GAINING CONSCIOUS CONTROL

Three common ways to lose conscious control are through lapses of attention, automatic emotional reactions and subconscious life directives.  

Lapses of attention are common.  We might not notice a car coming as we cross the street or hear an important announcement or parts of a conversation.  At such times we may miss important information and not be able to make our best response. To avoid such lapses, it helps to practice mindfulness -- the discipline of staying absolutely focused on what’s happening HERE AND NOW.

Automatic emotional reacting is also a common way to lose conscious control.  When blinded by anger, shut down by sadness or carried away by joyful enthusiasm, we may easily narrow our awareness and lose conscious control. To avoid this kind of control loss, it helps to become grounded in a higher aspect of self.  Practicing meditation and other consciousness- developing techniques help accomplish this.

Subconscious life directives are another common way to lose conscious control; usually formed early in life, life directives establish themselves as unconscious ruling principles (sub-wills) that automatically control us.  Some such life directives are: don’t take chances; don’t expect too much from life; avoid big commitments or big responsibilities.

Sub-will life-directives usually work subconsciously, so spotting and remedying them can be difficult. But by practicing self-observation and introspection, we can learn to spot them and loosen their grip on us.

By increasing conscious control in these three ways, we increase our ability to live more successfully.

Goodness and joy to all, Joseph.

 

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LIVING AT GREATER RISK

Quality of consciousness is a key factor in determining the kind of life we can have.  As we develop it, we better appreciate the creative power of our thoughts, think more positively and constructively, and act more conscientiously, compassionately and lovingly … and get the good results we seek.  The less we develop it, the more likely we are not to think correctly ahead or to respond harshly or shoddily and produce negative results. 

The old adage: “What you don’t know won’t hurt you,” isn’t true. What you don’t know can hurt you! Ignorance is a lack of consciousness development and in it we live at greater risk.

If you don't know that a bad habit is making you ill, you may go merrily along until it’s too late. If you don’t know how your mate truly feels, you may think the relationship is good until a breakup comes suddenly. If you don’t know you’re in a bad investment, you may think you’re doing fine until your money is suddenly gone (consider any Madoff investor).

Any lack in the caliber of one’s consciousness produces a lack in the quality of life; good intentions are not enough -- an improvement in consciousness is what’s needed.

This being so, we might think that consciousness development would be a major goal of society and every person in it.  Not so.  Usually, little or no focus is placed on it.  The reason is simply that most people don’t yet understand the power and role of consciousness and thought in shaping their lives.  Until they do, it’s not going to be an important concern for many. And humanity will continue seeking the causes of its ills in the wrong places -- blaming each other, government and bad luck for their problems, when in fact the cause often lies in lack of consciousness development.

To improve our lives and the world, Ghandi wisely advised, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Thus, we don’t have to wait or live at great risk, needlessly – just work daily at improving our own state of consciousness.

Goodness and joy to all, Joseph.

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SEEING REALITY

We may think that we see reality well, but the fact is perception is highly selective and subjective -- usually we look only at what interests us or strongly demands our attention; we see with a preconditioned biased mind. Thus we don’t see reality as well as we may think. 

Here’s a simple experiment. You’ve looked at your hands many times in your life and so let’s use them as objects for an experiment.

Put your hands together any way you wish. Hold them perfectly still for a minute and pretend you’re looking at a life-like sculpture of them.

As you do this notice that the more detached you are, the more you see things you didn’t expect. Your hands may even begin to feel foreign or strange to you. It may feel like you’re seeing them for the first time.

Through this simple experiment we may experience how we don’t normally perceive commonplace reality as well as we may think we do. And this normal lack of perception especially applies to the people and situations we experience daily. Instead of seeing them as they truly are, we may often see only a very limited idea of them. And because of this, we may not deal with them as effectively as we could.

Practice meeting people and situations with a clear unbiased mind. Don’t accept your automatic first thoughts of them. See if you can discover how much more interesting and different reality is than you normally expect.

Goodness and joy to all, Joseph.

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