What Consciousness Means to Me

I’m grateful to live in a time and place where discussing consciousness is accepted and is seemingly becoming more encouraged.

The term consciousness is so loaded and has many different meanings and applications, but I think sometimes we need to focus on the simplicity of it all to truly understand the complexitites.

Deepak Chopra explains this so beautifully, but he reminds us that consciousness is the culmination of all existence and experience. It’s abstract to grasp, but consciousness itself is really what god is- the ever elusive search for that which is greater.

So if consciousness is god, and we all experience consciousness, then that means god exists within each one of us. Something that many spiritual schools of thought teach us in so many words.

And if we are all god and we are all experiencing consciousness, then what is the focus on “living consciously” about?

My very limited understanding of this may not lead to an amazing understanding of this for others, but for me, conscious living looks like doing our best.

It means channeling the infinite amount of emotional, mental, and physical life force energy we have into living in a way that is not only good for us as individuals, but good for the whole.

The focus here is also on living in the present, and doing so in a way that keeps us in alignment with love instead of with fear and separation.

To live consciously, is also to live intentionally.

This is my favorite word to describe this because it highlights that in each moment we are given the choice to return to the intention we set for how we’re showing up.

The intention isn’t always the same for each of us at all times, but when you’re living with intention, you can often get past that feeling of life passing you by without you noticing.

It’s the act of getting into the drivers seat and turning off auto-pilot so you are the one who’s driving the divine human vessel you’re operating on this plane.

I tend to relate these vessels back to computers.

Imagine if you were trying to operate your computer using the software that it came with.

For me, this would mean trying to operate in 2024 with an operating system that was installed in 1995.

It needs an update, and that is obvious, but sometimes we can get caught up with feeling like the operating system we were born with is inherently perfect because it’s the one we’re rocking with already.

When you’re trying to work with an outdated system of beliefs or your “software” you’re bound to experience lagging, crashes, incongruencies, and sometimes the software gets hacked and you need to hire a team of professionals to help you get back control of the motherboard.

This has become an elaborate metaphor about computers, but I like to think it applies to how we’re living in these bodies we’ve taken.

The beliefs and identities we are gripping to were given to us before we were able to consciously decide what to program onto our desktops. If you spend your life trying to download new apps and expand the memory you have available, you’re going to have a hard time with that if you also refuse to update the software you’re running. Windows 95 was AMAZING in it’s day-just like the programming you picked up when you were young. It served a purpose to help you operate and stay safe- but it was not meant to operate forever without updates. That would be silly to assume.

So to put it in not so simple terms, living consciously means being aware that you are a spirit having a human experience in a human vessel. It can look like being mindful and updating your software, clearing out your drives to ensure it’s not holding onto bullshit, and actively seeking to only download apps and software that will make your machine- or vessel- run as smoothly as possible.

It can also look like focusing the energy you have on doing things that contribute to the highest good of all, and becoming an active participant of your unfolding - not just reacting to life as it happens to you. It means living in the present instead of fretting over the future or the past, and holding an awareness that what we’re experiencing here isn’t all there is.

So wherever you are on your consciousness journey, (and remember, this isn’t a competition. There is really no destination to reach here, as Ram Dass says, “we’re all just walking each other home.”) I commend you for taking the time to focus your energy and attention on doing your best while we’re here.

I see you and I love you and I appreciate you as we navigate through the “cosmic soup” of it all!

Be well and blessed, sweet friend!

Lena