CONSCIOUSNESS

Raise Your Consciousness: Conscious Choices, Conscious Living

In the previous lessons, you discovered one of the primary blocks to purposeful living and leadership—soft addictions. When we are indulging in our soft addictions, we get into a trance—we become numb, out-of-touch with our feelings, buzzed, forgetful, or high. Soft addictions mute our consciousness, numb our feelings, steal our time, and drain our energy. They keep us from being in the moment, distract us from our dreams and goals, and demotivate us. They derail us from living purposefully.

You delve into what truly matters in your life and consciously choose the life you live. You find ways to be closer to yourself, others, higher principles, your higher self, and what holds the highest value for you. Knowing yourself and exploring your beliefs—both personal and professional—provides a greater sense of purpose and meaning and leaves you feeling more satisfied, willing to be curious, to seek, and to engage in creating your own destiny and life path—your Life Quest.

Purposeful living is conscious living. When we are in a closed, defensive space, we narrow our scope of awareness and limit our options. When we are in an open, conscious space, studies show that we are more creative, solve problems better, and more likely to hold good will for others. With a more open and positive consciousness, we are more optimistic, have a broadened scope of awareness, and a wider array of thoughts and action urges. We expand our circle of trust and have greater perspective and greater compassion.

When in doubt, live a principle—when things are great, live a principle—every moment, live a principle! Principles are the source of everything. Without aliveness, there is no life. Play is the principle of interactions that causes us to be nourished and to grow. Truth is the principle that allows us to live our quest in everything we do. It’s only when we live the transformational principles that we can fully experience the transcendental principles of love and compassion.

Your assignments this month are designed to help you practice principled living.

Raise Your Consciouness

Main Assignment

This week, your assignment is to raise your consciousness! Make as many conscious choices as you can this week, and focus on raising your consciousness. The more you are in touch with your feelings and your yearnings, the more conscious you are. The less you indulge in your soft addictions, the more conscious you are. The more you use the tools of the quarter so far (principles, purpose, One Decision, the Four Loving Truths, identifying your yearning, etc.), the more conscious you are.

Track your state of consciousness and awareness and make choices to be more and more open, awake, aware, and engaged in as many ways as possible. Use the Engagement Continuum to guide and mark your state of consciousness. Use the Developmental Model, which is a model of consciousness, to map your level of consciousness and development. Be aware of your feelings and what you truly yearn for.

The more conscious you are, the more you’ll be in touch with your feelings and yearnings. The more engaged you are, the more conscious you are; and the more conscious you are, the more engaged you are. Your consciousness shifts your thoughts, feelings, and actions; and your thoughts, feelings, and actions shift your consciousness.

Very-Able Assignments

Cultivate Consciousness: What contributes to you being more awake and alive?

More than being mindful, cultivating consciousness means that you make choices that help you get and remain more conscious—from what you eat, to who you hang out with, what you listen to, what you read, what you watch, environments you surround yourself with.

And when you are more conscious, you guard your gains. The entire Year of More and Advanced Transformation Lab program could be seen as a consciousness-raising curriculum, so hold vision that this week of consciousness is part of a greater trajectory of your growth and development.

Very-Able Assignments are designed to support you with your main assignment and/or to deepen the assignment. You can focus on one a day, or experiment with each or any or many of them to experience different aspects of your assignment.

Be Aware of Your State of Consciousness: Open or Closed

Set an hourly timer and when it goes off, mark if you are in an open or closed state of consciousness. If you are in an open state when it goes off, do more of what you are doing; if closed, do what you can to open up.

• Open—you feel spacious, all things are possible, you have goodwill. Hint: if you feel light, optimistic, caring, loving, creative, chances are you are in an open state of consciousness.

• Closed—you are defensive; likely to be negative; prone to blame, shame, justification; have stinking thinking. Hint: if you are in a state of negativity, pessimism, defensiveness, or in the Drama Triangle, you are in a closed state of consciousne

Blocks to Aliveness: Beware of Ruts, Routines, & Soft Addictions!

Be aware of what you do to orient toward deadness rather than aliveness. What activities, ways of being, thinking, or situations seem to “kill” your aliveness, or make you less present? Note your soft addictions, zoning out, and stinking thinking that deaden you. Be aware of when you are numb, buzzed, foggy, out of it, in a trance. It is hard to “be aware” of when you are “numb, foggy, or in a trance” that’s the whole point! Well, catch it after the fact and track it back. See how easy it is for you to go “dead” as a default rather than “alive”. See how often you can switch back to aliveness when you have started to go toward deadness.

Experience as much aliveness in as many ways, situations, and with as many people as you can this week. Infuse everything you do with aliveness. Be alive when you wake up in the morning. (Try rinsing off with cold water in your morning shower to remind you to wake up and be alive!) Be alive as you get ready in the morning, eat your breakfast, attend a meeting, share lunch with friends, check your email, do work projects, workout, make dinner, call a friend… Be aware of all your senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste, smell. Be aware of the sensations in your body, the emotions you are having: fear, hurt, anger, sadness, or joy. Think about all the ways you can be more alive in all that you do—and do it!

Be present in the moment, in the here and now, and experience aliveness!