From birth until about the age of six your subconscious mind downloads and stores everything from its environment; every word that it hears, every emotion that it feels, and every image that it sees. This accumulation of input from your family, religion, television, society, etc., becomes your basic persona or habit mind. This downloading is most intense in those first six years but it continues throughout your life as your subconscious obediently absorbs the norms and beliefs of your schools, friends, culture, government and media. On a certain level this subconscious data base is extremely useful because it remembers how to do the countless things that you have learned over the course of your life. You can drive a car, cook an egg, and dance the tango without having to consciously think of how to perform each step because your subconscious stores all of that information. This is all well and good when dancing or preparing an omelet, but the problem arises when you allow your subconscious habit mind to make the choices that define who you are and how you interact with the world. By letting the subconscious take over these personal decisions we surrender our power of choice and as a result we go through life unconsciously repeating the beliefs, habits and judgments that we have inherited from others.
The way to restore your free will and regain control of your life is by learning to live consciously. The subconscious only takes over when the conscious mind is not paying attention, so if you increase your awareness the conscious kind will be in control for much more than the "normal" 5% of the time. You can achieve this higher level of awareness by cultivating mindfulness which simply means setting your intention to be in touch with each present moment. A mindful person when faced with a choice of how to act in the world consciously resists their automatic subconscious reactions and then chooses to follow the guidance of their inner wisdom. This inner wisdom or wisest self lies deep within all of us and at every fork in the road it whispers the key question:"Who do you wish to be?". Mindful awareness allows us to hear those whispers and to make choices that answer that question with a resounding YES.
By living consciously you take responsibility for who you are in the world by intentionally choosing your thoughts, words and deeds so that they are in alignment with your highest ideals. This is quite a challenge because you must overcome an entire lifetime of being programmed by the ideas, actions and beliefs of other. At first you will continue tho think say and do things that are not in harmony with who you wish to be, but as each of these old patterns of behavior arises you simply shine the light of awareness on it and then gently correct yourself. Over time this process gets progressively easier because your conscious choices will create new positive habit patterns in your subconscious, and the old inherited reactions will gradually lose their power.
As you continue to intentionally create your thoughts, words and deeds so that they resonate with the wisdom of your soul you will find that consciousness will magically evolve in all areas of your life. You are likely to become more discerning about what you put into your body and how you keep it healthy. Your tastes in music and entertainment may become more refined as will your choices of where to go, what to do and who to hang out with. This evolution of consciousness will unfold easily and effortlessly as a natural reflection of being in alignment with your highest idea of yourself.
Of course living consciously does not mean that everything in your life will always go smoothly, but it does give you the power to choose your inner experience in all situations. To feel what this means imagine that you are watching a falcon as it glides gracefully through the sky. With wings magnificently outstretched it climbs, dives and changes direction with only the slightest movements of its feathers. The winds may come from north, south, east or west, and they may be gentle or they may roar. The falcon has no control over the wind, but it has complete control of how it flies, and regardless of how the winds may blow the falcon always flies with elegance. The events of your life are like the wind because you never really know what direction they will be coming from. Sometimes the winds of life will bring you joy and happiness, but other times they ,may create difficulties or sadness. When you live consciously you ride these currents gracefully - soaring with the highs and flowing with the challenges. Just as the falcon flies elegantly in all types of wind, you can use your free will to live every moment as the beautiful person whom you choose to be.
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