The mind is the place where everything begins and everything ends. When enlightened consciousness is in our mind we are free to do conscious thinking and make choices to determine our way. Compare this to the digestive system where food is digested and the circulation system where the heart pumps blood. We do not say we are digesting food or pumping blood because these two things happen automatically, subconsciously. Compared to these two systems, the mind gives us the choice to think consciously however ninety-five percent of the time thinking happens subconsciously, out of our control.
What you perceive with your mind is your reality, if you go to sleep and do not dream, your mind is shutdown and the world does not really exist for you. For people whom were once living and no longer here, for them this world does not exist. The point is that whatever we keep focused in our mind, that that is our life experience. Life is a moment to moment experience but unfortunately we are not aware of some of these experiences because subconscious thinking does not let us directly experience what is happening around us. For example, when we get up in the morning, we automatically go to the bathroom. We do not think, “Here we are, what do we do now?” consciously. Our conscious mind is somewhere else thinking of the past or future. Throughout our normal morning routines, our subconscious mind guides us for the most part while the conscious mind occasionally becomes active for practical purposes and critical thinking. Once we are ready and have made our way to work, we think about home or any number of things besides work. When it is the morning, we think of the evening. When it is the evening, we think about work. Throughout the weekdays we think of the weekend and when it becomes the weekend we thinking of the weekdays. This anticipation of future events and re-experiencing of past events is called subconscious or unconscious living.
In contrast to subconscious living, conscious living is when the mind can focus on what is currently happening without distraction from thoughts of the past or future. The most important aspect of conscious living is that the universe exists only in this moment, it does not exist in the past anymore or in the future. When the mind is either in the past or future, our mind does not receive the energy flow of the universe and people who live in the past or future feel tired and fatigue because of the separation of their mind, spirit, and body. This is the issue we try to focus on and we try to explain to patients that they are not their mind, that instead they can control their mind with their conscious. When they are living subconsciously, their mind is controlling them and life is not in their control.
The main point for patients is that when they see the universal flow of energy and live in this moment, their mind and body embraced together, that they can now enjoy the moment. The past is gone and living in the past makes you lose sight of the present. Thinking of the future distracts you from what you can do in the present. This knowledge is not as important as the self-realization and deep awareness of the problem and what is happening so that we can learn how to live consciously, in this moment.