BY STEVE MUELLER “CONSCIOUS LIVING, HAPPINESS,
MEANING OF LIFE, SUCCESS”
The majority of people are like drones, nowadays. It seems as if they
are living their lives in trance – numb sleepwalkers that do the same things
day in and day out – while b2eing stuck in various routines that have
accumulated during the years. Routines that give them the sensation of
stability in an unstable and ever changing world. There is no variety other
than the regularly changing television program, new computer and console games
or the newest scandals of celebrities and politicians.
People have no time anymore to call their friends and to spend time with
them, but waste hours of their valuable time online, on Facebook – checking
status messages, addictively playing games, chatting with random strangers or
watching videos on YouTube. You can hear people mumble, “I’m in a rush” or
“Haven’t got any time” while they rush from their workplaces to their
entertainment stations, called home.
People have mastered the skill of multi-tasking and can perform various
tasks simultaneously, but they lack the ability to focus on only one thing at a
time and wonder why they don’t get anything done or why they aren’t happy with
the outcome of their multi-tasked work.
Yet, the state of being a numb sleepwalker can be very promising – after
all, all you have to do is lean back and start drifting through life, which can
be an exciting journey full of adventurous hours in front of the television or
your video console. This is one possible way of life, but there will always be
the remaining emptiness within yourself that you will not be able to fill – not
with entertainment, not by accumulating riches, gathering tangibles or
continuously changing partners. That’s the burden of being a sleepwalker – you
won’t reach true fulfillment and consciousness; to put it simple: you aren’t
able to fill the emptiness within yourself.
Part I: The Active Mind
Start living your life NOW!
The sleepwalkers I was talking about in the above certainly do fulfill
their specific needs for nutrition, security, love, happiness and entertainment,
but are they really living their lives – actively and consciously – or are they
still dreaming and behaving on auto-pilot? Let’s look at it this way… I’m sure
you have heard about the people who had a near-death experience and reported
about the phenomenon that they saw their whole lives flashing before their
inner eyes, just like a movie. The film that was flashing before their eyes
contained all the emotional and exciting moments they had experienced
throughout their lives. The only question is: do you really want to see
yourself sitting in front of a TV or a computer when “watching the movie of
your life”? Watching yourself observing something else, when the “director”
zooms into the best moments of your entire life? I certainly don’t! I’d rather
prefer to see myself really living my life – not observing the fictional life
on the TV screen or playing a fictional role in whatever game.
The courage to live your life
to the fullest
All it takes to live your life to the fullest is courage – nothing more
and nothing less. This sounds rather minimalist and easy to cope with – but a
lack of courage is a key-factor that prevents most people from living their
lives to the fullest. These people aren’t necessarily cowards or scared-chicken
– not at all – as they are simply being stuck with their quite comfortable
everyday routines. To express it metaphorically: there are some dreams that you
do not want to end. Courage is a crucial factor – as you cannot live your life
to the fullest if you don’t dare to do it or shy the risks that could come with
it.
Listening to your heart
The following can be observed ever since in the history of mankind, so
it isn’t just a recent trend: young people choose – influenced by the advice
from their parents (or friends) – to walk the predetermined path that was
selected for their lives – a path that might have been chosen by their parents
or dictated by the society they live in – often before they were born. Some
others pursue the smell of banknotes and follow where the desire to accumulate
as much money and tangibles as possible will lead them. There are many other
examples where people make important decisions for their lives solely based on
external factors – some earn a living with jobs they absolutely dislike and hate,
jobs that might even interfere with their believes, others become lawyers just
because their whole family consisted of lawyers for decades. The mistake we
make is that we put way too much emphasis on the importance of external factors
– such as money, family tradition and honor, etc. – rather than listening to
our hearts and following where it leads us.
You don’t necessarily have to break with your family tradition when you
follow your heart, absolutely not! But there is a huge difference in between the
choice to become a firefighter “because my dad, my grandfather and my great
grandfather were fireman as well” or to choose to become a firefighter as it is
your true desire and you dreamt of it ever since you were a little child that
wanted to help others that are in danger.
Listen to your heart when you make important decisions and try to
neglect the promising external factors (money, etc.) just for a moment. Have
the courage to follow where your heart leads you! Become aware of the things
that your heart desires and ask yourself the question if you really think that
your heart might desire something as superficial and material as money, fancy
cars and jewelry. When looking behind the scenes you might discover that it
isn’t tangibles that your heart truly desires, but – more valuable things such
as – true friendship, happiness, love, but also fulfillment, consciousness,
awareness and inner peace with yourself.
Part II: The Importance of Responsibility
Reconciling and accepting the
past
Nearly all of our thoughts, questions and worries revolve around events
and situations in the past or the upcoming future. The closer you look at it,
the more will you realize that only a slight percentage of our thoughts revolve
around the present. If you so want, “thinking in the present” is an oxymoron in
itself, as the line between past, present and future is continuously shifting,
which makes it nearly impossible to continuously think about this very moment.
Therefore, nearly all human beings are either very focused on the future and
the changes that will come along with it, or clearly living in the past full of
regret about the drastic changes in nowadays world, (overlapping does exist as
well, of course).
Nevertheless, worrying about the future or struggling with the past – no
matter what happened – can be a huge obstacle when it comes to the ambition to
live your life in this very moment to the fullest, which might even prevent you
from doing so. Accept the past as that what it is, bygone and not changeable.
Spending a single second with regret about your past will take you the chance
to enjoy this moment, in this second and so on. If you so want, worrying about
the past could be seen as a vicious circle; it does not only take you the
chance in this very moment to change whatever you dislike, but it also supplies
you with another pretty good reason to struggle in the prospective future, aka
“Why didn’t I do anything about it when I could?”, etc.
As you can see – worrying about the past and the future can be a vicious
circle that occupies your mind with thoughts and situations that aren’t related
to this present situation, which finally prevents you from living life to the
fullest. The key to success lies in the acceptance of what happened and the
reconciliation with the past, the opportunities you’ve missed and with whatever
you regret. The realization that the only way to change anything in life is to
take action now, in this very moment, will further help you to reconcile with
your past. Living your life to the fullest, in this very moment, cannot be
accomplished when mentally living in the past and continuously visualizing all
the golden opportunities you’ve missed throughout your life.
Don’t pass the buck
The second part of this article was named “the importance of
responsibility”, as I believe that it takes a lot of courage but also the
willingness to take responsibility to accept what happened in the past and to
reconcile with it. After all, it is by far easier to blame other people for
your own mistakes and to make specific external influences accountable for the
development of your life, rather than acknowledging that it might have been
your own fault and seeking the reasons within yourself.
Doing so will take a lot of pressure from your shoulders, it might even
be a very good feeling to know that you’re not guilty for negative developments
in your life as you can always blame others for it, but it will also let you
become a helpless victim. Being a victim does not only make you vulnerable, but
it also takes you the last chance to change anything about your current
situation – as you clearly do not see yourself as the sole reason for a
negative trend, but the victim of it. Accusations will redirect your focus
(from doing something about it or making the best of it) towards the problem
that might lie many years in the past and can neither be changed nor undone.
Taking responsibility for your past and reconciling with it will allow you to
gain back the power over your life, which helps you to accept the past, forgive
others and to wipe the slate clean, but most important of all: you will start
focusing on the present and live in this moment. Make yourself clear that the
one who lives in the past and the one who regrets misses the chance – in this
moment – to make the best of it, to change it or to start all over again.
Accept the past, let the bygone be bygone and make the best out of your
situation. In the end, it depends on you, if you decide to continue to whine
about the past, or to make the best of it now, so that you can look back one
day with a smile on your face and recognize that everything has come to a good
end.
Part III: The Reflective Mind
Dare to be conscious!
Living your life to the fullest consists out of three elements that
complete each other – the active part (= taking action), the responsibility
part (= taking responsibility for the past) and finally, the reflective part –
the ying and the yang of living your life to the fullest, if you so want and
the sphere that surrounds it. Living your life to the fullest does not only
consist of taking action or accepting the past, but also to live your life in a
conscious state of mind, where you invest some time for yourself, to reflect
and to think about your life in general. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a
restriction, you do not need to stop watching TV or to reduce your internet
usage drastically, but it includes your willingness to spend some time with
yourself (without distractions), everyday.
Pure honesty towards yourself
and your life
Whenever you have taken yourself some time to reflect on your life, it
is essential that you are completely honest towards yourself. Ask yourself the question,
if you are living – in this moment – the life you have always dreamt of, the
life you envisioned as a little child, the dream that has evolved throughout
your whole life and became more and more detailed with every day you were
alive. Ask yourself if you are happy with your personality, your job and the
way you live in general. Are you the creator of your life, do you take control
over your life, are responsible for your actions or have you switched to your
role as a victim and the one who only reacts towards other people’s actions?
Are you living your life with excitement and amazement, curious to discover the
deepest depths of life, or do you rely on television to stimulate and entertain
you for a given period? Is your life a routine or a daily changing adventure?
