The False Summit of Awareness

Aware — having knowledge, conscious, cognizant, informed, alert, sophisticated. (Thanks to Dictionary.com)

Awareness is often so valued and revered, but it is only part of the process. Awareness is not the mark of completion, of fulfillment, of something well done, etc. At least in my opinion. Awareness is not the summit. It’s a major stepping stone to arrive at, but it is not the summit.

It may not be true for the actual definitions here, but I like to use the example of emotional intelligence versus emotional fitness. Yes, emotional intelligence means managing and navigating emotions well, but think about the individual words in the term. Intelligence simply means being intelligent and having advanced knowledge of a particular subject. Similar to awareness.

With that in mind, emotional intelligence could logically mean having knowledge of and about emotions. It could mean knowing what every emotion looks like, recognizing each and even knowing how to manage, deal with and embrace emotions, whatever the emotion may be, good or bad.

Then there’s emotional fitness. Just like with intelligence, think about the definition of fitness. Think of it in terms of physical fitness. Physical fitness means there is work and discipline in action and put into consistent practice in order to achieve a particular, physical goal. Based on that understanding, emotional fitness means being emotionally fit. It means actively working through and maybe even suffering through emotionally straining and…