The mind is a beautiful thing when used to solve math problems, remember what we need at the grocery store and put our thoughts and feelings into a coherent language. However, the mind has a tendency to kick into overdrive labeling, judging and criticizing without us even being aware of it. It is this process of the mind that we call "the ego" and it is this ego that we need to clear up and clean out.
Our egos label things... mother, father, teacher, banker, Doctor etc. They also judge things as "good" or "bad" and "right" or "wrong". We not only place these labels on objects, we place them on everyone and everything including, ourselves and all of our experiences. Most of us aren't even aware of the fact that this process is taking place because it takes place in the subconscious mind. Even though these beliefs sit in the back of our minds they play an enormous roll in how we feel and how we live our lives. This is not to say that the ego or subconscious is "bad" it just goes to show how important it is for us to become more conscious of what is going on within us. Scientist state that only 5% of our lives are controlled using the conscious mind while 95% are controlled by the subconscious. This is a great reason to keep our egos clean and healthy.
Our hearts are immensely different than our minds and in our modern world it seems we have become so busy with that 5% of our minds we've forgotten all about our hearts. It is in our hearts that we feel, something most of us don't even do anymore. We tend to do a lot of "thinking" about our feeling rather than actually "feeling" our feelings. We think an awful lot about the situations that cause us upset or joy. We even talk to our friends and families about these situations but, how often do we just allow ourselves to actually feel the feelings, in our hearts and bodies rather than in our minds? We've become so accustomed to running on the hamster wheel in our minds that we've forgotten how to feel. How are we ever going to have happiness in our lives if we aren't even aware of what we are doing and feeling? How, without this awareness, can we possibly create a world in which we live and share peacefully?
So it seems that if we wish to become truly happy people we are going to have to become conscious people and we are going to have to find a balance between our minds and our hearts. There are many ways to begin the process of conscious living, one is to become more aware of what we are thinking. We can start by taking note of both our conscious and unconscious thoughts. All sorts of things are running through our minds while we are getting dressed, driving, working, taking care of the kids, shopping etc. These are the thoughts we need to become aware of. What are we thinking about ourselves and others? How are we judging and labeling the things we experience? Because maybe there aren't any "bad" people or "bad" situations. Maybe we are ALL just doing the best we can with what we have and what we've been taught and maybe every situation is actually a lesson, an opportunity to learn rather than a punishment to be dealt with. When someone rubs us the wrong way we have the opportunity to find out why. What is it about that person that annoys us so much? Could it be that they are in some way reminding us of ourselves? Noticing what we think, how we react and WHY we have those reactions is what being conscious is all about. Once we've become aware of our mental patterns we can choose to let go of the ones that no longer serve us and create new ones that do.
Another way to begin living consciously is to reconnect with our hearts. This can be very scary after years of using our minds to ease our emotions. Like anything new, the more we practice the easier it gets. Whenever a situation arises and emotions bubble up we make a choice, we can choose to jump on the hamster wheel and start running or we can allow ourselves to feel the feelings. To just sit and breathe and feel. Then we can begin to uncover why it is we feel the way we feel. This conscious decision can be made whether we are feeling upset or joyful. Whether the cause is something small like a mistake on our coffee or a life changing event like marriage or a loss. Whether these feelings are what we would consider "positive" or "negative" makes no difference, what's important is that we become conscious of their presence and allow ourselves to feel them. Even if, at first, we still choose to run our old programs, we've at least made this decision from a conscious place and that is the start of conscious living.
As we move through new ways of being it is important to remember that change never comes instantaneously. Above all else we need to practice kindness and patience toward ourselves. ~Rosemary
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