A Path to Health and Wellbeing

8/3/2019 A Path to Health and Wellbeing

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A Path to health and well-being

Works Awareness

By: Geoff Barkley, PhDCopyright, 2012



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Introduction In today’s society we face many challenges and obstacles to improve or maintain

our wellness. While technological advances have brought about countless benefits,

we struggle with its’ downside, with such problems as a poor diet or a sedentary

lifestyle. Countless millions now deal with preventable chronic illnesses, an

unfortunate consequence of such conditions.

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Awareness Works addresses this dilemma through an innovative and

comprehensive program. Awareness Works doesn’t just promote our physical

health, but also advances our mental health and well-being. Unique and powerful,

Awareness Works describes straightforward ideas and easily practiced techniques

capable of transforming your health and bringing about well-being regardless of

your circumstances.

To accomplish this, Awareness Works looks at the role of awareness as this relates

to our wellness. As ever present as our breathing, awareness functions as the basisof our consciousness, enabling us to experience daily life. Yet perhaps because this

presence accompanies our every thought, feeling and activity, it goes unnoticed.

As Awareness Works intends to show, increasing our awareness brings about

major transformation in our lives. Yet this potential for improved wellness doesn’t





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Defining Wellness Before going further, it might be helpful to elaborate on what Awareness Works

means by wellness! While some define wellness as a condition of good physical and

mental health, Awareness Works aspires for a more comprehensive concept of this.

Awareness Works makes a significant distinction between well-being and wellness.

Well-being arises from our core of awareness, while wellness relates to the

functioning of our minds and bodies. For grounding ourselves in awareness builds

a knowledge of well- ‘being ’, in the sense of ‘being’ as independent from our mind,

emotions and body. Awareness Works labels this ‘being’ as our observing ‘I’ of

awareness.

With this knowledge we have a foundation of well-being as separate from what

happens to us mentally and physically or in our life’s circumstances. Awareness

Works designed practices to give you the chance to connect with this enduring

well-being, one you can return to moment to moment. So while others may use theterm well-being and wellness interchangeably, Awareness Works views well-being

as independent of your physical or mental health, coming from a space of awareness

which exists beyond these. As defined by Awareness Works then, the term

‘wellness’ refers only to your personal and physical attributes, which have their own

separate definitions.

Awareness Works then defines personal wellness to include mental and emotional

health. Often the term mental health has a negative connotation associated with it

(as in not being mentally ill), but for Awareness Works, this refers to the qualities

and attributes of our mind. Mentally healthy people have an inquiring, questioning

intellect. Their minds appear ‘sharp’ and alert. They express their interests in the

world and enjoy ongoing learning. In defining emotional health, Awareness

Works includes such things as good coping skills and emotional regulation (not



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‘flying into a rage, or ‘falling’ into depression). Emotionally healthy people don’t

approach the world with fear and anxiety, but convey their emotions openly, with

love and compassion for others.

For our physical health, Awareness Works defines wellness as feeling ‘good’, whereour body functions without pain and discomfort, digests our food easily, and has

vitality. Our bodies are balanced and relaxed, in other words, at ease.

Wellness comes from WITHIN OUTFrom the perspective of Awareness Works, awareness creates a foundation of well-

being, which underlies and guides our mental and physical health. Therefore Awareness Works focuses on increasing your awareness, thus enhancing well-

being, the most central component of integrated wellness. From this base, you can

then use awareness to assist in maximizing your mental and physical health. So

Awareness Works conceives of well-being as the core of integrated health. After

this, your mental health has the most impact on your quality of life, with your

physical health being the most external level of wellness (even though most of us

focus on our bodies when we think of health). All of these elements of integrated

wellness become greatly improved through the influence of awareness.

Figure 1 – Levels of Health

Integrated Wellness



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Since I last looked, we will all inevitably be subjected to old age, illness and death.

If we believe we can only be ‘well’ if we have a healthy body and mind, we must

accept the impossibility of wellness for large periods of our life! Yet many people

live full and complete lives, even in stages of physical and mental limitations and

decline. I have been around people who have been accepting, peaceful, content,

and loving even though their functioning decreases as they prepare for their death.

Even in this situation, they still convey their well-being to everyone around them.

Well-being can exist regardless of our external circumstances.

Mental health comprises the next level of wellness. We can be happy, creative,

fulfilled, alert, productive, etc. even with serious physical limitations. No matter

what happens or has happened with our bodies, it is possible to experience mental

and emotional health even with physical limitations (of course, during periods of acute injury or illness this may not be true). We all know of people who live with

serious disabilities or chronic illness but haven’t let this stop them from living their

lives to the fullest personally and professionally. But it would be hard to describe

someone in perfect physical health as ‘well’ if they have intense depression or other

serious mental disturbances. We also wouldn’t think of an Alzheimer’s patient with

serious cognitive deficits as ‘well’, even if they also have no physical impairments.

This demonstrates that mental health has more impact on our quality of life than

our physical health.

Our physical body is the final (yet very important) and most external level of wellness. But just because it represents the most outer element of wellness doesn’t mean we can ignore it! In today’s society, we have many obstacles to physical

wellness, so we can’t neglect our health. It takes a lot of energy to bring about physical wellness, and Awareness Works gives you many helpful, well establishedprinciples and tools for this purpose. Having an unhealthy body can cause a tremendous drain on our overall wellness and quality of life, so we must work to

keep up our physical health as much as we can.

The fact that Awareness Works describes levels of wellness doesn’t mean to imply you should therefore neglect the more ‘outer’ levels. To take this idea away missesthe point entirely, as wellness includes all parts of us. Thus, Awareness Works presents a completely integrated model of wellness, with well-being as its’ foundation.



Overview of

Awareness Works Awareness Works signifies a shift in how we conceive of wellness, categorizing the main

components of this as: Core Works, Personal Works and Body Works. Core Works deals

with the centrality of awareness for each of us, fashioning a foundation of well-being.

Personal Works then uses awareness to enhance our personal wellness throughmaximizing our strengths while working through our limitations. Finally, Body Works

focuses awareness to increase our physical wellness, tapping our potential to improve the

vitality of our bodies. These areas will now be briefly described, and will be further

detailed in their respective sections of Awareness Works.

!"#$%&"#'(%John, a forty three year old business executive, has spent many years

building his successful company. A self-described workaholic, he often

works 60 hours per week, and expects his staff to match this level of

effort. He sees himself as an overachiever, and criticizes those who don’t

measure up to his standards. He displays all the trappings of success

prominently, with a mansion, luxury cars, and expensive suits. Yet in

spite of all of this personal and material success, John struggles with drinking and periods of depression, as he has feelings of futility that all

his work may go to waste in the long term. He has seen therapists from

time to time, as well as taken some medications to assist in elevating his

mood, but he remains unhappy.





in greater detail a little later in Awareness Works, and for all of us, connecting with

awareness can give us well-being we haven’t known before.

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Sherrie grew up in a troubled family, one where some sort of conflict

occurred almost every day. With her mother and father fighting each

other over almost anything, or her brothers heatedly arguing with each

other or their parents, Sherrie soon discovered the only way to get

heard in her family was to get heated and angry. So she learned to deal with personal conflict have worked in getting her way at home, more

often than not this type of outburst hurt her at work and in her other

relationships. She became seen as moody and unpredictable, having

anger issues. Sherrie came to recognize she had problems in this area,

but it seemed to her that her anger just came up from nowhere, so she

felt she had little chance to control it. She just didn’t know how to her

alter her behavior even though her outbursts hurt her and others

around her.

Countless books have investigated our personality, but Personal Works intends to expand

and enhance this exploration through awareness. Awareness, being the essence of our

observing ‘I’, brings with it a wonderful opportunity for observation and insight into our

personality. As a matter of fact, without awareness, no personal growth can occur, for

without it we would keep on reacting unconsciously to whatever internal or external

stimulus arises. So the Core Works we do to boost our awareness permeates into our

personal life, bringing our issues to light.

Personal Works, as the name implies, concerns our personal activities in the world.

Personal Works investigates our mind and emotions, our familial and cultural

environments, our dreams and visions for our lives, for the purpose of personal growth and

wellness. There appears in everyone a movement towards growth throughout our lives



(though of course we can grow in ignorance as much as in wisdom and maturity!), and

Personal Works offers ideas and methods to assist this.

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To illustrate the potential impact Personal Works can have, we can use Sherrie’s example

of uncontrolled, damaging emotions. Personal Works supplies a clear pathway for Sherrie

to control her emotions. By employing awareness as the basis for managing her emotions,

she can make more space between herself and them. She then won’t have to automatically

vent them in a damaging way when they come up. As she builds more knowledge of her

patterns and issues (through ongoing study of Personal Works principles and practices),

Sherrie can overcome these harmful emotional patterns originating in her early life. She

can have more emotional balance and choice, producing a more satisfying and fulfilling

personal and professional life. Personal Works emphasizes the prominent role awareness



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can assume in increasing personal wellness. Through its’ various ideas and techniques

described in greater detail later, Personal Works gives you the tools you need to become

the person you want to be.

!"#$%&"'()%Jill started out being a relatively thin teenager, but in her twenties and

thirties, she slowly started to gain weight, a little at a time. She tried some dieting, but by the time she moved into her forties, she became

seriously overweight. She started to have high blood pressure, and then

got diagnosed as pre-diabetic. It seemed her health just kept gradually

getting worse and worse. She now took more medicines, but while these

helped in one way, her health seemed to be slowly deteriorating. Jill felt

helpless and disempowered over what was happening with her body.

This feeling of loss of control over our bodies resonates with many of us. Body Works, the

third part of Awareness Works, brings to light another brilliant and perhaps (to the

Western mind) unusual concept. This idea (though once again described in detail in other

traditions) asserts the innate intelligence in our bodies can be a source of guidance toward

health and wellness. The intelligence functioning in our bodies performs literally billions o

functions every second to maximize its’ wellness. We can’t even imagine the incredible

complexity and intricacy of our physical bodies, a true wonder and mystery. Once we begi

to accept and honor this, we employ awareness to observe the messages arising from our

bodies, directing us towards health. Awareness and the innate intelligence in our bodiescan interact with each other to create a beautiful endless feedback loop guiding our

wellness!

To bring up our example of Jill, she can benefit greatly from the principles and practices

outlined in Body Works. Through awareness, she can recognize her poor health habits,

and choose better ones. She can structure her life in ways that gradually heal her body and



bring her back on a path to physical wellness. By listening to her own body, Jill can then

know how to better manage her health, and ultimately, how to control her weight. As Jill

learns how to work with awareness to improve her health, she can negotiate around the

ever present health risks of our society. She becomes in charge of her journey to wellness.

Like the rest of Awareness Works, Body Works offers the unusual approach of having

awareness interact with your body’s own intelligence to guide your health behaviors. This

process gets detailed later in the Body Works section. Along with this, we’ll also outline

the principles and practices of a healthy lifestyle that support wellness.



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Practice Records As part of how Awareness Works ‘works’, practice records give you a pragmatic

wellness tool. The use of practice records indicates a fundamental shift in how you

look at health and wellness. First, you become the primary agent for your wellness,

an enormous and life altering shift for many. Secondly, you can monitor your

practice, your ‘work’, so you can see for yourself the results of what you’re doing.

You can set your goals and check your wellness outcomes in whatever area you

want to. You’re not dependent on others to make you well (though of course you

may use others as resources on your path to wellness).

Therefore practice records furnish you with another tool to support a healthier

lifestyle. While no doubt a challenge at times, you are the main mover and shaker

for this! As part of this responsibility you may want to know where you have been

and where you want to go. Practice records assist you with this. To benefit from

the use of practice records, you can make up whatever chart you want to as you

monitor your own practices in relationship to the goals you have set. For example,

you may want to gain more control of your weight, like Jill, but don’t know how. Asan example of how a practice record could assist her, here’s a sample weekly chart

for weight issues, which includes Body Works’ methods, filled out so you can get

an idea of what it might look like to use it:



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Monday

Success with a

low fat diet. Ate

well, wasn't too

hungry.

Didn't get to

do too much,

just a walk at

lunch.

Tried deep

relaxation at

night. Seemed to

help.

My chiropractor

prescribed

some

supplements.

188

Tuesday I craved sweetsall day, had a

little dark

chocolate.

I walked for

45 minutes

after work inmy

neighborhood

.

Breathing

meditation really

got me relaxed.

Continued on

with this.

188

Wednesday

I ate really well

today. I ate with

awareness,

slowly, and

didn't eat too

much.

Today I had

more energy

and went to

the gym for

one hour.

Pretty busy, so I

didn't have much

time, but did

come back to

awareness during

the day. Same

187

Thursday etc.

She might try this and find it works for her or she could also decide to make one up

that fits her needs and personality better. To give another example, Sherrie might want to use a practice record to assist her in managing her emotions. Such a chart

might look like this:



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Monday

I stayed

focused all day.

Aware and

breathing

deeply.

I used my

breath, and

I checked

my body for

tension.

Did

relaxation

at night.

I didn't get angry

or frustrated with

anyone today.

Great!

0 8

Tuesday

It was also a

good day.

Staying present

really helps.

I tried out some

positive

images,

seeing

myself like

Spock, just

watching.

Another good day,

it's sort of scary.0 8

Wednesday

I was upset

today, so it was

harder to stay

centered.

I just kept

on

breathing

today, but I

had a

conflict

with my

boss.

It's been higher

today, I feel

frustrated, working

with it.

1, but I

managed to

limit it

6

Thursday etc.



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Sherrie can change and modify this chart as often as she likes. She’s in charge! In

whatever circumstance you find yourself, and whatever issues you want to move

forward with, a practice record empowers you to take control of your wellness.

So don’t feel shy or inhibited by any supposed lack of knowledge or expertise in thisarea. You can adjust these charts in whatever way you want, in whatever way seems

to work best for you. You can keep a weekly record, or you might just want to

complete a record just once a month. You might combine this type of practice

record with some of the other methods described later in Awareness Works (such

as journaling). Practice records can be tailored to fit your personal preferences on

your path to wellness.

As has been described, Awareness Works outlines an innovative and

comprehensive model of wellness. It presents its’ concepts in a straightforward

manner, requiring no belief or assumptions. By experimenting with many of its’

methods, and recording this through practice records, you can see for yourself your

own progress towards your various goals of wellness.



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Awareness Works’ Promise Awareness Works promises you one thing: it doesn’t ask you to accept any ideas

put forth unless you yourself can realize them. My teacher observed we accept ideas

on three levels: belief, faith and knowledge. The first, belief, necessarily has a ‘lie’ in

it; the word itself contains this: be’lie’f. The ‘lie’ in every belief comes from the fact

we have no personal experience or knowledge to base our belief on. We believe

without any evidence. Faith represents the next step in this progression, as it

includes some small basis in experience pushing the belief into a stronger

conviction. In the final stage, knowledge, things become self-evident. Knowledgecomes solely from personal experience and can’t be shaken. For example, I know

I’m alive; for someone to argue against this would be absurd.

Awareness Works wants you to know whether its’ concepts have merit, not to just

believe in them. You don’t have to depend on others to verify these techniques or

ideas. You can find out for yourself about the nature of awareness, the makeup of

your personality, and the intelligence present in your body, all of which you ‘work’

with for well-being and wellness. In doing so, you will begin to know yourself innew ways, to be a ‘lamp onto yourself’. Others may help you on your way, but you

use your own light to guide yourself along your path to wellness.

Awareness Works starts a journey you can carry on for the rest of your life,

providing practice tools to enhance your daily living. Awareness Works is nothing



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if not an actual ‘work’ book. As a work book, the design and of structure of

Awareness Works follows an experiential and practical approach. Most areas of

discussion have related practices and exercises outlined immediately after them,

and each overall section has examples of practice records. So Awareness Works has

this repeating pattern: you read about an idea, practice it and then record your

experience. As some of the sections and practices may be intense, you may want to

just read short sections at a time, and stop to try out the suggested technique.

Other times, you might want to return to a particular section you have already read

to review it and then retry the accompanying exercise.

Awareness Works now delves into each area of our lives in greater detail, arranged

in accordance with the principle of ‘wellness proceeds from within out’. So we

begin with Core Works, progress to Personal Works and then end with Body Works.

Documents

A Path to Health and Wellbeing