How to Better the World and Be The Best Me, Too
By: Mj Blehart
Tags: Self Improvement, Mindfulness, Politics, Life Lessons, Personal Development

You and I live in interesting times. While the calendar says 2019, a lot of the things happening in the United States today are very 1950.

There are still matters of women’s rights that should not be an issue anymore. I am a huge supporter of equality, and as a white, middle-aged cis-gender male, many other members of my gender confound and upset me. And if you think any of the new, restrictive laws that have passed are about abortion, look more closely — it’s all about control over women. Not cool.

I do not care who you want to love. Love is good for everyone. So if you are into the opposite sex, the same sex, polyamory, transgendered love, or what-have-you, I support your love. Why is this even an issue?

Sure, immigration law needs reform. Placing people in concentration camps, however, is NOT acceptable in any way, shape, or form. This is not the nation I was raised in.

The government has a lot of leaders who are utterly selfish, greedy, and lacking kindness and empathy. In less interesting times they would not last in these positions of power. Sadly, nowadays you can get away with all sorts of evils, so long as it tows the party line and/or maintains the party’s power hold.

All of these matters are generally well outside of my control and direct sphere of influence. Yet I still have a desire to do something about them. At the same time, I am working on being the best me that I can be.

How do you sustain doing both?

Mindfulness is one part of the equation

I have been working over the past several years to become more true and genuine to myself. It is my desire to be the best me that I can be. As such, I have been writing more blogs and books and trying to build my writing career into a sustainable option.

Like many people, I struggle with depression on and off. When Trump got elected and began to do all the awful things he’s continuing to do, my depression asserted itself. I sought out means to cope, which include writing, meditation, exercise, and an antidepressant.

As I have watched the nation sink to new and unbelievable lows, I have struggled with how I can be seeking out my own best life. Isn’t that horribly selfish of me? Shouldn’t I just find another ho-hum but decent paying job, and vote and protest and write my blogs, and accept good enough?

No. I find that every time I accept a so-called “good enough” situation I get flustered by it. I know I can do and be more. As I get better in touch with my own thoughts and feelings — ergo mindfulness — I can see that just going with the flow and living a mediocre life is a waste of my best me.

One of the bigger issues with employing mindfulness to be my best self is trying to also work with what is happening out there. I tend not to dig too deeply into much of the news, because it just frustrates, angers, enrages, and otherwise upsets me. Yet I still want and need to do my part to make a difference.

I am working to be the best me that I can be. How, as I do this, can I impact the world around me for the better?

Perception of reality is individual

Reality, as each of us perceives it, is unique to us all. The overarching aspects of reality, such as our nations and political leaders and religious institutions, are borne from the collective consciousness.

Understanding this, and helping others to understand this, has become something of a mission of mine.

Better recognizing the nature of the collective, and how to stand apart from it, can help you to draw more people out of this ever-distressing reality. When you recognize how this can work, and what you can do with it, you can affect change.

As Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” The collect consciousness is perhaps the most persistent aspect of the illusion or this reality.

What does that mean?

What is collective consciousness?

Let me try to break this down:

You and I are of two minds, conscious and subconscious. Conscious mind is an awareness of here and now, but it frequently gets sidelined by past and future.

Subconscious mind is both unconscious actions like breathing, and also the things we absorb in our life experience. Think of it like a sponge. It can absorb a whole lot of information…until it gets supersaturated.

Collective consciousness is partially made of what happens when the sponge stops absorbing, and the liquid information pools around it. If you have a dozen supersaturated sponges, they are sitting in a pool of water they cannot absorb.

You and I tend to be aware of the subconscious, but not fully. The collective conscious is both that bleed of supersaturation you and I don’t fully absorb, and shared ideas we all hold, but largely subconsciously.

What does that mean?

It means we tend to accept a given notion of reality without fully analyzing it. And much of that is by design.