How to Become More Conscious

I define consciousness as our life force. When you take away all of our distractions and limitations, we become more conscious. It isn’t that consciousness evolves, for it is we who evolve to be conscious. From our most intelligent thoughts to our best perceptions, we appreciate them because we are conscious of them. The most important aspiration human beings have is to be more conscious, more alive in the moment and not limited by their own mind.
Since our limitations are subtle illusions in our mind, we are the only ones able to control them. When we “believe” the habits created in our past, as though they create who we are, we allow mind-made limitations to rule us.
When we look at consciousness from ego’s perspective, it seems that consciousness is evolving. Actually, it is our state of mind that evolves and consciousness stays an infinite reality. The more we identify with ego as a constant, our personal conscious evolution slows down. The more we see consciousness as the constant reality, it is easier for us to change. In psychology it states that it is harder to change what you identify with, so let’s study how we need to change to become more conscious.
* What we breathe into is what we give life to. Basically, where our breath lands, we surrender to. If we breathe into our thoughts and old habits, they become alive in our mind. If we breathe into silence, beyond our thoughts and conditioning, that is where we surrender our consciousness and we are free from our mental limitations.
* The ability to surrender beyond our mind-made reality gives us the freedom to change and evolve ourselves. In that freedom, we discover powerful inner resources in the Wisdom of the Body. This inner wisdom is naturally aspiring to merge with pure consciousness. I say merge as though we become one with it without any duality. We merge on our in-breath as we breathe into silence. Then, on our out-breath we take our inner wisdom to manifest in the world. Imagine entering your reality in a selfless state of mind, at least on your in-breath; your actions would make a significant contribution as an expression of inner wisdom instead of ego.
* When ego harmonizes with consciousness, it becomes an amazing tool for conscious interaction. When you surrender to the ego created by past conditioning, you are cut off from consciousness as you manifest the way you were conditioned. That is not a bad thing, for past conditioning has evolved.
* A goal for everyone is to be conscious on our in-breath and evolve our past conditioning to express the inner wisdom everyone has in the Wisdom of the Body. To do that, we need a conscious breath and we need to develop conscious habits that express inner wisdom. Many of us do this without thinking about it, but we all have to realize our deepest wisdom naturally aspires to that in every breath.
Life Skills Institute teaches people in a struggle how to become more conscious, so they can actively participate in dealing with their challenge. My recent book, A Healthy Way to be Sick, helps those in a health struggle to be more conscious. Go to http://ahealthywaytobesick.org to download this e-book.
© Marc Lerner 2010