“Live consciously” is my motto and daily inspiration that brings me back to the present moment, and today I share with you my path to consciousness.
For me, consciousness is the knowledge that we feel, that we live, that we exist, that is, the omnipresent observer of everything that happens. In the narrowest sense, consciousness is life and so I believe that if we want to truly live we must be conscious; otherwise we are mostly surviving.
That’s how I survived in unconsciousness until my late twenties. I was not aware of my traumas, uncomfortable patterns and pain, but I really felt them and identified with them. Emotions would take over me and my unconsciously built protection programs would be automatically activated. I was completely unable to direct my (re)actions because they would happen even before I could catch my breath, already destroying situations, people and relationships. I would not be angry, I would embody anger. I would not be jealous and envious, I would become jealous and envious. I wouldn’t get angry, I would turn into anger.
And so it went, hurting others, but also destroying me. At the end of it all, people would change, the environment would become new, circumstances different, situations more challenging, only I would remain the same. So many times I started from scratch, hoping for something new and different, always wearing the same self and getting the same results. I lived in despair, pain and suffering, not knowing what to do next. I wanted to change and I knew I had to, but I just didn’t know how.
In my 20s, my physical problems began, because the body began to speak what the mind had buried a long time ago. Acne, intense back pain, hair loss, insomnia, indigestion, food intolerance, allergies, weight loss. Every symptom had an explanation in another physical symptom, or so I was told, without anyone ever looking at the whole picture.
From one specialist to another, no one ever asked me how I felt, how I was living, whether I was happy. No one ever asked me about my childhood, about painful experiences and about the feelings I buried inside. There would always be a cause for the symptom, which in my opinion was again a consequence of something. So my chronic back pain was the result of scoliosis that I was diagnosed with in my teenage days; hair loss was the result of vitamin and mineral deficiency; food intolerance has appeared due to eating a certain type of food; acne was genetic; weight loss as a result of poor digestion…
It may all sound logical, but it didn’t make any sense to me. Because if the pain is scoliosis, then why am I only now hurting? If hair loss is due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, why am I missing something? If the intolerance is due to food, then why does it suddenly bother me? If the allergies are due to pollen, then why did they just appear now? Lots of questions and no satisfactory answers forced me to do my own research and search for solutions.
Natural cosmetics, better nutrition, more movement were wonderful tools for me to start with, but I still didn’t touch the core of my problems. The discomfort piled up, the pain became more and more intense and suddenly the life I knew slowly began to fall apart. New people, new places, new surroundings and for the first time the feeling that someone accepts me exactly as I am. That realization that I’m okay the way I am was my springboard.
In addition, I went through the darkness of the premature loss of my mother and then I faced a new series of life-death questions. My previous beliefs about death, but also about life, no longer made sense and did not support me on the path of mourning and healing deep wounds. Through that pain of loss, I found wounded parts of myself, that’s why I believe that our greatest pains are also the most special opportunities for growth, if we can experience them that way.
Living in India offered me a new perspective on the purpose of existence and showed me that the happiest are those who value the most, not those who have the most.
The birth of my son in the warmth of my own home and with my closest people was an event that completely exposed and transformed me. Through physical discomfort, but also a focused and calm mind, I learned how divine women’s bodies are and how rarely we celebrate that in this world. Holding a new life in my hands, I realized how fragile we are as people, but at the same time, as souls, we are almighty.
Through all those transforming cells, I found my way to myself. Along the way, I moved and changed the environment, lived and worked in 4 countries, got to know yoga, Ayurveda, breath and meditation, as well as cyclicity and self-love, and that’s how I came up with the 15 most important habits that anyone can adopt, which transformed my life and enabled me to live a life full of awareness. Today I am sharing them with you in a narrowed format and I wish from the bottom of my heart that you feel them, and then adopt the ones you feel are yours.
- Choose seasonal, plant-based and whole foods
- Spend time in nature and soak up the sun regularly
- You move in different directions and in different ways every day
- Ensure quality sleep
- Choose natural products for care and cleaning
- Take responsibility for your (re)actions
- Spend time in silence
- Rest actively
- Breathe consciously and present
- Strengthen your nervous system
- Live in harmony with your cyclical nature
- Respect and harmonize with the seasons of nature
- Process and release your emotions
- Direct your thoughts and focus your mind
- Build supportive relationships and surround yourself with people who inspire you
And finally, appreciate the little things and give yourself small joys. Do what you feel like doing whenever you can. Choose what makes you happy. Rejoice in the little things. Edit your own life novel. Small and persistent steps bring great results and lead to a more conscious life, which is at the same time easier, healthier and more fulfilling.
Living consciously means getting to know yourself in depth, radically accepting yourself, but also changing with love what we cannot accept. Take small steps, one habit at a time, changing and adopting one at a time, and you’ll soon notice big changes. Remember one thing: application always leads to change, and without application there is no change.
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