Four Steps Into A Conscious, Self-Empowered Way Of Living

Hello to everyone.

I'm really,

Really happy to be part of this experience sharing meditation journey.

And as there is a year coming to an end that had so many unexpected changes and things happening,

I think many of us might have come to a point where we had this feeling of not truly being the owner of our life,

Not necessarily being in charge,

And it might have felt like drifting instead of steering in some aspects.

And therefore,

I would like to share some,

In a way,

Knowledge with you.

But this knowledge comes from two aspects.

It comes from experienced life wisdom,

Because I had times where I felt drifting instead of steering as well.

And it comes from the knowledge that I have learned as a coach.

And I combine knowledge and experience,

And I myself live these four steps as well.

They are helpful in general for living a conscious life and a life that we can steer in.

And I found an acronym for them.

This acronym is CATS.

Where does that come from?

These four steps can also be seen as four pillars as a basis for a conscious life.

The first pillar is called care for your mind.

The second pillar is excess wisdom,

Wisdom inside and around you.

The third pillar is take ownership of your life and your life situation.

And the fourth pillar is serve your body.

So this is where you can see how CATS comes together.

It's all these four pillars.

What do I mean with these four pillars?

What is behind these four pillars?

When we look at care for your mind,

I think every one of us as meditators are very aware that brains of all ages must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Or you can also say they must be accompanied by an observer at all times,

Right?

Because otherwise the head can become the owner of our thoughts and our perspective on life.

So what we every day do is we become free of dirt physical wise.

With a shower,

With brushing our teeth,

With changing clothes when they are dirty.

But a lack of clarity about facts and a multitude of information from very,

Very different directions and a focus on the negativity around us is the root of most of our fears and anxieties.

So we clean our body,

But many people forget to clean the mind.

And unfortunately,

Our mind is an excellent storyteller.

Or let's say it can be very good that the mind is an excellent storyteller.

But if we don't have an eye on the plot,

If we're not conscious about the plot we choose,

These stories are very likely to be negative ones.

Something to care for.

And so I think the first pillar for all of us is quite obvious.

Care for your mind means installing some habits to clean and clear our minds from negativity and thought litter.

One thing is the news intake.

Which are the sources we choose for the news intake we have every single day?

Are there conscious sources or is it that everything comes to us from newspaper,

From radio,

From our cell phones,

From TV?

A lot of tricky news out there which are not necessarily there to tell the truth,

But to raise awareness.

And as our brain has a tendency to turn towards negative awareness,

A lot of news have the tendency to put negative news in front.

So it's a catch-22.

Another aspect,

Centre your mind.

Meditation.

Choose your focus.

If you choose to stand up with a positive focus,

Your mind is very likely to take an upward spiral during the day.

If you choose a negative focus,

It is not only likely but very guaranteed that your mind is going to take a downward spiral during the day.

So a conscious choice of what is the thought that I want to start the day with is very,

Very helpful.

Of course,

Practicing gratitude is very good for cleaning the mind,

For getting a perspective on clear and healthy aspects of life again.

And connecting with positive people.

It is said that we are the average of the five people that we connect the most with.

So always take care of who you are surrounding yourself with.

The second pillar of CATS is about accessing the wisdom within and around you.

Becoming an expert can be very,

Very big fun if it is about your really very personal interests.

And life can be crazy busy and distracting us from individual interests,

But despite the news and typical media,

There is so much beautiful wisdom out there as well that we can access.

Be conscious about trying out new things that you always were curious on but never had the time to access.

Think back to your childhood.

What activity brought you a lot of joy and you didn't do ever since?

Have you been a child that loved to be together with other people?

Have you been a child that liked to be alone?

Have you been an outside child?

Have you been an indoor child?

There are a lot of things within you that you can still access and can help you to grow again.

Raise the wisdom around you and around your lifeblood topics because this is easier than it ever has been before.

Reading,

Watching films,

There are specific podcasts for so,

So many beautiful topics out there.

You find websites,

Web pages,

And of course you can join groups.

And you find book clubs out there that might even have to do with your specific lifeblood topic.

What is the inner wisdom that brought you so much joy in former times that you now can connect and combine with the outward knowledge and wisdom that is offered to you?

The third pillar is about becoming the hero of your own life because it's possible with conscious choice again.

And I want to show you a circle that makes this a bit clearer.

Actually,

It's two circles.

The inner one is the so-called circle of influence.

The outer one is the circle of concerns.

When we are in victim state,

We normally tend to focus on the circle of concerns.

That means to be satisfied,

I need external power and sources to help me,

Or not even only to help me,

But to fulfill it for me.

If I only had a million dollars,

I would feel safe,

I would feel worthy,

I could buy whatever I want and I would be happy.

Or if my boss would only change,

If my boss would only be more structured,

Then I could be happy.

These are all things that,

In a way,

Give us the impression that we don't have a lot of influence on how to bring our life into positive aspects.

Because we get the impression that it is always connected with other people and circumstances whether we can be happy or not.

You will never control the weather,

You will also not control the tax rates.

You don't have influence on inflation.

What about legal restrictions,

Just like we have them right now in COVID for people in lockdown?

If only the lockdown would be over,

I could move freely again,

That's very true.

So you might be restricted on moving freely around your flat,

But who keeps you from moving in your flat?

Or who keeps you from moving inside of your imagination?

And this is where we switch into the circle of influence.

How can I be and what can I do to feel content and happy?

Because we always have the idea that the way to become happy is first having something,

Then doing something and then being.

If I have a million dollars,

I can buy whatever I want and then I'm going to be happy.

But this is actually never how we achieve it.

The way is the other way around.

First it is about how to be,

Then it is about doing something and then we will have from there.

So if I want to have a million dollars,

I need to save money.

And for saving money,

I need to be aware of what I'm spending.

I need to make conscious choices of how I want to save money.

And for that,

I need to be conscious about keeping my money with me.

I need to be focused on what I want to achieve with the money.

I need to be goal focused,

All these things.

So this is how it truly works.

And there are a lot of things actually that are in the circle of influence,

Even if we are under restricted circumstances.

There is the opportunity to decide how I vote,

How I improve my skills,

What I eat,

How I invest my money.

I won't be able to do something against inflation,

But if I invest my money in a way that gives me some interests,

I can at least balance inflation a bit,

Right?

So it won't help you to be concerned about inflation.

It helps you to focus on what can I do with my money to get saving.

And this is how you can become a hero of your life situation.

Whenever you get aware of being concerned about external circumstances,

Using sentences like if I only had,

If this would change,

If this would be different,

You're very,

Very likely to be in the circle of concerns.

When you flip these questions to,

OK,

How can I be and what can I do about the situation?

What is it that is in my influence?

You become way more independent.

Your mind gets aware of the influence that you have.

And with time,

You will see that your circle of influence actually will expand and grow.

And the circle of concerns will become smaller.

So this is a way that you can take ownership of your life.

A huge part of pillar three that makes you feel self-empowered.

The last pillar,

I guess,

Is quite well known as well.

Serve your body.

Because in our body we store many,

Many,

Many emotions,

Anxiety,

Stress,

Shame,

Grief.

They are stored in our soul if we don't feel them and heal them.

But they are also stored in our muscles.

Hormones that are produced when we feel anxieties.

If we don't move these energies,

Stick with us and add up as nasty companions.

Because emotion in the end is energy in motion.

And energy needs to move,

It needs to move through and it needs to be moved out of our physical body.

If we don't do it,

It adds up and we are not aware of it anymore.

Because we get used to a negative feeling.

Nevertheless,

It is unhealthy and definitely is not causing happiness.

Motion is a double-header as we also produce hormones like dopamine and endorphine.

We dissolve negativity and at the same time we fill the storage with positivity.

And the possibilities are quite easy because it's not about becoming a triathlete or running a marathon.

Which type of exercise is a bit straining to you?

Yes,

But also fun.

It can be a 30 minutes walk.

For people that are interested it can be an intense workout but it doesn't have to be.

It can be a yoga session,

It can be a bicycle ride,

Whatever feels good to you to get in motion.

And there are additional treatments to serve our body.

Sleep is very important.

Drinking 2 or 3 litres of water per day.

I meanwhile start to already prepare 2 bottles of tea in the morning.

Otherwise I can easily get over it when the day unfolds.

And feed your body with nutrition from healthy food.

So these are the 4 pillars and the 4 steps that I would like to leave you with here.

Care for your mind,

Excess wisdom,

Take ownership and serve your body.

And actually I know a lot of times it sounds easier than it is in a way of having these 4 pillars continuously in life.

So find a group that you can do these things together with.

Because one of the most important aspects for continuity and consistency is community.

Doing things together with like-minded people,

Sharing,

Exchanging,

Encouraging,

Motivating each other is one of the best ways to keep all 4 pillars alive and upright.

Thank you for listening and hope to see you again on my profile soon.

Goodbye.