2020 Mental Health Toolkit, Part 1: Awareness & Acceptance

The human brain is a funny – and powerful – thing. It’s not programmed for calm awareness & acceptance. On one hand, we are wired to look for negative experiences more than positive ones. It’s a fabulous survival mechanism has served us well through past generations. Our amygdalas do a stellar job of scanning for danger to keep us safe.

We Do Not Like Discomfort

On the other hand, we don’t like discomfort and will go to extreme lengths to escape suffering. We will ignore painful facts and avoid reality to escape pain. As fickle, funny humans, we’re both seeking out disruption & drama. At the same time, we implement elaborate strategies to avoid it. Our systems both crave regularity & stability, and, especially after trauma, are programmed to seek out danger & disruption.

How to Practice Awareness

One tool that might serve us especially well in 2020 is to practice awareness and acceptance. This is a middle place in between the duality of both avoiding pain and seeking it out. Awareness asks us to look at what is. It does not ask us what we want to happen in the future, or run away from past pain. Awareness suggests that we sit with what is happening right now.

As you’ve probably seen in your clients, we tend to either numb our feelings or get carried away by them. By starting with awareness – and tuning into our bodies – we see, hear, feel, and acknowledge our experience. This is even if our emotions are scary or we think they might overtake us.

We face what is and give it the respect it deserves. When we can sit with reality, we develop the strength not to let it overwhelm us. Can we accept what is without needing to immediately do something about it?

How to Recognize the Full Experience

In many ways, it’s about getting out of our heads and into the whole experience. This gives the brain a break from what it does best, and lets our bodies inform us, too. Using our breath to calm the nervous system and help us acknowledge & accept what is.

Can we move towards the uncertainty of these intense times without shrinking away from the vulnerability it taps inside us? Can we face the fire without explaining it away with easy answers or conspiracy theories? Clarity provides a road map for our next step. Without awareness & acceptance, we may continue to stumble forward with cloudy vision.

Awareness and Acceptance

To change or shift anything, we must first be able to stay in the hot seat of awareness & acceptance. Although it’s hard work and can feel very scary & uncomfortable, it’s the first step towards inner freedom and empowerment. Try practicing this skill of awareness & acceptance, and see how it might open you up to the world around you…

Tools for a New World

Check out our COVID-19 Mental Health Checklist for more practical ways to tackle the intensity of 2020 – and beyond!