Category Archives: Conscious Living

Increasing our Cosciousness

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Consciousness is my theme at the moment. Well, actually, It has been for many years. That’s how it ended up in the title of my book, Conscious Spending, Conscious Life, which grew out of my teaching college students to be conscious consumers.

In the time that has passed, I’ve become ever-more aware of the urgent need for increasing our consciousness on all fronts. We must, if we are to resolve the world-scale chaos around us.

That phrase—the more beautiful world our hearts know as possible—is borrowed from author and essayist, Charles Eisenstein. It’s the title of one of his books, and is completely relevant to this time where we must find ways to increase our consciousness.

Seeing the bigger picture…

One of the hallmarks of increased consciousness is the ability to see a bigger picture. And one of the best ways I’ve found is to pay attention to people who are speaking and writing from that greater perspective. It gives me the sense of a perspective I might take and the questions to ask. It helps me shift to another paradigm.

I’m not saying that when I hear a good speaker I immediately take on their views and start parroting them. What I mean is that it gives me other things to consider that may not have been on my radar when I was coming from a more limited viewpoint.

Charles Eisenstein  thinks deeply, writes thoughtfully, and is highly readable. I find him one of the most useful voices in the cacophony of the current chaos.

For consideration…

Click image to hear Charles Eisenstein reading his essay “Reinventing Progress”

So in that spirit, today I’m bringing you Charles Eisenstein reading one of his essays. In it, he describes the paradigm we are currently living under and presents a more expanded one for our consideration.

A paradigm is a framework that contains the basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodology that are commonly accepted by members of any discipline or group. This framework determines what people in that group believe is true, and discounts other beliefs as impossible.

We can change paradigms by shifting our perspectives. And this is where the viewpoints of deep thinkers such as Charles Eisenstein can be of value.

Essay summary…

i was going to list key points, but changed my mind.

Content of this nature needs to be taken in as a whole. It wouldn’t do it justice for me to fragment it into bullet points.

The way we perceive things changes what’s possible.

For more of Charles Eisenstein’s perspectives…

This week’s energy activation…

Energy activations are designed to enliven (activate) an aspect of your energy field. The words communicate directly with the field, guiding it to a new formation as needed. For more free activations, go to Sarah McCrum’s YouTube channel. For courses and activations to purchase, visit Sarah McCrum’s website.

True, but partial…

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As I wrote last week, there are many definitions of consciousness, depending on the viewpoint of the person creating the definition. Each definition is based on limited information, and the interpretations are all true…but partial.

The problem with partial information…

When we work from partial information, our decisions don’t serve us well because they aren’t taking the bigger picture into account.This is the theme of the Indian parable of six blind men describing an elephant, all of them arriving at erroneous conclusions because they don’t have the benefit of being aware of the whole.

This story has been retold by Westerners in many ways. The version I like best is by American poet John Godfrey Saxe, who wrote “The Blind Man and the Elephant” in 1873.

And so from their different perspectives, six men all misunderstood the essence of the elephant because they didn’t take into account that there was something bigger, beyond what they themselves could observe. These days, we see that happening a lot.

It’s worth wondering…

…in any situation you’re grappling with…

  • What is the “something bigger” that I’m not seeing from my limited perspective?
  • What would I see more clearly if I viewed this situation from a broader, higher perspective?
  • And how can I learn to see things from that higher perspective?

For starters, you might experiment with doing an energy activation, at least once a day but as many times as you like. Sit quietly and let energy work for you.

More energy activations…

Energy activations are designed to enliven (activate) an aspect of your energy field. The words communicate directly with the field, guiding it to a new formation as needed. For more free activations, go to Sarah McCrum’s YouTube channel. For courses and activations to purchase, visit Sarah McCrum’s website.

Worst Day Ever?

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Worst day ever? It all depends on how you look at it.

The poem below was written by Brooklyn teenager, Chani Gorkin, for a school assignment. A semi-finalist in a 2014 poetry contest, it was published on Poetry Nation.

As you read this poem, pay attention to the emotions and the energy field it creates. If you can, read it aloud—that will make the effect more palpable.

What was your experience—especially of the energy field created by reading top-to-bottom compared to reading it bottom-to-top? You might think in terms of emotional response or maybe the tone of it. Fancy words aren’t necessary. My experience was depressing compared to uplifting energy.

The unseen dimension of words…

This poem is such a good example of the unseen dimension of words. Words have power, both individually and in the way they are arranged together.

Words, whether written or spoken, can change the energy fields into which they are inserted. This makes them a tool that we can use for better or worse.

Let’s use them with care.

Hibernating…

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Like the bears in the wintery climate where I live, I’m hibernating.

Bear Hibernating

For fun facts about what happens in the den, check out the Bearsmart Blog to learn six interesting things bears do in the den. Can’t say any of them represent how I expect my next few months to go, so I guess one can stretch an analogy only so far!

For me, my energy will be directed to my inner world…and so you won’t be hearing from me for a while. I need to stop for a reset because I’m swimming in ideas and information, having had an intensive few weeks of engaging in several conferences—online of course—with two more to come.

If you’re curious, they are the Conscious Evolution Summit, The Embodiment Conference, A Magnificent New Normal, Beyond the Veil Summit, Globe Sound Healing Conference, and Carolyn Myss teaching How Your Soul Takes Flight.

Now I need some mental space to metabolize, integrate and synthesize all of it to shape where my life will go from here. In the meantime, here are some favourite posts you might like to revisit or enjoy for the first time.

What’s this all about?

Tools for coping

Perspective

There’s got to be a better way!

Taking care of business

Video You can Hibernate with Me by Benjamin Scheuer.

Of course, since we are still under distancing rules, this is a metaphorical invitation. See you in the spring!

Wobbling with the world…

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Right before our eyes, the world has become a wonky place. Unpredictable and unthinkable events have occured. Things we thought were firm and stable aren’t.

And we don’t like it!

Living in uncertainty is hard. It requires us to be flexible, lest we snap under the pressure. Yet the systems of Western culture do nothing to cultivate our inherent flexibility and resilience. Indeed, materialism, competition, and our cultural notion of success all reward a rigid approach to living. And we’ve become so used to living this way that we often don’t realize it’s a cultural meme and not an immutable fact of life.

We have two choices…

In uncertain times, we can cling tighter and push harder in hopes of getting things back to the way they were. Or we can change our mindset about how things are meant to work, what is possible, and what’s to be expected in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves through no choice of our own.

As my Tasmanian friend Gill so aptly put it, we have to wobble with the world. She should know. Gill has lived through plenty of wobbles including a broken neck and open heart surgery. Yet she is still here, after 84 years, with an inspiring curiosity and zest for learning and growing. I think it’s fair to say that Gill’s mindset is what made it possible for her to wobble with her world while it lurched along through her share of adverse events.

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There can be truth in nonsense…

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Nonsense takes us beyond the limitations of logic, into the quantum world where all is possible. It activates a part of us that is not always respected in our modern-day left-brain culture. Oftentimes, this disparagement of the nonsensical is to our detriment.

A master of nonsense…

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Cultivating empathy…

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This is my concluding post on empathy. It’s a subject that has been on my mind a lot as I keep seeing how desperately we need more empathy in this world—and as I’ve become aware that there is room for increasing it in myself.

Two types of empathy…

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Empathy at work…

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Last week we heard Simon Sinek speak about empathy in the workplace, and how empathetic leadership is essential for workers to thrive.

Empathy is also related to business in another way—through the output of business, the products and services we buy. The satisfaction we derive from these products and services is greater when the designers put themselves in our shoes before production begins.

That is a common definition of empathy—walking in someone else’s shoes, seeing through their eyes—more formally referred to as perspective-taking.

Industrial Design

Industrial design is an example of empathy at work. Continue reading →

Empathy. In business?!

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Experiencing a pandemic has got many of us reflecting on what is working in our world and what isn’t. In essence, it has shone a spotlight on our dysfunctions.

Much of what is wrong (or right) with our systems starts with our collective mindset.

A mindset is a set of assumptions, methods, or notions held by a person or group. It’s a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how we interpret and respond to situations individually and collectively.  We become so used to our mindsets that we don’t see that our thinking is fixed in this particular way. To us it’s normal.

If you observe behaviours of yourself and others around you, it’s not difficult to identify mindsets. Here are a few examples of what you might discover…

  • Sufficiency mindset—There is enough, and I am enough.
  • Growth mindset—Life is about expanding awareness and continual learning.
  • Thrift mindset—It’s my responsibility to use resources, both mine and the planet’s, wisely.
  • Sustainability mindset—What I do must contribute to life carrying on, now and in the future.

Empathy…

Empathy is also a mindset, and the subject for today. Continue reading →