Summary
Wellbeing is a process, not an outcome. Attention is required to pursue wellbeing. Attention with awareness can be harnessed to pursue wellbeing. Neuroscientists have researched attention and consciousness. This research can inspire our journey to wellbeing. The Arts can inspire us to learn to deal with situations and to live through challenges, to make our world better, to pursue wellbeing for everyone. Time will pass quickly and we will survive. Pay attention to everyone and make the world better.
Mental Wellbeing through Awareness
Wellbeing and mental wellbeing have been the topics of previous posts. What has not been explored is the awareness required to prioritize wellbeing. Let’s explore mental wellbeing through awareness.
Awareness and Mental Wellbeing
In order to address mental wellbeing, a person needs an awareness of the concept of mental wellbeing. This awareness includes being aware of being aware; identifying an intention to pursue wellbeing; removing distractions that can impede the tasks in developing a plan and implementing a plan to achieve wellbeing; directing attention to the sequence of tasks; engaging in willful shifts of attention to complete the steps and tasks; allowing time for the brain to recover between moments of focused attention; and appreciating the benefits of going with the flow to complete tasks and achieve goals.
That is certainly a mouthful and a very simplified synopsis of the informative podcast episode by Andrew Cooper-Sansone. Take a moment to listen to the full podcast:
Stop Getting Distracted! The Neuroscience of Attention. Sense of Mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AngTdKC6cs
Who Am I? Awareness of Self for Wellbeing
Wellbeing is a process. Life is a process. Wellbeing is not an outcome. I will repeat this mantra many times before breath ceases to exit my lungs.
Wellbeing is a process. Individual wellbeing and community wellbeing are processes.
The process requires awareness. Awareness of being aware. Awareness of others. Awareness of others being aware of me. The perception I have of others and their perception of me require attention. The subjective experience may be better conceptualized as consciousness.
That’s a rabbit hole, you may be thinking.
Not really. There are a number of researchers who have engaged in the study of neuroscience to identify a consciousness theory and a consciousness network. Theories of consciousness are not universally concordant with each other: they are theories.
Michael Graziano is one of the researchers whose work has led to the development of the Attention Schema Theory (AST). AST is a simple model and is based on the neuroscientific research which Graziano has conducted. In a few words, the Attention Schema Theory proposes that our brains construct a schematic representation, using attention, of the awareness of things (people, self, objects). The brain allows us to have a subjective experience of the “thing”. If we are aware, then we are conscious of this “thing”. Sometimes we may not be consciously aware though the data of the “thing” in our sphere of attention may still be registered by our brains. Consider a bird flying by as we walk down the street: we may not be consciously aware of the bird and yet the brain may record this information for future access.
Do not take my interpretation of the Attention Schema Theory as the last word. My interpretation is my understanding of the theory. My perception is biased by my attention and my lack of attention. Read and listen for yourself.
Listen to his TEDx Cornell University talk for a humourous version:
Consciousness & the Social Brain. TEDxCornell University talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_graziano_consciousness_the_social_brain?subtitle=en&lng=fr
The MAIN Conference presentation is a more detailed discussion of the model, without details of Graziano’s research work:
A Conceptual Framework of Consciousness. MAIN Conference. Accessed online on November 10, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlDBYAJ1oUw
Community Wellbeing Requires Awareness
Think of wellbeing through awareness as an opportunity to get to know yourself better. And, get to know your community. Like it or not, we live in community. Communal life is exactly what happens in communities: your block; your neighbourhood; your town or city; your county; your region; your state; your province; your country. The World.
You are not alone. You are not the special person who merits special treatment. The World needs special treatment. Find the gentlest touch to handle the World, like one of those glass snow globes.
Handle the World with care. Handle your neighbours with care. The World and your neighbours are living in community with you. Learn how to live in community with Them.
Self-awareness for Communal Wellbeing
Share yourself with your community. Share with your community to help your community, your neighbours, in their wellbeing. Respect everyone and they will respect you.
Keala Settle with Some Voices Choir and Drum Works
“This is Me” from The Greatest Showman
Remember we lead by example. The lessons we teach our children can help them to be aware of themselves, of their fellow human beings, of their community, and the dignity of all.
Learn from the Arts for they can teach us so much about ourselves and about human life.
Bernadette Peters
“Children Will Listen” from Into The Woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gey1PtXYwLI
Whitney Houston
Greatest Love of All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w
Willfulness or Willingness: Awareness and Wellbeing
Consider how your willingness to change makes the path to wellbeing easier than willfulness and a resistance to change. Be aware of the mindset you espouse as you embark on the journey to wellbeing.
Pay attention.
I challenge you to watch as your attention is drawn from image to image (visual attention), from lyric to lyric, from note to note, and from melodic line to melodic line, while you listen to this beautiful song from “Lempicka”:
Eden Espinosa performing “Unseen”
Take-away: Mental Wellbeing through Awareness
Life is a process not an outcome.
We live through challenges and survive. We climb mountains to achieve goals. We breathe through clouds, fog, smoke, and smog. We march along rocky roads, carrying our banners for social justice, peace, love, harmony, and equality.
We survive. Distractions pass and we survive.
Just as Lempicka did.
Just as our ancestors did.
Berenike still comes to mind.
Four years will pass quickly. Time heals all if we work on building a world together.
Let’s build our world, through awareness, for the mental wellbeing of all of us.
Selected References:
Cooper-Sansone, A. (November 2, 2024). Stop Getting Distracted! The Neuroscience of Attention. Sense of Mind. Accessed online on November 8, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AngTdKC6cs
Graziano, M. (January 25, 2023). A Conceptual Framework of Consciousness. MAIN Conference. Accessed online on November 10, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlDBYAJ1oUw
Graziano, M. (July 10, 2019). Consciousness & the Social Brain. TEDxCornell University talk. Accessed online on November 10, 2024, at https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_graziano_consciousness_the_social_brain?subtitle=en&lng=fr
Graziano, M. (November 14, 2017). The Attention Schema Theory: A Foundation for Engineering Artificial Consciousness. Accessed online on November 10, 2024, at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2017.00060/full
Marchant, J. (July/August 2024). A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals the Hidden Connections between Distant Civilizations. Accessed online on November 8, 2024, at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hidden-ancient-egyptian-port-reveals-180984485/
Disclaimer: This post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your mental health treatment team.
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