Consciousness of
Happiness or Unhappiness
Consciousness is everything; if you are not
conscious, you are not living your life, if not already dead.
Well, what is consciousness?
Being conscious is a "special quality of the
mind" that permits us to know
both that we exist and that the things around us also exist too. Surprisingly, many of us may not have this
consciousness.
Life is an inner journey that often requires consciousness
of the body and the mind, together with that of the soul or spirit, to continue
making its progress in the right direction in order to reach its final
destination. Sadly, since the beginning of time, many people have traveled on
the same journey of life but without reaching their desired destinations
because they simply lack their consciousness of the body and the mind, not to
mention that of the soul or spirit, to guide them along that long and winding
life journey with its many detours and sidetracks.
Consciousness comes from the mind, which is created by the
brain. The human brain creates the consciousness of the mind, and thus
giving all humans their pleasures and displeasures, happiness and unhappiness,
as well as other positive and negative feelings and emotions. These human
perceptions then become their experiences which are stored in their minds as
memories generating their subsequent thoughts—together they then become the
byproducts with which they weave the realities in their lives, making them
happy or unhappy.
Consciousness
is the capability of your thinking mind to see how and why certain
perceptions occur and affect your thinking mind, making you happy or unhapy. Without this consciousness,
which is knowing what is happening in the mind, you just obediently follow what
your mind tells you to do. That is to say, you have become a slave to your
thinking mind, instead of being the master of your own thoughts.
You are conscious of your thinking mind only if you are also conscious of your
breathing. Life is made up of many
breaths. For thousands of years, the Chinese have believed that the lifespan of
an individual is determined by the number of breaths assigned to that
individual at birth. That explains why traditional Chinese exercises, such as Qi
Gong and Tai Chi, focus so much on the art of breathing, especially
on extending the breaths, which holds the key to longevity. Western science has
already attested to the fact that tortoise, with the longest lifespan in the
animal kingdom, has also the longest breath, while rodent, with the shortest
lifespan, has the shortest breath. Therefore, the consciousness of your breaths
is a reflection of your own consciousness of life, as well as of many other
things in your life that make you happy or unhappy.
Consciousness of breaths begins
with breathing. Are you constantly conscious of your breaths—your breathing in
and breathing out? Most people are not. Breathing is the most subconscious and
yet the most important moment-to-moment activity in human life. Unfortunately,
many of us are not conscious of our breathing; we just take it for granted. The
Bible has made references to the importance of the breath from God, which is
not only life itself but also divine understanding.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
“But there
is a spirit in man, And the breath of the
Almighty gives him understanding.” (Job
32:8)
Consciousness of breaths also suggests consciousness of
self. Self-consciousness is, in fact, everything
in your life and living. Self-consciousness is your mental awareness of self,
of others, and of the world around. Self-conscious is mindfulness of what is happening to you and around you. Without
this consciousness of the mind, you are not living; you are simply existing,
making yourself become more vulnerable to depression.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau
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