From outside the box

The following blog concerns a topic I have touched upon many times. I will always come back to this subject because I think it is important. I believe that if everybody put more attention on living consciously, the world would change considerably and for the better. There are tons of books out there that explain this subject better than I do, but since it is so near and dear to my heart, I'm gonna put my take on it. Thanks for reading....

There are no secrets or mysteries to life, only things we refuse to see.

My first concept of "living consciously" came about back in 1976. I had been dating a girl for several months and one day to my surprise, I realized we were living together. I never planned for that to happen, it just kind of evolved into that situation. It started out with her spending the night every now and then, and soon it was every weekend, and then half the week, and then.....why are we paying rent in two places? In future relationships, I always remembered that experience. I decided that if I was ever going to live with another woman, it was going to be a conscious decision by both of us, not a gradual evolution.

As time went by, I became aware of how we make so many decisions and live so much of our lives "unconsciously". We drive unconsciously, we listen to radio adds and bad music unconsciously, we eat unconsciously, we even talk to each other unconsciously! I had to become aware of my own unconscious habits and decisions before I could begin to make conscious or mindful choices. The whole idea is to make more conscious choices and less unconscious ones.

Every decision, every choice we make, we do it either consciously or unconsciously. Most of us think that we are always in control, that we are consciously making our own decisions. However, we often fall prey to the reactive mind without even knowing it's happened. We can switch from action to reaction in a heartbeat. When we are mindfully active, we are consciously deciding our next move, we are awake and aware. When we are in a reactive state, we are simply reacting to familiar conditions, preset mind patterns, just "going with the flow". We do things without thinking about what we are doing. We all do it...a lot!

When I spend too much time being reactive or unconscious, I start to feel pessimistic about things. I loose my natural energy and it can be easy to feel like a victim. Events happen that seem out of my control. Sometimes it takes a while for me to realize what is going on. When I catch it, I can usually turn it around fairly quick. I start by centering myself in the moment and then I decide what I want to do next.... where do I want to go from this moment? When I take charge of my consciousness and my thinking, I start to feel energized again. I start to feel myself in a good flow with the world around me. Events start to fall into place, the timing of things goes smoother, life seems to respond to me. I become (my new word for the day) apperceptive!

The whole key to what I'm talking about here is to realize that you are a conscious being, you are more than your thoughts and feelings. Our mind is a tool, not a being. There is no awareness in the mind, only processes. You are pure awareness until you think. When we think, it's easy to get lost in our thoughts or to mistake our identity of self with thought and emotion. We think all the time but the real you, the awareness factor, is not to be found in the thoughts but rather in the silent spaces between the thoughts. This is the seat of consciousness. This is where we tune into the moment, the NOW. It is when we identify with our mind that we fall into a state of reactivity. It has been said that we must loose our mind to find ourselves. The more we realize who we are, the more we realize who we are not, and then the more we can begin to live consciously.

So.... what can sound like a bunch of new age googlydoo is really a simple process of taking charge of yourself. Socrates said, "Man, know thyself." Shakespeare said, "To be or not to be." Jesus said, " I am, that I am." And the greatest philosopher of all, Popeye the sailor man put it this way..."I am what I am and that's all that I am." These are all saying the same thing....BE WHO YOU ARE. All you have to do is ask yourself every now and then if you are doing what you really want to do. Is it your choice or are you reacting to preset mind conditions or outside influences? And if you are reacting to something, are you consciously choosing to do it, because that's OK too. Are you being who you want to be at any given moment or are you being who you think you are supposed to be? Are you awake or are you sleeping thru your experience? Is every action and thought you put out bringing you closer to your goals or moving you further away? Are you allowing yourself to feel an emotion or have you become that emotion? Are you simply thinking or are you also aware that you are thinking?

It takes constant attention to be in control. Lack of attention leads to reactivity or unconscious decisions. Constant awareness leads to living consciously which leads to self empowerment. It's impossible to be self aware all of the time, were not wired to do that. However, I think it's important that we try. The very act of trying conditions our awareness and makes us more alert from a higher perspective.

The following questions are good measuring sticks to gage how consciously you are living your life....Are you happy with your life? Do you love your life? Can you say out loud that you love your life? Do you see that every aspect of your life is a result of the choices you have made, either consciously or unconsciously? If you answer yes to all of these, you are living consciously.

One last note....Sometimes life sucks no matter what we do. Sometimes we want out of our situation. We all have these times in our life, that's part of the game. No matter how bad things get, there is usually a gem to find somewhere in the situation....sometimes it takes a while to find it. But in the long run, in the bigger picture, it is important that we recover from these things, hopefully we come out wiser in the end. I have found in my life that the more I take charge of my mind and thoughts and try to remember who I really am, the better I seem to get thru the difficult times.