Almost everything we talk about at The Everyday Creative starts with intention and awareness. So, today we are delving into this topic.

So much of our daily activities are automated. Awareness brings attention to these automated behaviors and gives us the space to decide whether to continue them.
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​Intention is the reason behind behaviors. Behavior is the space between intention and wisdom. When you create more space between a trigger and the event or behavior, you can act with intention.
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​Intention and awareness are inextricably entwined. Focusing on these two concepts allows us to create new habits and become the person we are striving to be.
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Habits, actions, or behaviors have no moral value. The outcomes of the action, however, may be desirable or undesirable.
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​Intention helps you ensure habit outcomes align with your values. Awareness gives you the time and space to note misalignment and the opportunity to change
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It takes a lot of work to make the unconscious conscious. You've been doing the same thing day after day for years. Changing that won't happen overnight, and at times, it's very challenging.
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​But there are steps you can take to get started today!
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It takes a lot of work to make the unconscious conscious. You've been doing the same thing day after day for years. Take time to step out of your life and pay attention to what's happening.

Start with mindfulness. Mindfulness is the act of being fully present in the moment without judgment. You can be mindful with any activity you do throughout the day - eating, drinking, walking, breathing.

Meditation is the practice of becoming more mindful. It takes the pressure off being mindful "in real life." It's about creating moments in between thoughts or not thinking.

Becoming aware of everything going on inside you and around you is virtually impossible. To make it easier, pick one thing. These things generally fall into two categories:
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​Limiting Beliefs:
​These are negative beliefs and thoughts that do not serve your purpose or goals. It's what holding you back.

Values:
These are the things you care about and things that are important to you. Take time to define what you value.

We are speeding through life, going from one thing to the next, to the next. Take a few extra minutes to complete an automated task.
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​Examine how you are using your time, identify your value/goal, and determine how to maximize this time to move toward the life you want.

You may have great intentions to create awareness and to act with intention, but we get busy and forget. That's okay. We're all human.

You can fight your forgetfulness by writing down your aim for awareness, set alarms, use an app dedicated to creating habits, or find an accountability partner.

During this show segment, we introduce four ways to interact with the material presented: A question to answer, a quest to complete, an aspect of creativity we've noticed this week, and a quote to ponder.

What is something you are currently creating awareness or intention around right now?

Decide what you want to become more aware of and use one of the strategies discussed in the episode.

Creating an Awareness Curriculum using art therapy in prison

"Awareness is the greatest agent for change."
​- Eckhart Tolle