It’s like a broken record in your head- I want to change my life, but I don’t know how? You can see the rest of the world progressing in prosperity: close friend getting a job promotion, Donald Trump buying another multimillion dollar piece of real estate, and the table next to you in the restaurant in which the gentleman gets down on one knee and proposes to his future wife.

How can everyone else seem to get what they want and you stay stuck?

Maybe you don’t have enough motivation? Maybe you didn’t visualize your desires with crystal clarity? Or, maybe you think that you’re flat-out not good enough? It seems like the people that get what they want in life are at the right place, at the right time, and with the right amount of money. "They must be go-getter’s", so you think, and working harder and taking more action is the practical answer to get what you want.

My lovely girlfriend, Nichole, had the same mindset as you when it came to changing her health area of life. To cure her physical and emotional reality of being overweight and unhealthy, she felt the need to figure out which actions would lead to her desired results. So, she asked around for advice *cough*, me, for how to change her health.

"You need to first change your thinking about your health, set the right intention, write it on paper, and then the proper action will follow," was my answer.

"What do you mean?" said Nichole.

"Clearly visualize you already in possession of your health goal," I said. "Feel the feelings of abundant health and see your body at your ideal weight. Now, write your goal on a note card, in the present tense, and make sure you add a lot of emotion. Visualize your goal for the next 21 days."

Like the faithful girlfriend that she is, Nichole trusted in my answer and practiced it for a few months. In the first few weeks it would seem that Nichole made progress with small amounts of weight loss, but then she couldn’t sustain it and gained the weight back. So, Nichole decided to work harder, visualize more, and take more action, but always seemed to fall short.

One day she finally threw her hands up in the air and gave up out of physical and mental exhaustion- and I don’t blame her either.

I can’t tell you why I told her to "change how you think about your health, set goals, and take action." That approach never worked for me. What the hell was I thinking?

Luckily I’m a spiritual test dummy and after a year from her health fiasco I had a deeper insight that was life changing: if the mind is the one that creates the problem in the first place, then why do we look back to our thoughts for the solution? That’s a good question and an insight worthy of monk status.

Unfortunately I cannot go into detail about why the world is a conceptual mind made form constructed by our thoughts- that will be for another time. However, when Nichole turned her attention away from her thinking mind- goals, intentions, actions, etc. – and cultivated awareness, her health naturally evolved and changed (so did the other areas of her life, too).

What’s the magic behind awareness? It’s the realization that YOU ARE LIFE itself and not separate from it. And since you are Life, what’s there to change? You will naturally evolve to your fullest potential as a human being and your thinking mind will be your servant, rather than the master.

A flower is capable of growing and displaying its beauty without even trying. There isn’t thinking, setting intentions, or compulsive action involved to make things different and for it to grow. What makes you different than the flower? Your thinking mind.

The dualistic nature of your mind makes you believe that you are a person with its own personality thrown into an alien world. On the surface that may look true, but when you embody the awareness perspective, you can sense that the only moment is Now and the form called you, me, I, and others are a conduit for Life, which is connected to the One Life and expressing the One Life into form.

Do you believe me? Well, even if you do it’s unfortunately not good enough. You need the experience.

Conscious Awareness

Awareness is a cultivation process. By an act of Grace you can completely withdraw from the thinking mind, if you have endured great suffering. However, for most people awareness is a gradual unfolding of awakening to your true nature. The more aware and present you become, the more you are able to see how you do what you do. In other words, the more you are able to see the connections between your thoughts and emotions that can lead to dysfunction in your life situations.

The Golden Principle of awareness is that you cannot do dysfunction to you, others, and the world when you are consciously aware. It is impossible.

How do you begin becoming more consciously aware? You start with small efforts done day in and day out AND you begin by becoming consciously aware of your negative emotional states.

The Awareness Card

The awareness card is a tool designed to help you notice your negative emotional states. This is important because the state of consciousness you are in (your emotions/feelings) is a direct connection to what you are thinking or the amount of presence (going beyond thought) cultivated in this moment. Ironically, when you notice the negative emotional states that arise within you, let them be, and not follow them, you are consciously aware and present- it’s that simple.

The exercise:

1. Decide upon an area of life that you feel stuck in and want to change. For example, finances, health, relationships, spirituality, habits, etc. It will be easier to start with a narrow compartment of your life, rather than taking on your whole life.
2. Take out a 3×5 note card. With your pencil create 7 columns. At the top of each column, write in the days of the week. Start with Sunday in column one and end with Saturday in column seven. Finally, at the top of the note card, write the area of life that you’ve decided to change. Refer to the image below.
   
3. Now, carry that note card with you everywhere you go for the next seven days. Each time you experience a negative emotion in the area of life that you chose, place a check in the appropriate column.

This is going to require conscious awareness of your inner body. And when you do the awareness card for a week or two, anchoring your attention into the inner body will become automatic and your presence will shine through. The process will be gradual, but the more you earnestly practice, the more you will find your attention away from the problematic mind and into a deeper aliveness.

For example, Nichole wanted to become consciously aware in the health area of her life. The reason why she wasn’t experiencing positive change in that area was because she was unconsciously identified with conditioned thought patterns; therefore, I handed her the awareness card. Each time she had a negative feeling pertaining to her health or body, she would place a check in the appropriate column.

I remember on a Sunday when Nichole was standing at the mirror in disgust at her body. She became aware of that negative emotion, whipped out her awareness card, and placed a check in the Sunday column.

Over the next few months, her health dramatically changed. She lost weight, felt healthier and more energetic, and was able to sustain her positive growth experience, too.

Awareness is not a magic formula or success concept. Awareness is your true nature- the unconditioned, unborn, Big Mind. You actually do not DO awareness, either; you are awareness and just be it. When Nichole became aware of her thoughts and feelings around her health, what happened was she allowed the emotions and thoughts to be present within her. This allowed her to go beyond the thinking mind and into something more vast and infinite- Big Mind. Her awareness was dissolving the conditioned thought forms that kept her stuck in her life situation of health and allowed the unconditioned Big Mind to creatively manifest in and through her.

Of course Nichole took action towards improving her health, but her action came out of fullness and presence. Instead of adding negativity to the world she added the essence of her being and the world reflected that abundance in her life situations.

If you feel stuck in life and want positive change, you don’t need to think differently, set goals, and/or work harder. What needs to happen is the realization that you are Big Mind- the infinite, unconditioned, unborn, consciousness. The realization of Big Mind deepens the more consciously aware you become.

A great practice is to choose an area of life you feel stuck in and cultivate awareness around how you do what you do in that particular life situation. Awareness is the true antidote for change. Ironically, when you become more consciously aware you won’t have the urge to change at all. But change can’t help but happen