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Staying Switched On

Part of the AURIS approach to identity, stability and human development.

  • Applied
  • £10.00
  • Certificate on completion
  • About 75 minutes

Two practices that work in opposite directions. One turns attention inward to your own judgements, the other turns it outward to scale a problem correctly.

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Staying Switched On cover: a man sitting on a rock at sunrise looking over a valley, beside a stone carved Awareness creates choice, with the five AURIS pillars listed and the words Staying Switched On.

Who this course is for

“I react first and think about it afterwards.”

A reaction you notice forming is a reaction you can choose about. Attention is trained rather than summoned.

Where this course sits

A pathway is a suggested order, not a requirement. This course can be taken on its own.

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About this course

A paid course pairing two attention practices: watching your own judgements as they form, and widening your view far enough to size a problem correctly.

What you will learn

  • Catch a judgement forming before you act on it
  • Hold steady attention on your own reactions without harshness
  • Widen your view to size a problem against the whole picture
  • Choose which of the two practices a situation needs

Why this matters

Primary pillar: Awareness. Secondary pillar: Stability. This course builds Awareness by training attention in two directions, inward to your own judgements and outward to the size of the problem, because you cannot work on what you have not noticed.

Course curriculum

4 lessons. The lesson content itself opens once you start the course.

  1. Lesson 1 · about 20 minutes

    Attention as a practice

    Treat attention as a trained skill, not a personality trait you either have or lack.

    • Describe attention as something practised rather than possessed
    • Notice one judgement forming today

  2. Lesson 2 · about 20 minutes

    Watching your own judgements

    Learn to see the judgement you added as separate from what actually happened.

    • Separate the event from the judgement you added to it
    • Test a judgement against what you actually know

  3. Lesson 3 · about 20 minutes

    The wider view

    Widen the frame around a current stressor so it is sized correctly, not minimised.

    • Place a current stressor in the wider picture
    • Size a problem without dismissing it

  4. Lesson 4 · about 15 minutes

    Choosing which one you need

    Know which of the two practices a situation needs, so you are not guessing under pressure.

    • Decide which practice a given situation calls for
    • Run both practices inside one week

What is included

  • Audio narration
  • Guided reflections
  • Practical activities
  • Assessment
  • Certificate on completion

Before you start

Controlling the Controllables.

After you finish

You can see your reactions as they form. Rehearsal for the Hard Day puts that to work before the hard day arrives.

Research and evidence

Primary sources: Epictetus, Discourses 4.12, on attention, prosoche; Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, on the view from above. LeBon, T., Brown, G., DiGiuseppe, R., Karl, J., Fischer, R., & Lopez, G. (2025). The development and validation of the stoic attitudes and behaviours scale. Cognitive Therapy and Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-025-10635-9

Common questions

How much does Staying Switched On cost?
It is £10 on its own, bought once and yours to keep. If it belongs to a pathway, the four paid courses on that pathway are £20 together, and the free course on that pathway stays free.
Do I get a certificate?
Yes. Finishing the course issues an AURIS Certificate of Completion in your name. It records your learning. It is not a qualification, accreditation or licence to practise, which is what the separate AURIS Practitioner Certification is for.
How long does it take, and is it self-paced?
It is self-paced. Once you enrol, every lesson is open, there is no deadline and nothing expires, and the course is designed to take about 75 minutes in total.
Do I need to do anything before this course?
Controlling the Controllables.

Course progression

  1. Foundation
  2. Applied
  3. Practitioner

Take after Controlling the Controllables. This also relates to Recognising the Delay, which builds the same pillar a different way. This also relates to Building Stability, which builds the same pillar a different way.

Related courses

The evidence behind this course

Evidence

  • Discourses 4.12, on attention (prosoche) — Epictetus

    The primary source for holding steady attention on your own judgements as a practice rather than a mood.

  • Meditations, on the view from above — Marcus Aurelius

    The primary source for widening the view to size a problem against the whole picture.

  • The development and validation of the stoic attitudes and behaviours scale — LeBon, Brown, DiGiuseppe, Karl, Fischer and Lopez, 2025 (source)

    Stoic attitudes and behaviours can be measured, which is the basis for teaching these practices as trainable habits rather than as a philosophy to agree with.

How AURIS interprets it

  • AURIS treats these two practices as Awareness work in opposite directions, inward to your own judgements and outward to the scale of the problem, with Stability alongside it.
  • AURIS states that widening the view does not make a difficulty smaller, and that finding out which difficulties do not shrink is part of the value.

What you do with it

  • You catch a judgement forming before you act on it, without harshness towards yourself.
  • You widen the view on one live stressor and choose which of the two practices a situation needs.

Ready to begin?

£10.00 one-off payment, with lifetime access to the course.

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