Degrees of Consciousness

I recently watched Simon Lewis's TED talk on "Don't Take Consciousness for Granted" - http://on.ted.com/9RQh , and it really impacted me as to the value of Consciousness and what Consciousness brings to my life. As I thought about how conscious I am at any given time, I realized I exhibit varying degrees of consciousness in any given time span. To be really conscious of what is going on around me, or of what is happening at any point in time, I find I have to "pull" myself back into that moment - I find that being in the NOW takes focus, for me. My natural state is for my consciousness to be occupied with the past, now, and the future. Often times, in fact, I find that NOW takes a back seat to what I am working through in my mind relative to the past or in anticipation of the future.

What an interesting thing to be doing with my mind! I believe, as I look at how my mind works, that, a good part of the time, I am most unconscious in the present. WOW! That's scary!

All I actually have, in reality, is NOW. Yesterday is gone; tomorrow doesn't exist; and yet I focus very little of my consciousness on the one point in time I REALLY have the opportunity to make a difference - NOW.

So, I ask myself WHY? Why do I focus so much energy on yesterday and tomorrow? What comes to mind as I ask these questions is that it is REALLY important to me to be able to "connect the dots" in my life - to see and understand how the past flows into the present, and then into the future. My mind is always looking for patterns that it can recognize in the evolution of time in order to facilitate, and/or guide the linear flow of events.

So, I ask myself WHY? Why is this approach so important? What comes to mind is that I am afraid of chaos, of a perceived regression into the primal state. As I look at this fear I realize that control is important to me. I have an understanding that having control in my life comes from this "mapping" process, and from pattern awareness. I look at this desire to have control and I realize that I am driven to not be a "victim" - of anything. WOW!

Victim is a state of mind. It isn't about linear process, or about preparing for any possible outcome, or about combing through the past. It isn't about pattern recognition and it isn't a result of chaos. It is a choice. Simon Lewis's TED talk touched me because it is proof positive of what that choice can do in one person's life - it is a powerful, life changing choice. WOW!