Critical Awareness

So tonight's my last class. A bit sad about that, I've learned so much and really started to connect with the other "students". Still, we haven't finished the book, so I'll have some good beach reading for next week. Not your typical lazy beach reading, of course, but something meaty, life-changing. Like this topic we're covering now and will explore more in-depth tonight....that of critical awareness.

Defined,

Critical awareness is the belief that we can increase our personal power by understanding the link between our personal experiences and larger social systems. Awareness is knowing something exists, critical awareness is knowing why it exists, how it works, how our society is impacted by it and who benefits from it.

huh?? ok, here's an example. There are social-community expectations of appearance, in such things as hair, skin, weight, clothing, fitness, etc. These expectations exist to keep us spending our valuable resources-money,time and energy- on trying to meet some ideal that is not achievable. Did you know that Americans spend more each year on beauty than we do on education? It's a huge industry! So you have all these expectations, realistic or not. You cannot be all these things all of the time. What would happen if someone perceives you as not living up to these expectations? Can you control how others perceive you? How do you try? By answering these questions and linking that information to what you are experiencing, you move toward resilience by learning to see the big picture. Learning that you are NOT the only one feeling that way, and you can demystify the whole game by sharing what you know with others. Beat the system, so to speak.

ok, enough lecture. Personal experience here. Sort of related, I think... I am learning to recognize when I am feeling bad about some area of my life, but before getting down on myself, I quickly think about what is triggering it, and why I am especially vulnerable to this type of "attack" or trigger. Then, I will often go racing off to my journal to jot it down, helps me figure out my thinking to put it down on paper. Recent example: Having someone use Scripture in a way that nags at an area of perceived guilt (shame) for me. Realizing what was happening, I quickly ran and googled the Bible verse, read some commentaries and learned that this was an often-misquoted verse, used to try to command God what to do, or to condone one's actions by saying that God would bless what they are doing. Put that into a particular relational context, and that trigger can really feel like that knife that stabs and then twists, twists, and tears open those old shame-induced wounds. I'm not going to let that happen. Sure, I love God's Word. But I will go to it in an attitude of prayer, look at the surrounding verses, and let it speak to me on that level, not let one verse out of nowhere catch me off guard and make me feel miserable.

sigh. Enough rant. I may have more to say after tonight. Hopefully less rant, more encouraging insights.

have a good one,

ping!

 

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