Conscious Practice

Conscious practice is a commitment to observe ourselves and decide who we want to be in each moment. This can sound exhausting and excessive, but practice with consistency becomes second nature and the result of this effort provides a life of fulfillment and joy. Once we tap into a conscious practice, we are able to think, feel, and act the way we consciously choose to versus reactively based on circumstance.

In today’s world, many of us are taught to be good people, good students, good workers, good leaders. At the same time, we easily judge ourselves and others – and are judged by others – as being good or bad at fulfilling these expectations. This is to say, there is a lot of judgement in this world, and because we receive that judgement, there is also a lot of guilt.

This world, however, does not teach us to be accepting and compassionate with ourselves and others. On the contrary, it teaches us that success is the purpose of life and that our failure is our own responsibility: no compassion, much judgement.  What good is success if life is full of self-judgement that leads us to frustration, anger and sadness? Let’s choose success, as much as we can get! But not at the expense of others – and ourselves – but as a means to assist other – and ourselves – to living in fulfillment and joy.

With conscious practice, the aim is to become aware instead of becoming a judge, especially a self-judge. The main difference is that with awareness there is acknowledgement of what is and the power to change it, if we so desire. With judgement, on the contrary, there is a belief that we – or others – did something wrong or, even worse, that we – or others – are wrong, leaving no space for a decision to change.

Conscious practice, therefore, is an opportunity to sharpen our awareness and use it to decide who we want to be, instead of keep unconsciously reacting to our judgements of who we don’t want to be.