AETIA – A Self-Monitoring Dashboard for Managing Purposeful Engagement through Active Self-Awareness.

Aetia, ancient greek word meaning reason or cause is used here as an acronym for checking in with your attention, energy, thinking, interactions and actions. Your AETIA or, how you think and interact with the world and what you do provides a reason or cause for how you experience life. by doing, you become

A – ATTENTION

Where is my attention? Is my attention self-centered on being hungry, a lack of sleep, a relationship dilemma? Am I focused on a broader purpose, an overarching goal? Am I in the open mode of thinking, considering endless possibilities or am I in a closed mode of thinking ie focused on a specific task.

My attention is…

E – ENERGY

How is my energy? Positive? Negative? Neutral? Drained? Overflowing?

My energy is…

T – THINKING

Do I notice myself being: Negative and judgmental (critical)? Distracted by random thoughts? Pessimistic and self-sabotaging ie ‘that won’t work, remember that other time you failed?’ What is something I’m grateful for? What about that matters to me? What else? What is something that went well? What about that is significant? Has anything else gone well? What is something that can go well/what opportunities do I have?

Something I am grateful for is… Something that went well recently is… Something that can go well for me is…

I – INTERACTIONS

Who/what am I interacting with, friends? strangers, social media? Do I have any important interactions coming up?

What interactions can I look forward to and how can they go well? I am looking forward to…

A – ACTIONS

What am I doing? What do I want to do? What am I going to do now that I have identified opportunities and interactions I am looking forward to going well for me?

I am going to…

I – INTENTIONS

What are your intentions? I want to finish this road trip in two days for less then $300. Or, I want to be the best person in my child’s life.

What are my intentions?

Now rephrase your intentions into the present tense, as if you have already achieved them.

I am…

Do you notice a misalignment between your intentions and the rest of your AETIA? From now on, start with intentions. When you start with intentions and make your way through actions, revisit your energy. Notice the difference. This exercise is meant to help develop self awareness and leave you with a sense of purpose, alignment and agency in your own life.