This is my response to @abundance.tribe's bi-weekly question and it's a timely one for me, having spent the last month down a crypto-rabbit hole, and it kind of being time to 'resurface' again!
When I hear that question, about a 'conscious life' it immediately makes me think of intention and having the will power to steer the course, stay in control, not be distracted by this or that.
This might sound like 'forcing it' with your ego, but I don't mean that at all, in fact it is quite the opposite - consider being in the middle of an hour long meditation session, it is highly unlikely it's going to be all 'bliss consciousness and joy' for the entire hour, there will be times when you just want to get up and do something else rather than face the shit that arises, or, frankly, just get plain bored, restless of just sitting there rather than getting on with everything else that 'needs doing'.
Being conscious here means having the will power to just sit it through, stick the daily session, for the full hour, and then return to it the day after, and the day after that and so on.....
It means consciously being aware of the thoughts that arise - the thoughts that 'you don't want to be here' and just carrying on anyway.
And Consciousness in Daily Life
This applies just as well in daily life - much of our life is for most of us a series of dull, rather ordinary and mundane chores - ablutions, cleaning, washing, shopping, and if yer doing the off grid thing this expands to basic house building and maintenance, fetching yer water, growing yer food, chopping yer firewood - that's a lot of hours.
Being conscious when doing these things means giving your full attention to them, I think, and just doing them, and again, not thinking about this or that or the other.
In fact I think maintaining focus on these mundane chores is much easier that meditating, it's more natural if you like, and these chores need doing anyway, and there's 'more' to keep your mind's attention.
In fact the two compliment each other in Zen theory - formal meditation and meditation in daily life on chores.
Distractions...
BUT there are SO MANY distractions, for me ATM, this means Discord, Defi, Hive, Splinterlands - and add to that my other online work, some of which is quite 'fragmented' - updating blog posts for SEO purposes, for example, requires a minimum of five windows to be open at once, this is all very difficult to maintain one's focus, one's sharpness of mind.
Discord I think is the worst - it is necessary to keep abreast of DEFI opportunities - well, not NECESSARY, but something I've learned is very useful for taking advantage of profit-gaining opportunities....
Basically any time I'm online, I'm pretty much not conscious in the Zen sense of the word, I'm fragmented, flitting between this and that, rather than staying focusses on one thing at a time.
But this was a conscious decision....
I've gradually spent more and more time online over the last few months - the opposite was supposed to happen - more and more time on the land, but it hasn't worked out at that way - it's been the time, for me, to be online... there's a window ATM where it's useful for me to subject my consciousness to this fragmentation - NOW is better than LATER.
Getting more Conscious Online and in Life
I think I'm actually getting better.... having a table to work at now, rather than just lying on my bed, helps, posture always helps.
And now that summer is over and it's not too hot, and, frankly, I need FIREWODD, there's a new impetus for me to spend some time daily on the land.
And something else that helps is the Bootcamp I now attend twice a week - nothing quite like a good workout to be conscious, right now I'm VERY conscious of my triceps aching, and feeling like this is GOOD!
Back on the path to a more conscious life...!
NB - somehow I missed the deadline, the tie up post came only a week after the initial post this time around, oh well!