Humans experience consciousness in a number of different ways at various levels. This awareness allows for different functions to be practiced within our everyday life. Unconscious actions can be attributed to carrying out mundane actions that require little thought, which include washing your teeth, doing chores, and walking. However, mindful thoughts and actions can allow even the smallest and minimal tasks to be a road to a meaningful life.
Being mindful can allow you to be more connected to the present moment, your authentic self, and become more intuitive to internal and external experiences. This high level of consciousness will allow you to become the best version of yourself and an avenue to reach your biggest goals. Since everyone’s path is different and unique, take these tips as stepping stones on how to grow more conscious in your life.
1. Read Books
Take at least thirty minutes out of your day to read. This can be done before you officially start your day or right before you go to sleep. Be intentional on what type of books you read so that it will allow you to grow as a human. This can include self-help books, biographies, and books that discuss systemic issues. By learning through the trials and mistake of others, it can allow you to take their hard-earned wisdom and apply it into your own life.
Pro Tip: The best way to make book reading affordable is by visiting thrift stores. Books are extremely cheap since they usually retail from 0.50 cents to 5 dollars. Once you are done with a book, make sure to take some days reflecting on what you took away from it and who would benefit from reading it next!
2. Spend Alone Time
Navigating the world through the expectations of others creates a toxic cycle of dependence. Free yourself from what others may think and feel about you by spending time alone. Take an hour from your day to be friends with yourself. You can dedicate it to self-care, practicing your favorite hobby, or simply taking a nap. There aren’t any rules and the options are endless.
The only goal is to look inward and sit with yourself. It allows you to know what you are feeling, thinking, and going through. There is nothing bad about being selfish sometimes.
Pro Tip: You can’t fill a cup if you are empty. By spending time with yourself it will refill your soul with your true essence. It will provide an awareness of what you are naturally gravitated to when no one is watching. And if you struggle to know what to do alone, then spend time with nature or tend to house plants. Mother Earth is powerfully healing and can help navigate you in difficult times.
3. Ten Minute Meditation
It can be easy to lose touch with what’s important during busy days and hefty responsibilities. It helps to settle down in a quiet space for ten minutes. This meditation intention will help slow your day down, bring attention to how you are feeling, and provide clarity on daily struggles.
Pro Tip: If you have trouble quieting the mind, there is an array of free apps available on smartphones. This includes options for music meditation, verbally guided meditation, and a combo of both music and verbal guidance. But meditation can take form however you want at whatever pace you need it. It can be as simple as hugging a tree for ten minutes or thinking about how your feet feel when they hit the pavement with every step.
4. Spend Time With Nature
Spending time with nature is an amazing way to heal from the unconscious. Fear, anger, and toxic habits can be shifted with presence among flowers, trees, and fields. Nature is mysterious and beautiful to the interconnection of life and growth. There are lessons to be learned in how the fall season must bring death so a new journey can begin. Life cannot coexist with staying the same and within habitual conditions.
Pro Tip: Consider buying small house plants to get accustomed to taking care of nature. Make it a habit to talk with your plants and to provide them good energy. This can mean encouraging them to grow and to receive the water. Other options include growing fruit trees in your yard and visiting national forest preserves.
5. Journal
Take up a journal that can be kept safely away from the public eye. It may be tempting to vent on social media apps the deepest parts of your experience as a human being. Yet, it is beneficial to organize struggles and reflections in a private space to truly grow inwardly. There does not need to be any validation or appreciation for the parts of you are still struggling with. In addition, it can be harder to figure out who you really are when there are a million people telling you what you should do and think.
Pro Tip: Take thirty minutes out of your day to write what you dreamed of, how you are feeling, and what you are thinking about today. This can be done before you officially start your day and/or before you go to sleep. Looking back at journal entries can allow you to learn what you could not see at that moment. It also brings you closer to the values you hold important, what you want in life, and the things that you really want in life.
