how to be aware in an unaware world

Author: Josh Avery

Work
If you enjoy any percentage of your job, you are in the minority.
– Jonah Hill
What’s the first thing you say when someone asks, “What do you do?”
For most of us it pertains to work: “Well, I am an engineer” or “I work in finance” or whatever, but how many of us say “I love to dance” or “Recently, I’ve been playing piano”.
In a first world environment, the automatic response to what we do is what we do for work, because, frankly, it’s all we seem to do. Eight plus hours a day. Five plus days a week. Four plus weeks a month. Twelve plus months a year.
What if we changed that? What if work became even 50% of our day instead of 80%? What if we had the financial freedom to choose so much more than work. Or, even better, what if we turned a passion into a living and then used the time in between to travel the world or train for a marathon or go camp in the forest for a weekend.
Recognizing our time is precious means that work should compliment our lives, not criticize it by making us so tired on our days off that we just oversleep or sink into the couch.
How do we escape a job that we know does not fulfill us or can even be toxic? It starts with a well designed escape plan aka the amount of money needed to live on while pursuing what comes after quitting.
Ideally, the passion project is built while working that dredging job, but we all know the difficulty of work after work. With all the time we did spend at a job now freed up, it’s a lot easier to build that passion project.
There has to be a clear objective though. I tried just quitting a job once and figuring out how to support myself with a passion project and ended up living in Hawaii and California burning through my savings until I was forced to go back into the traditional workforce.
I think what Jonah was getting at was that not only finding a job you really enjoy is rare, but it takes a lot of conscious effort.
Use mindfulness in asking the question, “What in my life right now aligns with what I value in my life right now?”
To both find our values and to align to them requires attention and intention. It is not enough just to be aware, we must take action when required too.
Work can be more than a place that provides a means of paying the bills – it can be a feeling of progress and improvement both on ourselves and others, while also paying the bills.
Getting out of a debt cycle comes to mind here too. If living paycheck to paycheck traps us in a debt cycle, what are the very things that put us in a debt cycle in the first place?
And then, with that answer, we can avoid the constant temptations to waste our money on things we will end up forgetting about in less than a month, and thus free up the time from working to pay off those things to go enjoy our lives.
For me it was simply walking into a walmart, getting on shopping apps, tapping on instagram ads, and responding to email ads that pulled me into the debt cycle.
It was incredible how just going to the local grocery store, deleting the shopping and social media apps, and unsubscribing from marketing emails changed my whole life.
I stopped caring about the newest gadget, the nicest car, the downtown highrise apartment, and even the people that do care about all those things.
I did start caring about the people that care more about me than their stuff, enriching experiences, community, conversations, getting into nature, and working on things I truly enjoy (like writing).
It was mindfulness in practice – being aware of what has created bad habits in my life and then taking the small actions to avoid them.
If a monk meditates in quicksand, he will still sink and become trapped. No amount of meditation will get him out of his situation.
Work takes on a whole new meaning when our direction on spending takes on a whole new meaning.
The less we spend, the more we have leftover.
The more we have leftover, the less we have to work a job that sucks.
The less we work a job that sucks, the more time we have to do what matters to us.
Three more things:
1. Read – Quitting Your Job Is Easy – The Minimalists
2. Listen – Wake Up Wind Down on Work
3. Watch – Jonah Hill: On His New Film Outcome, Directing, and Creative Process | Zane Lowe Interview
June 23, 2026
Roads
In thinking of this week’s post, I came to a life-changing realization while sitting in a steam room for over 30 minutes.
About a month prior to this eye opening steam session, I went to a local warehouse rave in Salt Lake, and in the back of this building was a box full of trinkets and string to make bracelets and necklaces and in this box I found a tree of life symbol (as what’s shown on the cover photo).
I thought, well, I haven’t worn a necklace since I was in elementary school and can’t even remember what it was back then. I like this symbol even though I only vaguely know what it symbolizes, and so I will string it up and where it.
A month or so has passed as I haven’t taken it off.
In that steam room I realized that the tree is but a metaphor for myself, and that my being is contained in the seed, and my soul or chi or whatever you want to call it is contained in the seed.
As the tree grows, it branches out in many directions, but always up, and always towards light. Those branches are the many decisions in our life, the many forks in the road. And so begins this post…
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
– Robert Frost
The thinking of a choice in many ways supersedes the choice itself, and the stress that follows.
Rober Frost doesn’t suggest that one path is better or worse than the other, only that he chose to take the less traveled one, the one that others are afraid to take or hesitant because of any risks or fear of failure.
I have faced this fork in the road many times in my own life:
Choosing whether to start a career after college or backpack the US and Europe.
Choosing whether to move to salt lake city or keep being a nomad.
Choosing whether to start working full time or keep at gig work.
Choosing whether to dive into an intimate relationship or stay single.
At every fork in the road, as Mr. Frost writes, there is a feeling of wanting to travel both roads, to experience both branches of the timeline. But we cannot be in two places at once and we cannot live two lives simultaneously.
Sometimes, the road we take will lead us right back to the same fork, as if discreetly turning left and left and left until it circles right back around.
I think of bad habits here, that take repeating over and over and over again until we finally recognize the fork in the road as if it was brightly lit with a neon sign, “Do NOT go left!”
We may not know where exactly a road may lead, as only the creator can know that, but mindfulness gives us deeper intuition by which to navigate the forks.
The full awareness of where we are in this very moment includes the full awareness of where we were weeks, months, and years ago.
It is in this full awareness that our intuition can guide us and lead us down the road less traveled by.
The end of this poem reminds me so much of going on my first ever backpacking trip. All I had was a 40L backpack, some money saved up, a good working phone, good friends waiting to meet me in far away places, and lungs full of grateful air.
I chose to step outside my comfort zone, give way to the power of uncertainty, and that has made all the difference.
What we do inside our comfort zone pales in comparison to what we experience outside our comfort zone.
It is said that life is not a destination to get to but a reality to experience. The mere thought of what’s out there can lead us to discover what’s out there.
I am fortunate to have grown up in a military family traveling the world, riding a donkey through the narrow canyons to Petra, learning to surf the great waves of Oahu, sliding down snow covered hills in Southern Germany, walking through the great cathedral halls of the Vatican, and leaning over the edge of a wooden boat on its way to Masera Island.
I have seen, done, and experienced so much in my short 31 years on Earth. Each travel validates the last, reminding me why I am a nomad at heart.
The branches of our tree do not just include our choices, but also the generations of choices before us. The choice of my parents to join the military before I was born brought me to this very moment.
And before them, the choice of my grandparents to build a life and start a family after a World War.
And before them, the choice to endure the Great Depression, save all they could, and raise children.
And before them, the choice to travel west, seeking opportunity, prosperity, and adventure.
And on and on, to the most difficult task of escaping Britain’s tyranny with a handful of other families to sail across the vast Atlantic in order to start anew in an unknown land.
All of my ancestor’s choices influence my choices today. The hardship, determination, gratitude, joy, humor, all of it down to my DNA is a product of a millenia of choices.
And all that leads on from here is a product of my choices, that I have control over. It is a sense of agency that sprouts purpose into my life.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I –
Sat to meditate.
Three More Things:
1. Read – Robert Frost – Wikipedia
2. Listen – The hidden forces shaping your choices
3. Watch – Your ancestors aren’t who you think they are
May 21, 2026
Principles
At the same time as writing this new post, I began a popular challenge called 75 Hard about two weeks ago.
The challenge is to go 75 Days doing specific tasks that will turn into habits after about day 66 (according to James Clear – author of Atomic Habits).
I modified the original version to my liking with a great app called ‘75 Days Challenge’ which is among many that serve the same purpose. The habits I have set out to ingrain over the next 61 days are:
- Do a small act of kindness
- Meditate for at least 10 minutes
- Do a workout routine (30 push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and squats)
- Read for at least 20 minutes
- Write a full page journal entry
- Cook a healthy meal
- No Buy Challenge (only purchase necessary consumables)
As I began and modified this challenge, I came across a set of principles that I would like to guide me. Those principles are the building blocks of character, and so this post is all about that intersection.
Defined through the lens of mindfulness, character takes on a deeper meaning: the consistent outward and inward expression of virtues in right thought, emotion, and action.
To be consciously aware of how and why our inner self impacts our outer actions is no easy task. It is in fact a very rare task, especially consistently.
What this looks like day to day is someone who habitually responds to life’s ups and downs with clarity, integrity, responsibility and compassion rather than judgment, reactivity, and impulse.
Meditation, when paired with these subtle character choices, may just change our very being.
Below are principles in mindfulness that can change the very nature of our egos, or as my mom likes to call it, edging God out.
Intentional Choice:
Mindfulness creates a small yet powerful space between stimulus and response. I want to yell at this person and I am yelling at this person or I want to buy this car and I am driving off the lot in this car.
To be the backseat rider of our own emotions, sensations, and thoughts really is a super power. Most people live in a dream state, momentarily aware from time to time, but never fully awake.
Take consumerism for example. Most people, including myself, fall victim to indulgent spending, racking up credit cards, not realizing all they have spent until they gawk at the bill.
Self-awareness:
To know oneself is to know the secrets of the universe. See your intentions, biases, and habits as they rise and fall without denial or distortion. Call them out in a kind and loving way. Write them down in order to see their frequency.
We cannot know a mind that is clouded in judgement, especially towards ourselves.
This takes a gentle practice of noting. All while being attentive to context and consequences.
Ethical Presence:
The practice of ethics was once very commonplace, but seen more than we recognize today: opening the door for someone, helping someone with their groceries, or my favorite, giving the endless gifts of a smile and a compliment.
Ethical Principles such as kindness, honesty, and fairness exhibited each day, naturally, grow within us the seed of happiness.
Happiness is when our thoughts, actions, and speech are in harmony.
Emotional Regulation:
Our character is not defined in the absence of difficult emotions, in fact, it is sharpened through them.
Character is defined through meeting our emotions with steadiness and wisdom, rather than allowing them to dictate our behavior.
Compassion & Interconnectedness:
A character defined by mindful living recognizes the shared humanity of all living things. It forces us to act with empathy, care, respect, and yes, awareness (especially under stress, tiredness, or in conflict).
I can’t think of a more mindful act than to be shown disagreement and yet still be warm and kind, unconcerned with right or wrong.
And so, I think I’ll just leave it at that!
Three More Things!
1. Read – The 7 Principles of Mindfulness
2. Listen – Wake Up / Wind Down Series
3. Watch – Poverty isn’t a lack of character
May 8, 2026