nervous system thought is this is unfamiliar . A new job or for a new marriage , the nervous system thought is this is unfamiliar . The emotion is anxiety or even loneliness , if you don't know anybody . Actions from anxiety or loneliness might be that you avoid exploring the city and socializing all together and the result you create is that you remain alone and isolated . Level one of awareness is that you understand what thoughts you're having about your circumstance . Level two is that you decide not to make a big deal out of this because you've observed what your thought is creating . So this time , instead of feeling out of place , you decide to be adventurous or curious . In the same new city you start to build social networks . You feel more at home with time . New city you start to build social networks . You feel more at home with time . The third level of awareness is that you understand fully that moving to a new city does not cause your results .
Speaker 1A new city is completely neutral and you want to deliberately choose how you want to think about your situation . You want to create excitement , you want to create exploration or you want to create stress with this relocation , because city is just a circumstance . You consciously choosing thoughts is what will make your experience positive or negative , is what will keep you engaged or disengaged with your environment , and that's what leads to a successful adjustment . Or let's say you're single and you're having trouble trusting men . Your circumstance of being single is followed by I don't trust men . That's a thought which will lead to emotions of suspiciousness or insecurity , and the actions you'll take from insecurity is that you'll either avoid any interaction with men or , if you do have it , you'll act distrustful and your brain will label any interaction as dangerous . First level of awareness is that you understand you're having these thoughts . Second level is that you can choose to think about this circumstance any way you want , because now , through the power of observation , you understand how you being suspicious of men is going to play out in your life . And the third level is that you live with an awareness that men are a circumstance . They are completely neutral . They do not create your mistrust . Your thoughts about them do .
Speaker 1Now , in all honesty , escalating and evolving up these levels of awareness takes time . It's not going to happen as fast as I'm describing in this podcast and that's completely natural . So give yourself time and space . Same thing with your financial insecurity . If you have a certain income but you feel insecure about your finances , it's with like , I don't trust myself with my financial decisions , and those thoughts might be related to your cultural upbringing . If , going through levels of awareness , you'll realize that you're having these thoughts , then you will realize you have the option of changing them to help strengthen your relationship with your money , to empower you towards your money . And the third level is that you understand money does not create anything . It is completely neutral . Your thoughts about your money create your results .
Levels of Awareness and Mindfulness
Speaker 1At this topmost third level of awareness , you become rather non-attached to life . It does not mean you become detached from life . It just means that you know , no matter what transpires outside of you , you can approach it in a way that benefits you , benefits your afterlife . So awareness is tricky , but it is everything , and I hope you guys choose to start at the most basic level today . With that , I pray to Allah , subhanahu wa ta'alaT O Allah , grant me the awareness in all aspects of my life . Allow me to be conscious of all of the blessings you've given me , ya Allah . Increase my awareness of the present moment . Allow all of us to live our life with intention and mindfulness . Grant us the foresight to predict my reactions and to understand the downstream effect of these actions , just so I can tailor my life in this dunya for your ultimate pleasure in the afterlife . Ameen , ya Rabbul Aalameen , please keep me in your duas . I will talk to you guys next time .