First, let’s agree first on what we mean by “unconscious”. When most of us hear the word “unconscious” we first think of a being passed out on the table or floor. Like “His head was on the bar and he was totally unconscious.”

In the spiritual world we are talking about something a little different. Throughout our day our minds wander. Much of the time we are not even aware we are “drifting”.  Put another way, we are not are we have become unconscious. It is as if we have entered a dream, though we are not asleep.

This is called “being unconscious”. It’s kind of like we are watching a movie. We are in the audience and we have become so engrossed with the film on the screen we believe we are “in the film” and we are unaware of anything else going on around us in the theater. We are quite literally living on the big screen.

Some people learn and recognize when they have fallen to the level of unconscious. This is the first step – learning to recognize what it means to be unconscious.  And this can be very much like waking up, quite literally.

I have had people tell me that throughout their day they find themselves “awakening” to consciousness. This includes, not infrequently, when they are behind the wheel of their car!

I was driving along and suddenly I woke and realized I had been in my mind for the past ten minutes. It was like I was driving on auto pilot.

The first thing we must do is awake from being “unconscious”. For example, you are thinking of a conversation you had yesterday with your friend. You are “seeing/hearing” the conversation in your head, reworking and likely commenting on it. You may segue to related topics of the conversation, like the fact that your friend had a purple streak in her hair that you did not care for.

Maybe you even Google “purple hair dye trends” and now you’re really headed down the unconscious highway. There is really nothing you can do, until you “awaken” from this unconscious state.

At some point, hard to say why exactly, you will again become conscious, as if you are waking up. As indeed, you are.

Maybe you see your computer screen again in front of you. You realize that, for a while, you were “gone”, as if your eyes were closed and you were seeing yesterday’s conversation (including your friend and her purple hair).

Is it possible to improve our ability to come to consciousness? The answer is YES. Like anything, we need to “train” to strengthen the conscious part of our mind. Presence and stillness are key words often associated with this. The more frequently throughout your day that you awaken, or come to, and ideally stay in, the present moment, the more you strengthen your mindful muscles.

When you do wake up, it is very important that you don’t kick yourself for having fallen unconscious again. Quite the opposite. Every time you wake up, it is a great moment, for you, and for humanity (Yes, it is that important!)

Can we give ourselves a yummy when we awaken, just like we do when our dog does what we want it to do? I think we can. Don’t just awaken. Awaken then smile and praise yourself. “Yay! I woke up!” Maybe you can keep a journal and keep a count of how often you awakened each day?  Or, take a selfie with a thumbs up. Then you’ll know the day/time for every successful return to consciousness. That’s your yummy!

#consciousness
#wakingup
#mindfulness