To Be Conscious: An Invitation

Issue 22

The work I have chosen to do in the world (or the work that has chosen me) means that I traffic in some highly-charged words and concepts like “spiritual” and “conscious.” Perhaps the greatest personal/professional risk to being “the Spiritual Workout guy” or “the consciousness guy” is coming off as a scold or the arbiter of what is right or wrong or good or bad or, even worse, as someone who is telling others how they should comport themselves in the course of living their lives.

None of this the case because all of it is rooted in judgment. The idea that I or people I work with have a better idea for you than you do for your Self is not good conscious practice. To be conscious is not an edict, it’s an invitation. It’s an invitation to human beings of all genders and non-genders, all ages, races, religions, cultures, and creeds anywhere on the planet who desire higher purpose, deeper satisfaction, greater meaning and the like in their current and future lives. When issued by me, it’s an invitation to individuals, couples, and families as well as organizations, communities, companies, industries, politicians, campaigns, and governments at all levels to approach their projects in a particular way that insures success.

It seems appropriate, then, in my role as an agent, champion, and purveyor of conscious practice to do my best to make clear what “conscious” actually means. Thus, the rest of this piece.

To be conscious is to designate the being part of the human beings we are as the lead in our lives. More plainly, it is to shift from our heads to our hearts. It is to grow our intuitive muscles in service of becoming multi-sensory.

It’s an invitation to human beings of all genders and non-genders, all ages, races, religions, cultures, and creeds anywhere on the planet who desire higher purpose, deeper satisfaction, greater meaning and the like…

To be conscious is to believe that from this day forward, we can absolutely choose what we want to be, do, or have. It is to believe the colloquialism: we create our own realities. More to the point, it is to know that we actually co-create our realities in partnership with Source/Creator/All That Is/God/The Universe/Our Higher Power.

To be conscious is to take responsibility for what is without assigning blame or assuming shame or guilt. To take responsibility is to self-empower.

To be conscious is to risk being vulnerable, an unavoidable dynamic when heart-following while human. Risking vulnerability and surviving it, so to speak, is precisely how we cultivate trust — in ourselves and in the system of co-creation.

To be conscious is to cultivate compassion and relinquish judgment again and again and again ad nauseam.

To be conscious is to know that we humans are all connected to one another and to act accordingly. As Chief Seattle said, “Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

To be conscious is to continually express gratitude for what we have vs. lamenting what we don’t.

To be conscious is to cultivate reverence for the profound connection of our minds and bodies. It is to take responsibility for the impact of our minds/our thinking on our physical health and well being.

To be conscious is to be intentional. It is to take seriously the power of choice and to choose on purpose what meaning to make of the circumstances of our lives. It is also to choose on purpose what to think and what to believe all the time.

To be conscious is to recognize humanity’s place as part of Earth’s vast and diverse ecosystem. It is to work in concert with Nature by cultivating, for example, inter-dependence, diversity, and balance and by allowing change as and when it comes — all things Nature does all day every day as a matter of course.

To be conscious is to understand and appreciate that everything is energy and that like energy attracts like energy.

To be a conscious human in 2021 is to be aware of the enormous shift in consciousness that humanity is undergoing. It is to understand that experiences of war, racism, poverty, inequity and the like are dying off while experiences of sustained compassion, cooperation, equity, integrity, certainty and the like are being born.

Theses words, phrases, and concepts hold tremendous power but only when we animate them, adhere to them, and live by them. People who do say things like “I’m living the best life of my life now no matter what” and “just in this short time I have changed my whole life” and “I can’t imagine doing anything that does NOT serve my intention” and “this has been tremendously useful in building trust and intimacy” and “I was able to overcome that fear and scarcity I was taught growing up” and “now I trust my intuition, which is why I’m progressing so well on this path” and shall I go on? I could because every single person I’ve ever worked with who has stepped up and into living more consciously speaks loquaciously about the value of doing so.

Conscious politics practitioners who read these pages can rest assured that every idea ever presented herein is and will be rooted in these definitions of “conscious." Indeed, that is the point.

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NOTE: Happy New Year