You're going to be exploring together

perhaps one of the most essential, crucial ingredients of happiness. And that is awareness. In this week's

podcast we'll look at how awareness is an incredibly powerful tool to help us change

and then in next week's podcast we'll look at

awareness being the essential part of who we are. Let's begin. I've been married to my wife for many years now and shortly after we got

married she did something that really changed my life. I notice that as she engaged with me and other people, though she would get upset and

could be hurt by my actions and words, she wouldn't respond back in like kind.

She wouldn't say things hurtful back.

And I was both in all of this and wanted to learn from this.

How was she able to do that?

I mean, I would feel my feelings back then

and say things, and sometimes they weren't very nice.

So I remember sitting down with their one time and asked her, are you just a very patient person

and just never say anything mean? Do no mean thoughts come into your head?

And she explained to me that no, mean thoughts would come into her head.

But what she would do is she would pause and she would reflect just for a moment and think,

if I say the words I'm thinking right now, what impact will they have on the other person?

And then if she thought they would be hurtful and mean,

she just wouldn't say them.

And I learned something that day.

It really changed my life in a very beautiful way.

I learned that, yes, I could feel my feelings, but if I paused

...