awareness requires the right action

​Evansing – Heart of the Irish Kingdom

Introduction
Awareness is of no benefit if a person does not choose to change in some concrete way, either to begin something new or to quit doing something damaging to the well-being of self or others. There must be courage to implement the required change. This can be difficult, especially if there is a substantial investment in the previous belief and behavior.

Awareness Requires the Right Action
Military commanders have still gone ahead with battle plans, even after new intelligence showed different plans would work better. Their ego investment would not allow them to change, and the results were disastrous with many lives needlessly lost. An example of this occurred in the Korean War in 1950 (reference was made to a Harvard Business Review article entitled “Business and Battles: Lessons from Defeat” written by Joseph L. Bower), when Chinese forces staged a surprise attack along the Yalu River. Suicidal waves of Chinese troops drove the US Eighth Army back in great confusion and sidelined that army unit for much of the war. While the nearby U.S. Marine X Corps achieved great success in fending off the Chinese attacks. They thoroughly defeated and in effect eliminated for the rest of the war the two Chinese armies opposing them.
 What explained the Marines success and the Eighth Army’s defeat? The Marines had served with Mao’s Eighth Route Army and knew that the Chinese were not a poorly equipped version of the North Korean Army and planned accordingly. They knew the Chinese attacked at night from close in. Their tight lines and aggressive picketing worked well to locate and respond to the Chinese. In contrast, the Eighth Army used a spread-out, under-manned formation vulnerable to Chinese order of attack.

The Eighth Army leaders ignored intelligence reports and failed to learn from the Marines. Reason for this lay with the Army’s preconceived ideas and assumptions about the Chinese abilities and inflexible ways of thinking and doing battle. Their low view of the Chinese capabilities and belief their ways were superior led to an inability to recognize the value of the intelligence provided by the Marines. Consequently, they executed a strategy they felt comfortable with.

Even everyday opportunities to change can be ignored because it’s uncomfortable. Quite often this is because of some fear of the consequences of the change. Even when it is apparent, it will lead to better long-term benefits. People can have fear of failure or even fear of success. This will result in a person staying in a dead-end job or abusive relationship because it’s familiar and in a perverse way, comfortable.

It is worth investing a little more in the topic of fear. It can diminish our ability to take the right action. I once heard in a movie trailer that “fear rots the brain.” That is a very succinct and accurate representation of the effects of fear. It distorts our thinking. Fear blocks one’s awareness, or at least can impair our willingness to acknowledge the new awareness trying to take root in our consciousness. This can be due to the new awareness being costly in some manner. Perhaps it will affect our finances, or maybe we need to release a relationship. Whatever the cost it is important to recognize the awareness that has arisen and be willing to not let the fear of loss influence our decision. All true awareness has the purpose of improving our long-term well-being, even if there is a sacrifice in the short-term. This raises the question of accurate discernment as to what appears to be a new awareness. In the event of a serious consequence it is wise to get counsel from someone we trust or go to an authoritative source able to give us a definitive answer.
 
​One way to check out your new awareness is to enumerate and investigate all the reasons why it may not be a good choice. Also evaluate possible less than the best outcomes for your current path. This latter one is always vital as we tend to look at only the evidence supporting a decision our emotions want us to pursue. We must recognize our emotions can powerfully influence what we believe is a logical decision. None of us are totally logical. No humans are copies of Mr. Spock from Star Trek.
 
Conclusion
Decide to stop being driven by fear. Until you can get to a place of peace, refuse to make a decision. And start or stop doing those things you know your new awareness is telling you. As you gain confidence in your ability to gain accurate awareness you will make better decisions and take the right actions.

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