{"id":23387,"date":"2021-01-12T09:01:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T13:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=23387"},"modified":"2021-01-15T19:07:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T23:07:46","slug":"the-wheel-of-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the wheel of awareness<\/a>? How can it help you manage your attention and maintain internal balance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, body sensations, etc. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating all these different aspects of yourself to maintain mental and emotional equilibrium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading for more about the wheel of awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Wheel of Awareness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to integrating memories <\/em>and different regions of your brain<\/em>, integrating the various parts of who you are<\/a><\/em> helps you remain calm and in control of your thoughts and emotions<\/a>. There are many parts of you\u2014including parent, employee, and mentor. There are probably parts of you that are insecure, and other parts that are self-assured. The wheel of awareness helps you to see yourself as a multifaceted person, preventing you from fixating on only one part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of all your parts as spokes on a wheel, and your self-awareness of your various parts is the hub in the center. On the rim of this wheel of awareness<\/em> are all the things that can grab your attention\u2014such as feelings, thoughts, memories, physical sensations, goals, dreams, and perceptions of the world<\/a> around you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re in your hub, you can acknowledge all the different aspects of yourself and all the various things that you can give your attention to in any given moment<\/strong>\u2014such as the mild ache in your back, your lunch options, the memory of last weekend\u2019s camping trip, and anxiety about your upcoming work presentation. If you put all of your attention on one thing, you can become stuck on that rim point, and that one thing determines your state of mind until you change your focus. For example, if you focus entirely on your work presentation, anxiety will consume you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re stuck on the rim, you may begin to neglect your other rim points and think that just one rim point defines you; in other words, when you\u2019re stuck on a rim point, you confuse how you <\/strong>feel<\/em><\/strong> with who you <\/strong>are<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>For example, if you focus on your presentation and feeling <\/em>anxious, then you begin to think that you are<\/em> an anxious person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, from your hub, you clearly see that each rim point is just a part of your experience\u2014meaning that your anxiety can coexist with your hunger and the ache in your back. Self-integration entails recognizing all of your spokes and rim points and putting them into perspective as parts of a whole. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose Where You Focus Your Attention<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The wheel of awareness gives you the power to choose where to put your attention, thus determining your mood and state of mind. <\/strong>Understanding how and why you feel the way you do is half of \u201cmindsight,\u201d which is the foundation of good mental health. (The other half of mindsight how someone else feels and why, which we\u2019ll talk about in the next chapter.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving your mindsight requires you to frequently pause and reflect on how you\u2019re feeling, what you\u2019re focusing on, and which rim points deserve your attention. <\/strong>The more you practice, the more adept you\u2019ll become at focusing your attention, which allows you to choose how you experience things. Rather than being subject to external forces, you become an active participant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Josh was a high-achieving child who focused on anxiety-inducing rim points, including his fear of getting a B on a test and his worry that he\u2019d botch his solo in the upcoming music performance. When Josh identified other rim points\u2014such as his confidence as a baseball player\u2014it reminded him that there was more to him than his grades and his music performance. With this perspective, he still felt some anxiety about his grade and his solo, but it only represented part<\/em> of his experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the wheel of awareness? How can it help you manage your attention and maintain internal balance? There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, body sensations, etc. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating all these different aspects of yourself to maintain mental and emotional equilibrium. Keep reading for more about the wheel of awareness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[186],"class_list":["post-23387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-spiritual","tag-the-whole-brain-child","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1379\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\"},\"wordCount\":655,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Whole-Brain Child\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Spiritual\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\",\"name\":\"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1379},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self - Shortform Books","description":"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self","og_description":"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1379,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self","datePublished":"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/"},"wordCount":655,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","keywords":["The Whole-Brain Child"],"articleSection":["Psychology","Spiritual"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/","name":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-12T13:01:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-15T23:07:46+00:00","description":"There are many parts of you\u2014thoughts, feelings, dreams, sensations. The wheel of awareness is a framework for integrating it all together.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1379},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-wheel-of-awareness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Wheel of Awareness: Integrate Your Sense of Self"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-ferris-wheel-2-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23387"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24124,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387\/revisions\/24124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}