4 Steps Toward More Conscious Living

When you live in harmony with yourself everything unfolds with greater grace and ease.

Putting your life back together after being catastrophically injured in what should have been a fatal accident is no easy task.

Especially when you unexpectedly find all of the support systems you thought you had in place simply can’t be relied on and all you have to work with and depend on is yourself -- your capacity for perseverance, the extent of your resilience, and the limits of your own mental strength.

The truth is, you simply don't know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

However, if you are going to continue to live, you have no choice but to do whatever is necessary to transform the negative circumstances of your present into something more productive and positive moving forward. No matter how challenging or costly.

You needn’t be blindsided by something as dramatically life-threatening as I’ve experienced to benefit from doing this. Whatever your catalyst for change, here are four steps you can take toward conscious living despite what might be going on in your life right now.

1. Make fear your friend.

Prior to the accident I was reasonably fearless, or at least not controlled by my fears in any negative way. But for the 10 years since the accident, it seems as if fear has been my constant companion.

Now it feels like I am afraid of everything and less sure of my ability to rise above it! And in this state, it is hard to recognize my former self — based on the memory of who I was before it was taken from me.

Yet, I am the one person I can and must rely on if I’m to make any kind of lasting comeback from my life-changing injuries at all.

Fear speaks to you. Pay close attention. It is not telling you what to avoid; it is telling you what you truly need to work on.

This awareness is highly instructional. Fear exists only to serve your best interests. You can trust fear. It never lies to you.

Notice it. Claim it. Embrace it. Reframe it. Thank it.

And if you need a little help creating a “no-fear-driven legacy” get it. Find and read stories about overcoming fear, living with confidence and in alignment with what moves you.

You’ll learn many different ways of squashing self-doubt over your ability to rise above fear and live your life and do your work anyway.

2. Make work your spiritual practice.

Yes, there are other things you can use as your spiritual practice. For example: meditation, exercise, clean eating, religion, yoga and so on.

I’ve tried all those and then some over my lifetime. But work is where I find the greatest comfort and my soul its greatest peace. Perhaps it will be the same for you.

Do great work. Then share it with the world. A life lived in service to others is deeply rewarding and an effective, if somewhat addicting painkiller.

3. Make decisions from a place of feeling.

Most of the time we overthink things before coming to a final decision. This often leads to living life completely distanced from our true feelings and emotions.

When you make a conscious effort to feel deeply from the heart, you are better able to make decisions that resonate with your truth.

This isn’t a license to be impulsive; it’s a recommendation to condition yourself to tune into your emotions while mentally working through the options available to you.

4. Make space to envision the life you want.

It’s easy to be so busy doing all the time that we lose sight of how we really wanted to live our lives in the first place. We’re pre-conditioned to respond to all kinds of expectations others have of us and relentless stimuli from external sources.

Envisioning the life you want requires returning to a place of imagination without limits. Concentrate on what you want, not why it’s not possible.

Do not edit your thoughts in any way. Detach from the past. Do not fret about the future. Use the sky as your canvas and observe your thoughts as they float by.

Static-free daydreams bring clarity to your deepest desires. Once you are clear on the kind of life you want to create, the details will take care of themselves.

Clarity is key. These four steps are simply a path. Walk and revisit as often as needed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Linda M. Lopeke, Founder of SMARTSTART, helps entrepreneurs, experts and professional services providers make competition irrelevant and join the 1% who succeed in business online.

She leads a $50M philanthropy program that helps digital business owners build their dreams with access to subsidized expert professional guidance made possible through corporate sponsorship. Don't let your business dreams die. Learn more about this innovative program and apply here.