Have you ever found yourself lost in thought or distracted by your phone, unaware of your surroundings? It’s easy to get caught up in our minds and forget to be present in the moment. But what if there was a simple tool to help you stay more mindful and aware of your surroundings? Enter the Circle of Awareness.
The Circle of Awareness is a concept developed by Lowveld Trails Co. Trails Guides to stay present and alert in wild environments. It involves visualizing a circle around yourself, with you at the center, and adjusting the size of the circle based on your level of attentiveness. The goal is to stay centered within your circle, where you have the most awareness of your surroundings.
Our senses are key to experiencing and understanding the world around us. By using our sight, hearing, touch, and smell to their fullest extent, we can gain a more complete understanding of our situation. This is called situational awareness and it allows us to anticipate potential risks and opportunities.
For example, if you’re walking across the savanna, your sense of sight can help you spot potentially dangerous animals or the tracks and signs that they leave behind. Your sense of hearing can alert you to their presence, and your sense of smell can pick up the scent of fresh dung. All of this information can indicate how recently they passed by and therefore provide an estimate of their proximity. The more information you can gather from your senses, the larger your Circle of Awareness will be.
However, it’s easy to drift away from the center of your circle. This often happens if you’re moving through the landscape too fast for your senses to process all relevant information. If you’re positioned on the periphery or even beyond your Circle of Awareness, you may be oblivious to risks and opportunities.
The key is to recognize when you’ve moved away from the center of your circle and take action to recenter yourself. This might mean stopping, slowing down, taking a break, and refocusing your attention on your senses and surroundings in order to reconstruct your circle.
The Circle of Awareness is not just for Trails Guides; it can be applied in many areas of life. For instance, when you’re spending time with loved ones, you can stop to take in the nuances of their emotions and expressions. At work, you can slow down to stay focused and aware of your colleagues’ activities and the job at hand. When you’re navigating a challenging situation, you can take a break to gain the perspective necessary for effective decision-making.
The Circle of Awareness is a powerful tool for living mindfully. It reminds us to be present and attentive to our surroundings and take action when we find ourselves drifting away from the centre. By applying the Circle of Awareness in our daily lives, we can cultivate a greater sense of clarity, focus, and fulfillment.
So, the next time you feel disconnected from your environment or overwhelmed by your thoughts, take a moment to visualize your Circle of Awareness. Recognize where you are within the circle and make the necessary adjustments to stay centered. With practice, you can develop a more mindful approach to life.
