Many people are interested in living more meaningful lives in which their actions are based on ethical and compassionate principles and a larger awareness of life and our connection to the universe. As life gets faster and the world gets closer through technological advancements, many people are trying to grasp with how they live their day-to-day lives in balance and harmony. Concepts such as sustainability, green business, organic food, energy efficiency, spirituality, equality, human & animal rights, well-being and non-violent action become more common and make up part of what I call Conscious Living. Being "aware" of our actions and framing this in a larger context is also an essential part of this philosophy.
THE CONCEPTS & STEPS OF AWARENESS -
For education and simplicity I have also divided Conscious Living into Four Parts - Spiritual Awareness, Environmental Awareness, Social Awareness, and Health & Well-Being Awareness. Lets briefly look at each one of these. I will utilize some the questions above to help facilitate our understanding. Many of the questions of course cross over to all parts.
Spiritual Awareness - This is the foundation for Conscious Living. How do I live my life? How does my outlook and belief affect my life and the life of others? Why am I here? To be spiritually aware is to be conscious. It is based on mindfulness - being aware of our thoughts and actions - how they affect ourselves and how they affect others. This is the basis for all of our awareness. This type awareness takes practice and focus. You don't have to be religious to be spiritual. ( see my "Note on Spirit" and "Energy - The Fifth Element Defined" for more info). There are many tools and techniques that are useful to your overall growth in this area of awareness. I will devote many articles to this subject as I think it is the basis for conscious & healthy living.
Environmental Awareness - How do I live in a sustainable way? How do we treat other creatures and the environment? How much do I need ? How much is enough? This is an important subject that many people are becoming aware of. Many realize that the earth cannot sustain overconsumption and materialism. Nor can we keep polluting and poisoning our air and water. We need to nurture our natural resources and learn to live in balance. We need to learn to treat our other creatures with respect and guarantee them survival. We need to be aware of our effect on the Earth. When we do so, we find that we live in a more conscious and meaningful way.
Social Awareness - How do I treat others ? How do we help others by our choices & attitude? How do we hurt others? What kind of industry & business do we support? When someone suffers because of our decisions we are, in some part, responsible. When our political establishment uses violence aimlessly and it causes unneeded suffering, we are responsible. When a child is abused, when someone homeless, when a person is hungry, we are responsible. This is not to put the guilt on each one of us, it is to show that our individual actions do affect other people. How we live our lives, what industry we support, how we vote, how we treat others, how we view the world...when we are conscious that our choices and attitudes affect other people then we simply make better choices. We learn to speak out. We learn to walk our talk. We cannot solve all the world's problems, but we can do our little part in helping make it a better place for all. This is social awareness. It is consciousness is action.
Health & Well-Being Awareness - How do I treat my body and mind? How can I live a healthier life? What kind of food do I eat ? Is it healthy and sustainable? When a person is healthy they see the world in a much better way. They are more conscious and aware. They operate with a stronger sense of clarity. When we strive towards eating well and keeping healthy, we are an outer reflection of conscious & healthy living. We are model for others and we have the energy to help.
So Where Do We Start ?
