Most of us have such busy minds that we don’t find the time to think before acting. In the worst case, it amounts to acting compulsively, and many of us inherently act impulsively. But, you know what? It’s always meaningful to pause before you act. It helps you to reflect on the consequences of your action. But, if you are not in the habit of not considering actions and their results, you will suffer from erratic decision-making.
Many of us want to change our habits, but don’t know how. Wait a minute, this is where conscious living can help you.
Living with awareness can make a dramatic improvement to your life. It can change you from merely an existing person to someone living with a purpose—from a rudderless boat to a ship with a destination. And once you realize how beautifully it changes your life, somewhere, you also realize that it can transform everyone else’s life. You can experience myriads of joy if you are living with your eyes open.
To accomplish this task, it’s necessary to understand what it means to live consciously and what are the simple ways you can use to change your life. Conscious people have certain personality traits they get as they have a high level of mental awareness.
What Does It Mean to Live Consciously?
Conscious living is a way of life that involves well-thought-out action at each step. Applying maximum awareness lets you see your immediate surroundings and the world as they are, and not in a biased way. As you become more aware, you can make better day-to-day decisions and experience life in its full bloom. Living with complete consciousness at your conscious and subconscious levels is termed living an ‘awakened life’.
Conscious Living is a Way of Well-Thought-Out Life
Your lifestyle needs to be governed by a mindset where you exercise complete control over your actions, speech, and habits. This comes to you when you understand if you have the right behavior, desires, intentions, and purpose. Furthermore, it’s most important to consider how your behavior affects others, whether it is a family member or a stranger.
Most people will think of conscientious living rather than conscious living. Here, we are talking of conscious living where you understand the right way to act spontaneously through your perception of your emotions and feelings and relate them to how other sentient beings also feel. On the flip side, conscientious living is more about moral behaviour, it may be enforced on the mind. Conscious living leads to spontaneous empathy.
How Does it Make a Difference to Live Consciously?
When you are carefully living your life, you create life. It also means that you will apply careful thought to every big or small decision you make for yourself or your children and loved ones that has a better impact on the lives of loved ones. Living consciously is about living with a mindset that goes beyond the self and thinks of everyone connected to you in a small or big way. Living mindfully is about having a positive impact on the whole planet. It includes you, those around you, and even strangers.
People live consciously aware of their thought patterns and belief systems. This helps them gauge their weaknesses and strengths and create the mindset to positively impact them.
On the other hand, passive living is more like getting drifted with your unconscious thought patterns. You don’t know where your thoughts are leading you. Undoubtedly, it is essential to take charge of your life and live well.
Why You Can’t Afford to Live Unconsciously
A study suggests that people are making several decisions at an unconscious level so that their minds stay protected from overload. But unfortunately, living unconsciously means no active processing and awareness; instead, it leads to impulsive actions with consequences we can’t afford to manage.
Unconscious living is also related to unintentional living. That means that your actions are not in alignment with what you want. On the other hand, conscious thinking is always intentional, controllable, and is done with great awareness. You need to move your thoughts from the unconscious to the conscious mind to make the right decision to support your health, wealth, and well-being.
How can this be done?
Self-awareness and mindfulness are pathways to living consciously. But, you need to practice specific techniques to get mastery over the two.
Living passively feels like a wasted life. You can start feeling unhappy, unfulfilled, and dissatisfied when you don’t have a purpose. People who have tried to understand and practice living by the principles of conscious living tend to enjoy life better and get many satisfying experiences. They have delightful experiences and achieve personal and professional success.
You will find that such people are highly aware of their minds which means they know about their emotions and thought processes.
Traits and Characteristics of Conscious People
- They can have greater self-control in testing situations as they can regulate their internal environment and not let negative thoughts ruin their self-image.
- They know what’s within them needs to be in their control. Therefore, they will not take negative things personally.
- They can plan and use their time well. They are realistic, thoughtful, and highly decisive.
- They are driven by goals and show a highly responsible demeanor.
- They know their life is a direct consequence of their decisions and actions in the past and present. That’s why they are actively involved in making their actions for better outcomes in the coming time.
- They make their decisions and actions guided by core beliefs.
- They want to improve their growth mindset and are also highly sensitive to the emotions and feelings of others.
But, the interesting thing is they have worked on their minds and developed these traits over time. You can do the same. Practicing mindfulness helps you achieve a higher level of consciousness. You will surely enjoy the peace, calm, and bliss it brings.
How to determine if you’re living consciously?
Here are some pointers.
- Do you have a robust decision-making capacity?
- How rationally do you think while making decisions?
- Do you love to do the thing you’re doing?
- Are you controlling your life? Is it the circumstances and people around you who have your remote control button?
- Are your opinions, lifestyle, and behavior controlled by shifting social standards?
- Are you investing or spending time investing in something that doesn’t add value to your life or worth?
- Do I have life goals, or am I just drifting by the emotions of my and other’s mind to decide the course of action of my life?
- Am I always trying to please people, neglecting my real emotions?
- You can understand how well you’re living as you answer these questions.
Time To Make Changes
Whatever may be the case, it is vital to start making conscious changes to move toward mindful living. Here are simple steps to do it.
- Reflect on Your Life’s Routine. You may use a journal for the same. Schedule self-monitoring. Do it every evening or on the weekends. Be obsessed with yourself. You may also consider having some time off from an ultra-busy routine that prevents you from getting an insight into your life. But, once you start it, make a point to do it regularly.
- Do Away With Clutter. Are you living at home or in an office with much more stuff than you need? Now think.-maintaining, arranging, and cleaning all this stuff takes time and energy. Too much stuff in the spaces can lead to visual stress. We need to get rid of this stuff and things that are unnecessarily consuming our time. How? The best way to do this is to recycle or give it to someone who needs it.
Also, you need to have a clear mind and this means you need to do away with clutter of thoughts like united anger, frustration, jealousy, feeling inadequate, and more. Techniques like meditation and chanting can help you with this. With a clear mind, you can pay focused attention to important aspects.
- Check Your Relationships. Connecting well with your loved ones and striking the right chord with them can significantly impact your life. Are you giving the right amount of time and attention to relationships? Also, it’s vital to reflect if you are appreciating them enough.
Imposing your thoughts on loved ones can signify too much attachment. You need a bond that allows personal freedom and a healthy connection both of you enjoy. This may mean that you may need to forgive certain things or apologize for others. Think of how communication can get improved and what amendments are necessary in behavior. Not only do you need to review this with family and friends but also with co-workers. After all, you’re spending 9-10 hours in your office.
- Reflect On How You Spend Your Time? Do you end up wasting a great deal of time? Are you able to accomplish the things you have planned with the correct time management and planning? If you are spending too much time on diverting your attention from your main job or goals for the day, this means you’re not enjoying your work. Bringing focus on work and the goals at work can stop this time wastage. Try Rescue Time to practise better time management.
- Are You Spending Your Money Wisely? Are you investing at the right place so that in the coming time, if you are well-equipped to solve problems or have a more personal time? Think if you’re spending on frivolous objects or buying things that matter? Maybe it seems like a small amount, but that is so many hours of hard work. Is your money going for something you value? For example, if you want to buy a new bag, is it from a place that believes in sustainability and recycling? It is all made from eco-friendly materials or other stuff, not good for our planet.
- Reflect on Your Goals: Fix one time in a year to look at your goals. It can be your birthday or any sacred way you want to keep to yourself. First, think about what you want in life. How do you want your life to be, and what way do you want to choose to achieve that? Then, reflect on it and think of a plan of action.
- Reflect On Your Values: Think of what kind of a person you are. What are the things you value? Can you stand for those things? Consider how you treat people and more importantly, how you treat yourself. Do you feel your life is beautiful? Take some time to think about what kind of person you are. Reflect on your values and how you want to live the values.
- Consider Your Lifestyle Choices. How we spend our daily lives and the products we choose for our daily lives will impact us. Think about what you consume, and how you live affects your environment. Also, think of the way it impacts the people and other living creatures. Does it help the voiceless or someone who may need a little support in difficult life circumstances? Finally, think of how your life is impacting the community. Your thoughts and your actions need to add value to others’ lives, interconnected with you directly or indirectly. This is conscious living.
Final Thoughts on Ways to Live Consciously
The time to wake up has arrived. Gear up to uncover the joys of living awarefully while developing a conscious mindset. Start with your research to raise your consciousness. Think where you need to begin- is it taking control of your dwindling finances, relationships or how you feel in general?
Believe it or not, it’s all rooted in how you see yourself and how much you value your life. We have given a step-by-step process to transform the way you think to be better, more beautiful, and productive. Developing your consciousness is a gradual and intentional process. You can create your lifestyle as you make changes one at a time. Reflecting from time to time on your life helps you build the wealth of conscious living slowly and gradually. Begin now!