This is
a fascinating subject as the topic of ‘awareness’ covers so many
different aspects. For example, a definition of awareness includes
being ‘conscious’, ‘knowing’ and ‘self awareness’ as well as ‘watchful’
and ‘vigilant’. As well as becoming self aware, being aware or
‘paying attention’ is also associated with all forms of general
learning as in order to learn, we do have to ‘focus’. This brings
in a further dimension as according to Professor Temple Grandin
, humans are ‘built to see what they are expecting to see’. In
other words as we go through life, we are conscious or aware of
only what we pay attention to and often ignore the myriad of other
things in our environment that could attract our interest. This
is actually of great benefit as otherwise we would become overloaded
with sensation and be unable to function. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
it is the emotional quality of our experiences which frequently
dictates where we place the spotlight of our attention. I suggest
this is true not only for learning about the world but also when
learning about ourselves – when we slowly recognise that there
is a separate, distinct and unique ‘me’ as well as a ‘you’.
The capacity to ‘be aware’ is potentially
innate in us in its most fundamental form when it refers to being
‘conscious’ but, as can be seen, it is also an ability that has
to be developed in many ways.
So how does this all work? Where does
it start and what happens? In this article, we will be going on
a journey to see if we discover clues to what makes us self-aware
and also pointers to what may contribute to our ability to pay
attention and focus which helps us learn.
The first part of the journey
– being aware that there is a world with a ‘me’ in it
It may seem strange to realise that
the way in which we begin to learn about a ‘me’ is through someone
else. As new born infants we are immediately attracted to faces
or objects that are ‘face like’. Even though our visual system
is very immature and we can only see blurry images at fairly close
quarters, these wonderful, moving, expressive faces (usually smiling)
act like a magnet
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