What Is Living Consciously?
Living consciously simply means having a mind that is active, rather than passive. Here are some characteristics of an actively conscious mind:
- Living in the moment, without loosing the wider perspective.
- A willingness to accept reality, rather than withdrawing or hiding from it.
- Knowing where you are in relation to your goals and ambitions in life.
- Seeking feedback from others, to continually grow and expand.
- Being receptive to new knowledge, and willing to examine old assumptions.
- A willingness to correct and admit mistakes.
- A commitment to growth, learning and expansion of knowledge.
- An awareness of the values that guide and motivate you.
As you can see from the above characteristics, living consciously requires for a person to know and accept themselves, have an open and flexible mind and accept the reality they are in.
This last point is especially important because many people choose not accept the full reality of situations they dislike, but rather choose to deny or ignore it, hoping it will either go away or resolve itself.
However, as you probably already know, ignoring a situation can put it out of mind, but it very rarely solves the situation or makes it better.
A far more common outcome is that the situation becomes worse over time, thereby causing far greater consequences than it originally would have had.
This is the basic principle of living consciously, and why it is so important in life. Once you are able to accept your reality, rather than denying or ignoring it, you automatically place yourself in the best position to cope and deal with the challenges and experiences life throws at you.
In this an the next few articles, we shall be exploring the concept of reality, and how it relates to conscious living.
Refusing Reality
Denial of reality can take many forms, although the most common include lying to yourself, watching TV/films, socializing, playing games, drinking or taking drugs.
What these things all have in common is that they are used as a means of shifting focus away from one reality onto another.
Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, as shifting your focus away from one reality (i.e. your everyday life) to another reality (i.e. a film or video game) can act as a kind of “mental holiday”. Thereby providing you with some enjoyment, and variety to your life.
Escaping reality only becomes a problem when it takes over your whole life, and this is something we shall explore in a later article.Â
One Reality At A Time
As your mind can only hold one thought at a time, by escaping to another reality you automatically forget about the reality you were trying to avoid.
However this escape is only temporary, and sooner or later you will have to return to and face your original reality.
The trouble with this approach is that when you finally do return to the reality you escaped from, things have often gotten much worse than they originally were.
This occurs because all realities exist simultaneously. So for example, if you have financial or personal problems you can escape this reality by shifting your focus onto another reality, such as by getting drunk or watching TV all day.
Whatever method you choose to deny your reality, it is important to understand that it only creates a temporary illusion that your problems no longer exist.
The true reality is that you cannot escape from your problems by ignoring or denying them, and this is why learning to living consciously can be of such enormous benefit to your life.
By learning to face and accept the reality you are currently in, rather than trying to escape or avoid it, only then will you be able to take appropriate action and find an effective solution to your problem.
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July 18th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Your website has really helped me understand myself better, thank you! I have had chronic health problems. It makes it difficult for me to live the active life that I want. Do you have any tips to deal with this frustration?
July 18th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Hi Lauren,
Thanks, i’m glad you like the site!
I think the best advice i could give you would be to always stay focused on what is possible for you, right now. In other words, focus on your possibilities and not your limitations. Ask yourself, what am i capable of doing right now? What are my options?
If your life is being restricted by chronic health problems then you may have to accept that for the time being you may not be able to do the things you want to do, which is why it is important to focus on what you can do.
I wont pretend to understand what you are going through, the only person who knows that is you, or anyone else who has experienced the same thing. But i certaintly can imagine not being able to live the life i want to live being very hard to accept.
You may be feeling a mixture of emotions. Anger, sadness, frustration and sometimes may even feel like giving in? At times like these you need motivation from a good source.
There are many people who have suffered adversities in their lives, yet still managed to focus on what they could do and made the best of it.
Did they wish their life was different? Sure they did! But they had to accept the reality of their situation, and do the best they could with what they had. But it was not easy for them, and it may not be easy for you either.
There are many sources of inspiration you may draw upon, “chicken soup for the soul” contains lots of inspiring stories which you may find motivating.
Or perhaps you can rent the film “my left foot” about a man who learnt how to paint and write with his foot, the only part of his body he could control.
Another example is Stephen Hawking, despite being confined to a wheelchair and barely able to move his body, he has made the best of a very difficult situation.
So take from these words what you will, but i promise you, if you focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t, your life will begin to change in new and unexpected ways for the better.
Martin