We are all aware. We all notice. What differs among us is the depth and breadth of our noticing– the number of lenses we can simultaneously see through.

Self-awareness is a deeper aspect of awareness. That is why we train leaders on this competency– to show them back to themselves. This simple yet profound practice is what enables us to ‘grab a new lens‘ to look through and notice. It invites us into this inquiry: how does what I notice feel to me? energized? enlivened? threatened? fearful? angry? all of these?

Self-awareness is not a point of action or intervention, but of sitting in your wholeness and the awareness of your own humanity. It is inner-work. It is painfully difficult work. It is essential work, nonetheless. This is what having a ‘growth mindset’ actually means– your willingness to grow beyond the confines of your own mind.

It is only when we’ve reached a deeper synthesis, of radical awareness, that we are best prepared to take action. When you reach radical awareness, you’ve connected all the seemingly disparate dots and arranged them in a new and beautiful way. Radical awareness is the ‘aha!’ moment that energizes you and, as if by magic, a new idea and direction is born.

This direction feels aligned with your soul. It feels giddy and joyful. That is how you know it’s real– because you feel it in the fiber of your being, not in your head as some sort of strategy or task.

Radical awareness feels like a calling of sorts, and it is– it is your soul inviting you to come into communion with life and to operate from this expanded view. It is an invitation to grow and to walk, crawl, or wobble towards the life you are meant to live and the work you are here to do.