CONSCIOUSNESS and how it impacts your business, and life.

The negativity feedback loop?

Each and every one of us has experienced it. Can you recall a day, a week, or months / years when everything seemed to go against you? This could have been your perception at work, in social circles, family or love relationships, or all. Your environment looked like a dark and hopeless place, didn’t it? I like to call it a negativity feedback loop.?

The negativity feedback loop takes place when our consciousness level drops below 200 (see image below). We then experience a mixture of shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire (an overwhelming need for possessing something, such as control), anger and pride. We tend to subconsciously position ourselves as victims versus the external environment which, at these times, seems to wish to exploit us.?

When the negative states are prolonged, we have little energy, our immune system is weak and we often fall sick, we are emotionally triggered by anything and everything. We lack hope, engagement or motivation. In these states, we are almost unbearable to ourselves and others. It impacts all dimensions of our life and people around us.?

The emotions that human beings experience can be measured.?

Following multiple years of research, Dr. David R. Hawkins, came up with a map of the levels of consciousness (which, when presented in a diagram, would look like a logarithmic graph). At a first glance, his map looks like a scale of different groups of emotional states, based on the frequencies they emit. You’ll see that the negative emotions like shame or guilt are displayed at the bottom, and positive emotions, like joy and bliss, are placed higher (see image 1). It is more complex than this however, and I attempt to explain it below, in short too.

Independently, Dr. Joe Dispenza has been analysing the human brain waves for many years and, following his research, he drew a diagram illustrating our brainwaves in various emotional states. The graph shows that the more negative emotions we experience, the longer our brainwaves (see Image 2).

The 2 images look strikingly similar, don’t they?

How do consciousness levels “manifest” in our life?

Consciousness and its multiple dimensions aren’t easy to explain in a linear and rational manner, however, Hawkins’ attempt is the most thorough and accurate I’ve stumbled upon and managed to comprehend (to the extension of my capabilities that tend to evolve with time). I therefore use his findings while adding some of my own observations and interpretations. I highly recommend Hawkins' books for more details.

With all consciousness levels come certain attributes, skills and human traits. For the sake of simplifying it, I mention “average” levels of an individual which otherwise can be seen as the “grounded” or “familiar” ways of being and perceiving. Unless one proactively works on self-improvement, the averages often change due to some life crisis, if one is ready to see the bright side of them, often after some time passes.

The levels can be, very briefly, summed-up as follows:

• Those who are?below 200, are most of the time caught in negative feedback loops in their lives. They are ego centric and often see themselves as “victims” to the external world. The way they operate is often forceful and the negative attitude towards people or projects can pollute overall team spirit and success of the company. They tend to drain not only their own energy but also of those around them. They are incapable of feeling happy most of the time.
• People?from 200 onwards?are more self-empowered, willing, engaged and growth-oriented. The higher their level, the less negativity they experience and create, the more integrity they represent in their actions and behaviors, and more resilient they become to external factors.
• People who are?500 and above?tend to be the “perfect” employees and rarely complain about lack of job opportunities. Jobs find them. They accept responsibility for their lives, their emotional states and actions. Their egos do not play such a significant role in taking decisions any longer. The frequencies they emit vibrate high enough to spread empowerment and positively impact entire teams. They tend to engage in, and contribute to, anything they are involved in.?
• From?540 onwards, people become more inspired, creative and influential, in a positive, compassionate and loving way. The "higher" they are, the more unity they feel with everyone and everything around. People feel naturally drawn to them as they can subconsciously feel some "magic" in their energy. Their sole presence influences entire companies. They can be great advisors as, if they are passionate about what they do, they see a bigger picture and can share many genius-like ideas and insights, contributing to the growth of all.
• Above?600, individuals no longer see themselves as victims of the world. They are peaceful and "resilient". Several years ago, Dr Hawkins wrote that there were very few people reaching this stage, however I find this is now changing at an accelerated speed, as more and more people are “waking up” and looking into personal growth.

In other words:

?? The higher on the scale, the broader perception and vision one has, the better focus, and the clearer intention and drive towards achieving goals (also confirmed by neuroscience).

?? The stronger one’s self-awareness, the smaller emotional amplitudes and higher averages of consciousness levels maintained.?

?? People at similar levels are on the same “wavelength”, which aids effective communication, better understanding and collaboration.

?? The higher our level, the more joyous our experiences become, the happier relationships and more satisfactory careers we have, the more creativity, abundance and success we experience.

?? With our high frequencies, we contribute to our environments solely with our presence, helping to heal and rise the vibrations of people around, and to build prosperous environments and businesses.

The emotional vicious circle.?

“The effects of suppressed and repressed feelings plus stress-precipitating factors are responsible for most emotional and physical illnesses.” - Dr David R. Hawkins

The main mechanisms people use to handle negative feelings are repression, suppression, expression, and escape, none of which help us in the long run (see appendix 1 below for more detailed explanation). With years, trapped emotions accumulate into blockages in our bodies, causing chronic discomfort, disease and illnesses which we attempt to treat with all sorts of medications, to cure the result as opposed to the root causes.?

It isn’t easy to rise above a negative feedback loop. One of the reasons is that it is very addictive, as we tend to like to be seen as the mistreated victims that should be felt sorry for. Depending on the situation, we shame and blame, find all sorts of excuses for feeling sorrow, angry or prideful. We can be forceful and rigid, sticking to old ideas, while upholding limiting emotional, thinking and behavioural patterns. We continue to look for reasons of our misery outside ourselves. People around us are primarily seen as means of help, survival, or support.?

Some call it part of human experience but this statement can serve as yet another excuse, as we voluntarily give our power to external forces that "dictate" what experiences we should live through.

We have all the power to change our experiences.?

The only effective way to change our life experiences is to change, or rather get to know, our-individual-selves.

There are various methods to release the emotional blockages and manage emotional states more effectively throughout our days. Transcending the levels of consciousness requires readiness and courage. It requires inner work, which our egos don’t wish to engage in. It isn’t an easy journey but what can be more important in life than this??

The moment we cross the threshold of 200, our perception of the world changes and life starts happening?FOR?us, as opposed to?TO?us.?All further levels are equally significant in terms of our experiences and get better and better with each step on the growth journey however, the next major one is the threshold of 500 as it is very “noticeable” in the way we become.

No matter what level we start from, where we are based, what kind of work we perform, whom we’re surrounded by, what our financial situation is, it is our personal choice and responsibility to rise above negativity in our lives.?Everyone has this power within.?Victor Frankl, during his time as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, was a perfect example of it.

As Albert Einstein once pointed out, we get what our frequency attracts. If it doesn’t match what we want, we’ll only get glimpses of what is possible, yet won’t be accessible until we do our “homework” of releasing our inner blockages.?

What’s worth to bear in mind is that the longer we delay this inner work, the more emotions get blocked; the larger emotional baggage from the past, the more dis-ease in the physical body, and the tougher “life lessons" become.?

What can be done to raise the levels of consciousness in your company?

Firstly, it's important to say that the consciousness map is not a ranking. None of the levels is better or worse. Those who are at lower levels experience suffering the most, not seeing where it all comes from, and causing pain to themselves and others.

We can only hold compassion and understanding towards ourselves and others, as each and every one of us has created the very constructs of own egos unconsciously and predominantly in order to protect ourselves from being hurt or proof our worth. Every human being, deep down, longs to be loved and accepted the way he/ she came here to be, each in our unique way. Not being able to be our-true-selves from the very first days of our lives, and having to adjust to our surroundings at home, school, work, society etc. is the foundation of the schemes, beliefs and programmes we took on, which then formed the lenses through which we perceive the world now. I'm not saying that we should welcome obvious wrongdoings of others, but it is good to see things from different angles, too. Hurt people tend to hurt others.

Nevertheless, conscious and growth-oriented leaders appreciate employees who maintain higher levels of consciousness, not only due to a stronger team spirit, engagement & healthier morale at work, but also due to the quality of work that is being delivered (value-creation is key at higher levels). With a common intention to succeed, teams of conscious individuals who are coherent with the company’s mission, visions and values, have more power and creativity to deliver and innovate. They aim high, and everything and everyone around seem to support them.

There are "wellbeing" trends forming around the globe, and these are slowly entering the corporate world, as many companies see their important role in staff's wellbeing. One of them is "mindfulness" which oftentimes is unfortunately only a continuum of the common method to escape emotions. Rarely do “teachers” talk about solving the root causes of the issue. Instead, we are often taught to “num” the pain and enchant the reality with certain practices, which indeed rise our vibrations, but only temporarily. In the long run, we continue being stuck in our familiar thinking and behavioural patterns, which lead to emotional triggers and further blockages.

Building self-awareness through self-inquiry is THE answer for a long-term growth and wellbeing. It requires becoming familiar with our emotions, effectively releasing the baggage and diving deep into understanding the reasons for any of our triggers. We need to dismantle the constructs we have led ourselves to believe, and change our thinking and behavioural patterns accordingly, so that we allow ourselves a transition to truly holistic wellbeing, also in business.

Irrespectively of the age, people change when they start to see that they have carried the reasons of their own suffering inside them. We all have a need for growth at the soul level, we just need to remove the obstacles on our path. Those with a more apparent growth mindset shift their identities continuously. This is why personality tests do not work, as the results are based on our state of being at a given time, in a given day of our entire life. 10 days later the results can be different which, to me, is a great sign of individual's evolution. It's important to bear in mind that change is the only constant in our lives. The more we resist it, the more emotional blockages we create.

Embarking on this inner journey is an individual decision. However, once readiness is there, growth is guaranteed, at both personal and collective levels.

How can you improve your work environment?

In order to ensure a thriving workplace and realise company’s potential, coherence between the management and teams needs to be built, in terms of values, purposes, AND consciousness.

It's important to understand that no individual will fully embody company’s values unless they have become their own, and - vice versa - with the growing self-awareness in the workforce, more and more people are burning out while not being able to identify with their work environments any longer. Not everyone wishes, or is ready, to be self-employed.

Authentic and self-realised leaders are key in this puzzle, however, self-leadership is a necessity for real engagement at all levels of the organisation, and its overall success, too.

Get in touch to find out how you can measure and increase consciousness levels, on the individual and collective levels, to ensure long term growth.

Thank you for reading.

Best wishes,

Anna Lewczuk

Consultant, Coach, Therapist

www.theConsciousZone.com

Appendix 1?- The main mechanisms used to handle negative feelings (an extract from “Letting go...” by Dr David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.)

“Feelings and Mental Mechanisms

We have three major ways of handling feelings: suppression, repression, expression, and escape. We will discuss each in turn.

1. Suppression and repression?– these are the most common ways in which we push feelings down and put them aside. In repression, this happens unconsciously; in suppression, this happens consciously. We don’t want to be bothered by feelings, and besides we don’t know what else to do with them. We sort of suffer through them and try to keep functioning as best as we can. The feelings that we select to be suppressed or repressed are in accord with the conscious and unconscious programs that we carry within us from social custom and family training. The pressure of suppressed feelings is later felt as irritability, mood swings, tension, cramps, menstrual disorders, colitis, indigestion, insomnia, hypertension, allergies, and other somatic conditions.

When we repress a feeling, it is because there is so much guilt and fear over the feeling that it is not even consciously felt at all. It becomes instantly thrust into the unconscious as soon as it threatens to emerge. The repressed feeling is then handled in a variety of ways to ensure that it stays repressed and out of awareness (…)

2. Expression. With this mechanism, the feeling is vented, verbalized, or stated in body language, and acted out in endless group demonstrations. The expression of negative feelings allows just enough of the inner pressure to be let out so that the remainder can be suppressed. This is a very important point to understand, for many people in society today believe that expressing their feelings frees them from the feelings. The facts are to the contrary. The expression of a feeling, first, tends to propagate that feeling and give it greater energy. Second, the expression of the feeling merely allows the remainder to be suppressed out of awareness.

The balance between suppression and expression varies in each individual depending on early training, current cultural norms and morals, and the media. Expressing oneself is now in vogue as a result of a misunderstanding of the work Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. Freud pointed out that suppression was the cause of neurosis; therefore, expression was mistakenly thought to be the cure. This misinterpretation became a license for self-indulgence at the cost of others. What Freud actually said, in classical psychoanalysis, was that the repressed impulse or feeling was to be neutralized, sublimated, socialized, and channeled into constructive drives of love, work and creativity.

3. Escape.?Escape is the avoidance of feelings through diversion. This avoidance is the backbone of the entertainment and liquor industries, and also the route of the workaholic. Escapism and avoidance of inner awareness is a socially condoned mechanism. We can avoid our own inner selves and keep our feelings from emerging by an endless variety of pursuits, many of which eventually become addictions as our dependency upon them grows.

People are desperate to stay unconscious. We observe how often people flick on the television set the minute they enter a room and the walk around in a dream-like state, constantly being programmed by the data poured into them. People are terrified of facing themselves. They dread even a moment of aloneness. Thus the constant frantic activities: the endless socializing, talking, texting, reading, music playing, working, travelling, sightseeing, shopping, overeating, gambling, movie-going, pill-taking, drug-using, and cocktail-partying.

Many of the foregoing mechanisms of escape are faulty, stressful, and ineffective. Each of them requires increasing amounts of energy in and of itself. Enormous amounts of energy are required to keep down the growing pressure of the suppressed and repressed feelings. There is a progressive loss of awareness and an arrest of growth. There is a loss of creativity, energy, and real interest in others. There is a halting of spiritual growth and eventually the development of physical and emotional illness, disease, aging, and premature death. The projection of these repressed feeling results in the social problems, disorders, and the increase of selfishness and callousness characteristic of our present society. Most of all, the effect is the inability to truly love and trust another person, which results in emotional isolation and self-hatred.

In contrast to the above, what happens instead when we let go of a feeling? The energy behind the feeling is instantly surrounded and the net effect is decompression. The accumulated pressure begins to decrease as we constantly let go. Everyone knows that, when we let go, we immediately feel better. The body’s physiology changes. There are detectable improvements in skin color, breathing, pulse, blood, pressure, muscle tension, gastro-intestinal function, and blook chemicals. In the state of inner freedom, all bodily functions and organs move in the general direction of normalcy and health. There is an immediate increase in muscle power. Vision improver and our perception of the world and ourselves changes for the better. We feel happier, more loving, and more easygoing.”