"The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions, and the reactions are just as important as the actions." - E. Stanley Jones
Life can be so serendipitous sometimes - I don't believe in coincidences because everything happens for a reason when it's the time! I have recently decided to continue my journey toward self-awareness, self-love, and manifestation. When I started thinking about re-entering into my passion (I haven't given it much thought in the last 1 and a half years, sadly), I had some interesting encounters with two individuals who re-introduced me to the idea of universal energy and manifestation.
In a matter of 5 days, I reconnected with someone I grew up with, whose life was completely changed since the last time I saw her, and another, who is on a similar journey to mine. They BOTH mentioned their newfound passions by following the basic laws and principles of the Universe. Ha! Interesting. A couple of days later, the book "The Power of Now" fell into my lap; so I read it.
This book is not a read for people who are not open to accepting the ideas it has to offer. In fact, the author, Eckhart Tolle, expresses this same sentiment by suggesting that not everyone responds favourably to the teachings it has to offer. I fully enjoyed this book and it resonated on a level that reinvigorated my passion for mindfulness and helping others toward reclaiming themselves.
One of the themes in the book that I was particularly drawn to was the idea of "Being"; living in the now. The author introduces the idea of the human consciousness, its dysfunctions and its most common behavioural manifestations. People simply "think" too much. And, this behavioural pattern is causing people to lose sight of the importance of experiencing the "what is, in this moment" and are living life unbalanced and stressed.
What he explains, and what I have been working on at accepting, is that the past is already gone - there is nothing about the past that can change, it has passed. The future is uncertain, no one can trully predict how things will unfold so there is no point in spending energy "thinking" about it. All we have is right now; this moment. That is litterally all we can control. We can control how we feel in this moment. We can control the choice we make, right now. That is it!
This brings me to the idea of "consciousness"... We have our conscious mind, and we have our unconscious mind.
The conscious mind is rational, critical, logical, thinking and the part of you that conceptualizes everything. When faced with a problem or an experience, it tries to understand it and often does so through thoughts and perceptions. We think about that experience, give it meaning based on how it makes us feel - a very natural and human process. That is how we function in our day to day to problem solve, create and produce solutions.
The unconscious mind is non-verbal, feeling, spatial and beyond the realm of language. It is experiential, is aware of now but stores all your memories and remembers the past while looking toward the future; it already knows the solution. The unconscious mind works concurrently and works on many things at once; it learns instantaneously, and is in charge of involuntary movements. It is intuitive and most often already has the answers.
So how do the conscious and unconscious minds work?
When faced with a problem, living through an experience or situation, our conscious mind responds by placing a judgment. We "think" about it, we determine whether the situation is "good" or "bad". We give it meaning. No situation, event, or problem means anything until we decide to assign it a meaning. So if I faced a "negative" experience, it would only be "negative" because I gave it that meaning. We are in full control about how we choose to experience or give meaning to our experiences, ourselves, and the people in our lives.
Meaning-making is an important aspect of life. Making meaning is how we determine the things we love, stay away from the things we dislike, and learn life's lessons. All of this is incredibly important. The problem is not meaning-making, the problem is that we spend so much time here, in the conscious mind, wasting energy on things we cannot control, thinking about the past or worrying about the future. We spend a lot of time judging. This can be extremely dysfunctional in the way we relate to others and in the way we experience life.
Our unconscious mind drives us and our behavioural patterns - our thoughts, emotions, and reactions which are governed by perceptions that are based on past experiences, social conditioning, limiting beliefs, and our self-worth - whether we realize this or not! This, consequently, drive our current fears, motives, irrational thoughts, insecurities, feelings, etc. Our unconscious mind literally controls the behavioural patterns we express day-to-day.
So, how can we become better in tune with the unconscious mind, its influence on behaviour, and change the way we experience life?
One day at a time.
To better understand the concept of "being", focus your attention on the feeling inside of you. Try to do this as often as you can remember, as many times as needed. The more you do this, the more natural it will become.
What are you feeling right now? Notice that the feeling is there. Accept it. Don't judge it. Don't analyze it - don't think about it. Stay present in that feeling and observe what is happening inside of you. You can do this when you are feeling good, or when you are feeling stressed. It doesn't matter how you are feeling right now, the idea is to pay attention to it.
The most powerful moment of my life in practicing "being" was when my hubby and I were in Hawaii. We decided to find as many adventures as we could to truly immerse ourselves in the Hawaiian culture. One of the things that were recommended to us was the Pipiway Trail which is a 2.5-mile hike through the rainforest (bamboo forest) upward on the side of the mountain near Hana, HI. When we started this hike, I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that I needed to take it all in, and enjoy the experience to the fullest. It was life-changing.
We walked through the bamboo forest, walked incredibly muddy trails for miles until we reached our destination. When I got there, I cried. It was the most amazing experience of my life. Not only was the scenery breathtaking (the photo does not do it any justice), the serenity and peace I felt was incredible. I never felt this before in my life. I was not "thinking", I was not judging, in fact, I was not even talking. Not a word. I simply took it all in. The beauty, the serenity, the peace, the magic, the moment. It moved me and showed me what life can be like when I step outside of my "mind" and just allow myself to experience and live the moment. It changed me. It honestly did. I was meant to be there, in that exact moment, to finally understand this concept.
This is the power of now, of presence... When you can observe yourself feeling and experiencing, you are in the moment. This process is extremely powerful and transformational. It was for me! Being present allows you to forget and let go of past pain and future worries that are draining your energy.
Being in the moment (and practicing it consciously and frequently) brings joy, calmness and positivity. Life begins to look and feel different because you are resisting the power of the past, fear and doubt from controlling you. Pain lives in the past (which is tied to experiences and the limiting beliefs we've picked up along the way), and when you live in the moment, there is no room for pain.
If you are able to stay in the moment, be present, and watch how you feel within, rather than being taken over by it, it affords you an opportunity for growth.
And isn't growth the goal?
Perfectly Imperfect,
Stephanie
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