State of Consciousness

“Your future depends on your state of consciousness now.” (Eckert Tolle)

What is your current state of consciousness? I mean, truly, what is going on for you right now, in this minute? Are you bargaining for time as you declare you are going to read this article? Or will you just skim it? Or are you in a relaxed state, aware of your commitments this minute and those ones out in front of you?Your future depends on your state of consciousness now. For some of you, as the words settle into your bones, you may be worried, since your now is not that good or at least not nearly what you would like it to be. You may be concerned because you have been counting on the future like some magical moment when all of your stars finally come into alignment, and didn’t realize it was attached to now. But it is. Greatly attached, in fact.The good news is that your future depends on your ‘state of consciousness’ now, not simply what is going on in your life right now. As human beings, we think those two things go together. We believe that what is going on in our life right now is actually causing our state of consciousness in this minute. We believe that what we are consciously thinking about is almost unconscious in a way, because we believe we can’t control it. We believe it is a result of things occurring in our life.The reason I say that is good news, is because those two things are not actually tied together at all. They are separate. There is what is occurring. And then there is how you perceive it. We like to wrap them up together and then strap it on our backs, giving us plenty to complain about as we walk around feeling rightfully upset and overwhelmed. But what if you could separate them?Simple.Let’s look at the feeling of overwhelm. It is not just a feeling! Right? You are overloaded at work with deadlines, impatient co-workers, inefficient administrators, laundry, food shopping, and a family filled with needs. How could you possibly be anything but stressed out and overwhelmed? No one could manage all of that on their plate and actually feel calm and in control.Actually, the overload of ‘tasks’ has nothing to do with how you are feeling. You have consciously taken on overload as a feeling because you have not figured out a way to manage the list at hand. In continuing to allow that, you are also becoming inefficient in each and every thing that you are attempting to complete right now. Even if you say you are an expert at multi-tasking, I would respond by saying ‘if that is the case, why do you feel so overwhelmed?’So let’s take a closer look, because if in fact your future depends on your state of consciousness now, it will be important to alter that state. Now.What can you do? 1 – Declare that you are in control of this thing you call life. Period.2 – Get a notebook or planner that can always be with you.3 – Write one complete list (with short descriptions) of all that needs to be done today.4 – Write a separate list for things that need to be done on different days.5 -  For each task, write an estimated time of day that it can be completed.6 – Look at the list as a whole and make sure it is reasonable to complete all the things listed.7 -  If the list is not reasonable, can you recruit someone to help you? Or is there a way to alter your schedule for the day or the week to accommodate this?8 – Be creative! Be unreasonable! After all, your future depends on it!That’s the easy part! The more challenging part is to now begin to separate yourself from this list. This list is merely a reminder of things that need to be done. It is not a way of being. It is not what will predict your future. Whether you finish all of them, or some of them, will not affect your future success. What will affect it is the way you think about it in this present moment.Our life is not about the stuff to do, it is about our stream of consciousness about it. It is why some people with no money are happy and why some with an abundance of money, are not.You have to choose. Choose your state of consciousness; what you think about; how you think about it. Choose a way of being and feeling that makes you happy, that impacts you and those around you, regardless of what is actually happening. To-do lists are temporary, just as is your state of consciousness. So choose it now. Then be prepared to choose it again in a few minutes. This simple process will have the largest impact on your future…the one where all the stars are aligned. The one that is actually available to you right now.