Sometimes I think it might be nice to live life unaware of my surroundings. They always say ignorance is bliss. Wouldn’t it be great if you were just unaware of your problems? Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like that. Although, I’m sure you can think of someone in your life that just seems so unaware of responsibility, problems, consequences, how they come across, and how they make others feel. While this person might appear to be happy from an outward perspective, I think we can all agree that we wouldn’t prefer to be that person.

We live in a world in which a strong sense of awareness is powerful. Perceptive people are able to use this trait as a superpower to influence people to make decisions that drive his or her preferred outcome. Being aware of how your boss thinks and anticipating and correcting situations that would make you look bad to them is an incredibly valuable skill. On a more personal note, being aware of your partner’s or family’s feelings can prevent interpersonal conflict from unnecessarily arising.

While these instances are positive and powerful for those who are aware, the opposite is true for those who are unaware. An unaware person might ignore clues from his boss that dictate the level of involvement that person would want to have in daily decision making. If the boss wants the employee to be autonomous and make decisions on his own, the employee will make the boss angry and unconfident in his skills by running every decision across his desk. Inversely, if a boss wants insight into daily decisions and an employee fails to provide this level of knowledge, the boss will lose trust in that employee. That is just one example, but it is an incredibly important thing of which to be aware.

Train you children at an early age to be aware of those around them. This can affect many aspects of their lives. Even in terms of personal safety, being aware of potentially threatening situations and people can be the difference between life and death. Ask your child to

identify how he believes someone is feeling. Play games that cause him to have to take in his environment. The more connected he is to the world around him, the better. Awareness is a survival skill that children need to finesse in their childhood. Developing these skills in your children will help them make and keep friends, relationships, and jobs.  

                                                                             Bria