Why Conscious Living is your Greatest Lifehack

Okay, before you start grappling your head with what Conscious Living even means, let me just outrightly say that- No, it definitely doesn’t involve leaving your life behind and isolating yourself on a mountain top to meditate and become awakened!

Simply put, Conscious living is about becoming more aware about the kind of life you choose to live by purposefully selecting the quality of your thoughts, behaviours and decision-making you indulge in.

Easier said than done though, since we’ve become so accustomed to the hustle bustle of our daily lives and doing things on loop , often without questioning the origin of our actions and choices. Of course, the mind’s constant inner dialogue only makes it all worse.

So how does one actually go about shutting the mental chatter that so often ends up running our lives and getting the mind out of auto-pilot mode?

Here are a few hacks:

Stay curious: Our actions are usually guided by people around us that shape us. Sometimes this can lead us to living everyone else’s version of our life. If you often find yourself doing things against your own will or stuck in compulsive behaviours, a good way to start would be to question yourself regularly and ask-‘Is this something I personally believe in or have I adopted from my friends, parents, teachers etc.’? Curiosity/ Awareness is the greatest agent of change.

Go Deep: Whether it’s a strong emotion you have about something or an emotional trigger, ask yourself,  where does this come from? What is the unfulfilled need that is bothering you and showing up in destructive reactions? Start peeling off the layers and you’ll begin to find some answers.

Map your thoughts: This may sound bizarre since most of us are naturally given to believe that thoughts are uncontrollable, which is partly true but the good news is that you also get to organise your thoughts depending on the kind of experiences you want. One way to do this, is to write those experiences down and also record your contradictory thoughts in a journal, every time they occur. This will help in becoming more aware of your thought patterns and taking corrective action when the mind’s acting out of whack.

Breatheee: Breath is the force of life! Yet majority of us don’t even do this properly. Taking long deep breaths relieves tension and sends an immediate signal to the brain to calm the eff down. Imagine perpetually flooding your body with ‘feel good chemicals’. That’s the power of breathing nice and deep. But there’s no need to feel overwhelmed, even 10 mins of deep breaths in the day is enough to get you feeling centered.

If you’re wondering why any of this matters, its because having a heightened sense of awareness helps you to occupy the driver’s seat in creating the life you want to, rather than reacting your way into views and suppositions from years of your programming.

More importantly, it shouldn’t take halfway through our lives before we find ourselves in distress; when we have the option to set our foundation strong from the very beginning with some fundamentals.

Once you choose the path of living more consciously, you immediately gain the power to turn around your story and making that decision is the first step towards achieving a fulfilled and purposeful life.

Care to share?

Feel free to comment with any thoughts or takeaways.