Do you ever feel that you’re drifting through life and not going where you want to go Or worse you don’t know how you got to where you are today?
Living consciously is about taking control of your life, about thinking about your decisions rather than making them without a thought, about having a life that we want rather than settling for the one that falls upon us. If you’re drifting through life or feel out of control then deciding to live consciously could be the most important thing for you right now.
Are you living unconsciously at the moment?
Ask yourself the following questions … if you find yourself saying yes to many of them, you might want to consider trying conscious living:
1. Are you in a job that you got into rather than something that you always wanted to do?
2. Are you doing things that are given to you rather than what you love to do?
3. Are you addicted to substance abuse and realise that it’s time to kick the habit?
4. Do you wish you could spend more time with your loved ones?
5. Do you find yourself overweight because you’ve been eating the food you’ve been eating for years and stuck in a rut of not exercising at all ?
6. Do you find yourself living from pay check to pay check or in debt, not knowing where your money goes by the end of the month?
7. Do you find yourself wasting your time doing things that aren’t important rather than focusing on completing the things that are very important?
8. Do you go through your days not thinking about what you want out of life and how to get it?
If you have answered “no” to all of these questions, you’re probably already living consciously and you don’t need this article at all. For those who would like to live more consciously, read on.
How to Live Life Consciously
It’s not something that you can change overnight. Living consciously is a lifestyle change , a skill and an art. It’s not something that you do just once but a habit that you can form for the rest of your life.
It is deceptively simple: Be conscious and think about everything you do. Make conscious choices rather than doing things without thinking.
It sounds simple, but it’s amazing how few people actually do this. It’s easier to live life on autopilot and do what we always do because that’s what we’re used to doing. It’s easier that way even if our lives are difficult and filled with remorse at the end of the day.
It’s not easy to changes our lives, to break out of our routines and to begin to live the lives that we always wanted.
It takes more than wilful effort energy and constant course correction to think about our choices.
Some of the things which have worked for me over the years are:
Review how you spend your time:
Until we do a time audit and keep a log of our day, even if it’s just for a few days , we don’t really know how we spend our time. If we do audit our time it can surprise you and throw some glaring results. If we know how we’re spending our time now we can make conscious decisions to change how we spend our time in the future. You will be just as surprised as i was when you realize how much time you do spend every day in unproductive and useless things when you check on the time spent.
Make reflecting on your life a regular routine:
You could keep a journal or maybe make reflecting of your day part of your evening routine. You could also have a weekly session with a Coach where you review your life or take some time away from the office to reflect on everything … It’s important that you give things some thought. What this does to me is I that i get an immediate feedback as to how my day has gone by. I still do have my diaries which reflect the days spent in my corporate life.
Consider your impact on your world:
How does what you do and act impact your immediate family? How does it impact your friends and well-wishers? How does it impact the society and your environment you live in ? Your life has an impact whether you think about it or not. I am not sure but being conscious of how your decisions affects first your family and then others around you is extremely important.
Explore yourself:
Take some time to think about what kind of a person you are. What are your values? Whether you are living your life according to those values. How you treat people and most importantly treat yourself. Think about this: what do you want people to say about you when you die? I am typing this as I began to know that Morgan freeman has passed away and what a life he has lived for all of us to emulate. Believe me even couple of minutes spent in a day exploring yourself will do wonders in the long run.
Consider the real costs of the things in your life:
Our life is filled with lots of things which we never intended to have and for many probably they could not afford. The point is here to ensure to have things which are really important and not go on a buying spree to hoard things. This also causes visual stress. Sort through all of this, take time to throw it away, recycle or donate it. If having the stuff is not worth at all, then get rid of it.
During these trying times it is imperative that you make use of things, focus on what is more important and ensure that you and your family are shielded from the economic uncertainty staring at us .I believe that times like this should bring in the best in all of us. We should not rant about how things have gone bad and add more to the misery to what we are already facing.
I do hope that I have managed to put across my message “Why Living Consciously” is absolutely important. If you do find this article of some learning, do share it amongst your contacts and as always would love to hear from you either on my mail id coach@satishrao.in or on my Fan Page www.facebook.com/B.N.Satishrao.