Humans are designed with this amazing ability to observe themselves and their life experience. Science calls this metacognition, the awareness, and understanding of one's own thought processes allowing the thinker to think about the thinking, the experiencer to experience the experiencing, and so on.
With all the amazing breakthroughs in neuroscience and the study of consciousness, scientists are still baffled as to where ours exists. It is not in the brain, yet clearly there is a higher consciousness observing us and our experiences - a conscious observer. Perhaps it is the higher consciousness of our soul, witnessing, guiding and influencing each of us through intuition. Experts on near-death experiences like Dr. Brian Weiss and Dr. Raymond Moody believe it is this pure consciousness that leaves our physical bodies upon death.
In the past 200 years, modern science took spirit out of the mind, body equation and put it in the church, leaving generations disconnected from their wholeness, intuition, controlled by their thoughts, feelings, and ego mind, and unaware they have a higher consciousness with this incredible metacognitive ability. We are not our thoughts, our feelings or our experiences. In fact who we 'think' we are is comprised of neural networks, memory and brain programming. If those were to disappear, so would our ego self. The "me" would no longer exists. We would become no body and no thing. We are greater than our experiences. We are biochemically designed to transcend the limitations of the human mind and achieve enlightenment.
Mindfulness and meditation practices allow us to witness thought patterns and beliefs, increase self-awareness to interrupt, deconstruct brain programming and raise our own consciousness. It frees us from the power of the ego mind, connects us to our 'free will' and the power of choice. It is from this higher consciousness state that we are able to rewire our own brains and create new neural pathways.
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence have gained popularity in the group conscience, and in business as a new metric of leadership. These are not to be taken lightly. They are not concepts or words, they require consciousness, action and daily practice. You can only go so far in your mind. When you engage your heart and its higher consciousness to change your brain, over time you the transformative process begins to shift your consciousness and physical reality.
Observation allows one to detach from circumstance and perceive from a higher perspective. It moves us from being reactive to being responsive. From here, we begin to awaken. Human consciousness is dramatically rising, look around. People are awakening, paradigms are shifting and chaos abounds. According to neuroscience, it is only through chaos that we become conscious of our own brains. From another perspective, there are over 40 thousand prophesies, including many Native American, about this time being the time of the 'great awakening.'
Be the observer, notice yourself, notice everything and everyone. Self-awareness is the greatest gift one can give to self and others, communities and organizations. Consciousness is the pebble in the pond that transforms everything and everyone. It's time to awaken, evolve, and connect to your own higher consciousness. We are so much more than we believe we are, capable of limitless creativity and innovative solutions to the challenges we face when we come from a state of being awake.
Genele Edey