"Aware," by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

Genre: Nonfiction, Psychology

Page Count: 350+

Published: 2018 (Tarcher Perigee)

Potential Triggers: None

Mental Health Topics: Anxiety, Depression, Trauma,

From the same author as Mindsight and Brainstorm, we have Aware, a book focused on self-awareness and the effect it has on not only the mind but also the human body. As with most of his works, this book is focused primarily on the workings of the brain and on the science and discovery side of things, with a few examples of how his demonstration of the "Wheel of Awareness" can make real life changes in an individual's life.

One thing that Dr. Siegel included in this book, as he did with Brainstorm, is he included illustrations that his daughter drew for him on occasion. There were around 2-3 total, not counting all the different diagrams for the different points he was making, but they were still pretty cool to see in the middle of a very science-oriented book.

Focusing mainly on awareness allowed Dr. Siegel to go over everything that may affect your awareness, including distractions, memories that filter your awareness away from what you're trying to focus on, and even your own struggle to simply be present. It goes over how being unaware can impact your life, including what you may see begin to manifest as a result.

Overall, my favorite part of this book was the bit of emphasis it put on kindness, compassion, and love, and how those are affected by our presence in our everyday lives. If we are not present within ourselves—whether we're dissociated or simply zoning out or are unfocused on something—we cannot truly "tune in" on another's life and be compassionate, truly kind, and loving.

Aware was longer than both Mindsight and Brainstorm, but it was just as good. Unlike Brainstorm, this one was again geared towards adults, so it was much more science forward, but for anyone who wants to know what being more aware and present in our lives can change for us, this would definitely be my recommendation.