Today we're talking about what really does conscious and consciousness mean. How does mindfulness play into this, being conscious and, this word that feels so big, called conscious? And what is one step that you can take each day to be conscious should you choose? I believe the unconscious way of living has created the issues we are experiencing in our world today combined with a left brain dominant society. Think about it.
All of the focus in schools, when we were in school and as our children go to school, is really focused on left brain activities, on the critical thinking skills, on, analysis type activities, things that engage the left brain more than the right brain. Music, the arts, physical activity, all the right brain activities are being taken out. I don't believe that this is a malicious thing. I think it's, just a natural, progression of choices and a series of choices that have unintended
consequences. And we'll talk about unintended consequences in a future podcast. So, this whole unconscious way of living and left brain domination results in
these unintended consequences. A lack of balance or, lack of fulfillment, disconnection from humanity and nature, a lack of empathy, feeling unfulfilled, not being satisfied regardless of how much we achieve m lack of kindness, this state of constant distraction, comparing and judging and dare I say, given what's going on in our country, in the United States right now, as well as in the world, this, domination over others and authoritarianism and,
dare I even say hatred. I'm an advocate for left and right brain balance, for being conscious, for being well, being happy with who we are and how we're being in the world. If you want to know more about left and right brain activities to bring balance into your own world, please contact me@drdar.com and ask me to send you my left right brain activity matrix so that you can start playing with bringing balance, starting with your mind, so that your body
can follow suit, so to speak. Once you start balancing your left and right brain and, bring a different way of living in your life that's not being offered currently in the systems and organizations and, areas that we spend time in. All right, let's talk about this word conscious. So we pack a lot of interpretation, meaning, and assumption to words. For those of you who've known me, I'm big advocate for words in the dictionary, and words matter. words. Come,
let me think. About how I want to say this. Words give energy and meaning to our thoughts. Words create, words matter. Your words matter. Your word thoughts matter. And so I invite you to start looking these words up in the dictionary to level set what they really do mean so that you can unpack them and release whatever interpretation or meaning or attachments that we've put to words throughout our lives and because of the experiences that we've had and create this clean slate in relationship to
different words. And you may hear my little dogs in the background here. one is kind of active and the other one is laying down beside me. They love to participate, whenever I'm recording. And so you'll hear the squeak or two. Conscious. Consciousness and mindfulness are some of these words that do lend themselves to confusion. Maybe even a glazey eyed don't, want to deal with it or don't get it or don't understand it kind of perspective.
So I want to review, begin with the definition of the word conscious. So the noun, really is the definition from a noun. Perspective denotes or relates to a part of the human mind that is aware of a person's self, environment, mental activity, which then determines that person's choice of action. That's pretty powerful to me, the noun, word and meaning of conscious. That, wow. Through your awareness, you can then, really leverage your choice and your free will.
But it starts with that awareness and that consciousness. Another definition is the waking state of the mind. The knowledge which the mind has of its own acts and feelings, also known as thought. So the latin word, conscious, I think, is how you pronounce it, is to know. it's this inner and outer knowing. Conscious also means aware of your own existence. And I've already said this, I think I have anyway,
awareness of your own existence. Yourself, your surroundings, your sensations, your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations, intentions, your own choices before you even make them. That is the beauty of this word conscious and how it's so empowering. And it really is a superpower, that each of us as humans have. Conscious also means being capable or, marked by thought, will, design or perception. So there's another superpower words, two
of them. Well, actually three. Your thought, your will and your design. We all, as humans have this as well. Conscious also means being aware of and giving value or emphasis to a particular fact or phenomenon. and I like to say story. We love to give value and emphasis to our stories in life. Whether they're elevating or, debilitating. We love to give value
to them. So I like to say that to this definition, that you also have choice through, being aware of and what you are giving value to and what you're giving emphasis to. For me, I have noticed, within the last few years that I've been giving a lot of value and emphasis to a state of lack of feeling good or a lack of feeling well. and I've noticed that through that focus and putting so much value on that state of being, as opposed to putting value on feeling good.
Wow. I was noticing that I was feeling not well a lot and kind, of got stuck in that pattern loop of focus and value and not feeling good. So it helped me to realize that and recognize and have that awareness. Sometimes it takes some time to see it when you're stuck in this pattern loop of, something similar to mine
where mine was not feeling good. As soon as I shifted my consciousness or my conscious and awareness around the state of not feeling good to a state of feeling good and putting value on that, I noticed my choices followed through. I now, am choosing things that feel good or things that are going to elevate my, state of health and well being. It also means, doing something or, doing something with full awareness and deliberation, such as making a conscious effort or conscious kindness.
Conscious also means knowing, perceiving, considering, appraising, or noticing with a degree of controlled thought or observation. And I want to add to that that whole controlled thought. for me, it's not so much controlling the thoughts, it's letting them come and not taking action. But, ah, aligning on the thoughts or observations that are not in space of
judgment, that are in a space of neutrality. Being conscious is also the act of possessing the faculty of knowing one's own thoughts or mental operations. I like to also say being aware of your body, of which mind is part of body. This whole notion of mind is separate from body and spirit is separate from body. I don't align with that. Body is all encompassing. So I also invite you to leverage and really pay attention and be aware of your whole body and reconnect your mind and spirit
to body. And maybe just look at the wholeness of your body. Which mind and head is part of. Conscious is having the feeling or internal knowledge of something. We're all wired to have internal awareness. And, we'll talk a little bit about how that got shut down or how we stopped. or my opinion about it. Being conscious or mindful is also about showing realization or recognition of something. I shared my story about being aware or recognizing that I was focusing or putting value on not feeling
good. My thoughts were all about not feeling good. those of you who know me know that, I deal with multiple chemical sensitivity and, airborne sensitivities. Anything that's going on in the air quality, and have severe asthma and allergies. And I'm actually in the process of shifting my sensitivity and shifting, my focus and what I put a value on from a state of not feeling good to a state
of feeling good. So that showing realization or recognition of it, might take some time, or you might want to give me a ring. Contact me and let's get you out of a pattern loop. If you're in a pattern loop that you don't want to be in. So let me explain what a pattern loop is. It's being stuck. A pattern loop is being stuck in a certain thought pattern or a certain, action or acting, doing pattern or, a pattern in, relationship or at work or anything that you might be engaging
in or doing. And I am, an advocate of pattern interruption and creating shifts in those pattern loops, especially when they're not serving you and not bringing your best to your life. Being conscious is also, possessing knowledge, whether it's by internal conscious experience or by external observation, learning, it's just having knowledge. And I already mentioned that inner knowing, that inner realization of a fact, a truth or a
condition. It's also having the mental faculties to be fully active. It's also being fully aware of or sensitive to something, maybe even painfully or joyfully aware of or sensitive to. It's about personally feeling or personally sensing. Being conscious is also having awareness of what you are doing, what one is doing and what one is choosing. It's also being aware of oneself. I like to distinguish
this from being self conscious. I feel like there's a lot of negative connotation to being self conscious or feeling self conscious in our world today, tied to body image or what we're wearing or judgment for being different, or, the negative words of prejudice and discrimination and judgment, to me, they all have the same energy pattern. And so what we're talking about here is not that kind of self
conscious. It's the being conscious of who you are, what you're thinking, what you're doing, your beliefs, your opinions, like that inner knowing, of you. All that makes you. And then your free will and your choice. Being conscious is being deliberate. It's being intentional. It's about, your motivations and your choices. Mindfulness, to me, is really the same as conscious as the word conscious. It's the quality or state of being conscious or being aware of something.
Mindfulness is, a focus on the mind and the mental state, which is achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting your feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. I believe that all the focus on mindfulness, I think, makes it hard to be mindful. And I believe that the reason why is having a disconnect between the left and the right brain and also focusing only on mind and not total body, which, mind
is a part of. And so I invite you to just really embrace your whole body. I feel like we've given our minds and our brains way too much power and control. And maybe there needs to be a 50 50 partnership or 100 partnership with body and mind. And that's what I'm playing with and been experimenting with in my
life for the last few years. Now, when you are fully present without distraction, in silence and observing and not doing, just being, just noticing, it's pretty incredible what happens in that space, what messages you receive. And here's the thing. You start to receive. You hear and see and sense and, feel things that, I don't know, aren't taught, that are pretty amazing in others in our world. for me, in the morning, I'm noticing one of my dogs will just bend his neck back upwards and just
intently look at me. And to me he's saying, mommy, be present to me right now. And I will stop and I will look and just spend some time with him. And it's pretty amazing. He's my, be conscious, be present, reminder in every moment. So when you are fully present, you start to receive. And all that judging that, comparing that self deprecation and all that self damaging stuff or, world or other human damaging stuff that originated outside of you eventually will stop coexisting with you.
Here's the thing. You didn't come into this world with all of that. I believe all of that is taught or is learned. And being present without distraction in silence and being that neutral observer gives you the gift of restoring, coming into this world as that baby, as that observer and unlearning all this, quite frankly, crap that doesn't serve you, and ultimately doesn't serve anybody else in your life, that brings the best out in you and that, serves you
and each other. I believe that receiving is truly connected to being present and being conscious. So I feel like I've complicated things. And I like to make things simple. And these definitions don't really offer that. So here goes. Here's the short or simple, perspective on conscious and mindfulness. So being conscious and being mindful is really just about being present with all of your senses, being the observer and being the chooser in
each and every moment. With each in breath and each outbreath and the space in between. You were born with this innate ability. And then you were taught to be doers. So was I. And that is where and when we lost our connection to our higher self as the observer. And being present. It's really not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not my fault that we have become disconnected or disjointed, unhappy or unfilled or dismayed. Whatever your world is, to feel less than whole and
complete. You were trained the moment you came into this world to change your inner nature, to be the observer, to be present in neutral without judgment, whether that's positive or negative or anything in between. Just to be in neutral as, ah, the observer. And now this is your invitation to restore that inner nature, to be that observer. Taking everything in through all of your senses and be conscious.
I'm reminded once again of the image of a baby in their crib or in their mother's arms looking all around like their eyes are wide open and their heads moving around. And they're just looking at everything, not with curiosity, just neutrality. And I don't even think they're questioning it. They're just simply taking it all in. They're breathing. They're not shallow breathing. If you watch a baby breathe, you'll see, their belly breathing and their whole, torso is filling
with that breath. Their eyes are wide open. They're observing in silence. That to me is being conscious and being mindful. I have two options for you today as your one step to being conscious. Choose one or both. Whatever feels good and high for you and what's best for you, play with them. This takes time. Carve out time for you. For your highest self. It doesn't have to be a whole lot of time each day, but for it to become innate again for you to unlearn what
you, present to my puppy. Picking up a chew toy and dropping it. And now present to what I'm here to share with you. Again, two options. Choose one step. Do both. Whatever feels good. It takes time for you to restore this and unlearn what you were taught, should you choose to do so. Here's step one. With each breath in, ask silently, what am I choosing now? With each breath out, ask, what am I releasing now? You don't have to do both questions if you want.
Start with asking, what am I choosing now? For? five minutes, and then the next five, two, 1 minute, however long. But don't be attached to the clock, because then we become present to the clock and not the action of what we're doing here and being present. So focus on the question, what am I choosing now? What am I releasing now? As you put this into practice and it becomes habit, you will naturally stop asking, what am I releasing now? As there will be nothing left to
release. You will simply be the observer. There's nothing you're taking on, there's nothing you're taking in. You're simply observing and automatically releasing anything that doesn't serve you. You also will notice a natural state of gratitude, love, kindness, compassion, empathy, and acceptance. See, I don't believe all of those can really be taught, because then it becomes just about the doing, not the being. And this activity is really
about being. It, it's also tied to that word that is overdone in our world, but so needed. So I'm, actually bringing it back, into form, into my life. And that is that state of authenticity, that state of pure authenticity and being genuine. So those are side benefits for this breathing exercise. The second option is each hour, carve out five minutes to sit quietly and observe with all your senses. Listen. What do you hear? What do you hear beyond that sound that seems
dominant? Are there sounds that you've not noticed before? What do you see? You might want to close your eyes when you're focusing on hearing. When you're seeing, you might want to close your ears. Put your hands over your ears and notice what you see. What do you feel? What do you sense? If you feel up to it every half hour, carve out five minutes. You can also do this silently in meetings, at work, or at home. It's simply being a neutral observer. Now, at first, you
might notice you have judging thoughts. Show up or analysis type thoughts. Take that breath out and release those thoughts. I believe that all of those are not innate in us. They come over time and through learning, and through comparing and contrasting and determining what we like and what we don't like for ourselves. that's tied to our power of choice. So simply notice that you have them. There's no need to write them down. There's no need to be attached to them. There's no need to judge that
you're judging. You're having judging thoughts. There's no need to criticize that you're having them. Simply release them and then breathe in again and ask, what am I choosing now? Or if you choose the sensing, observing, ask what do you hear? What do you listen? And just notice what your body and your mind say to you. That inner voice. Have fun and enjoy these exercises. they really are amazing if you give them a chance. Many of my clients have
said this is very hard to do. I say that you came into this world knowing how to do this naturally and you were taught to be distracted, to not breathe or shallow breathe or skip breaths altogether. You were taught to focus on left brain activities. You were taught to be distracted. You were taught, all of the things that show up in your life, tv, social media, technology, books, whatever it is that distracts you. All of that
showed up through our choice, right? But you were also taught to be attached to distractions. And all of this too can be unlearned through the power of your own free will and choice. I am choosing my free will and choice and I'm choosing to practice these exercises with you ongoingly. Please share with me what shows up for you as you practice these and put them into, your lifestyle each and every day. And I also want to share with you that
each of us has a superpower. Like the superpower of all superpowers, every human being has it. And I believe that that superpower is our power to choose. I invite you to choose being conscious, being mindful, and being present.