How to explore layers of consciousness and live beyond them

Content

Steps
Part 1 of 2: Exploring the Inner Mind
Comprehending the Right Thinking
Recognizing the layers of our mind
Part 2 of 2: Improving our sense of self
Tips
What do you need

In many traditional and modern philosophies, it is believed that the mind consists of a series of overlapping layers, each of which has its own purpose.These layers, ultimately, represent the structure of our own mind and, therefore, with the right approach, they can be disassembled when we need to revise and correct our innermost motives, dreams, fears, sorrows and worries. Self-knowledge is the key to comprehending our innermost thoughts and decomposing our inner layers. It takes time to get to know yourself, so be patient and practice to reach this highest point of consciousness.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Exploring the Inner Mind

Comprehending the Right Thinking

The instructions in this section will help you relax to begin introspection. If you want to grasp the art of introspection properly, then read on.

1 Find a suitable place. Diving into the depths of consciousness cannot happen while drinking coffee on the way to work. Thorough introspection takes time and concentration. Before starting your meditation, find a safe, comfortable and quiet place where you will not be disturbed for a while. Turn off any distracting sounds or lights if necessary.
- This can be any place that is comfortable for you; a comfortable chair in your office, a rug on the floor of an unfurnished room, or a deserted street.
- Most meditation schools recommend choosing an area related to sleep, such as a bed, as you may fall asleep accidentally.
2 Clear your mind of distracting thoughts. Free yourself from all the problems and worries that bother you. Understand that anything that distracts you from focusing on self-knowledge is just a thought that can be discarded in favor of a more important thought. Don't worry about anything.
- This does not mean that you have to pretend that the problem does not exist. On the contrary, you need to recognize the problem and accept it in order to start thinking about other things.
3 Meditate. Find a comfortable position and close your eyes. Recover your breath, take a deep breath. Keep your back straight to stay awake. Let go of your thoughts so that there is no room for tension and worry. When disturbing thoughts arise, just acknowledge them. Realize that they are part of your subconscious and put them aside.
- Meditation has inspired many, many works. For more information on the techniques of meditation, read the article at the following link http://www.how-to-meditate.org/index.php/ These are instructions for the techniques of Buddhist meditation.
4 Look inside yourself mentally. Distract yourself from your emotions. Realize that all of your experience, your sensations and feelings, are all creations of your inner self. Everything that exists within you and outside of you is an extension of your mind. Everything that surrounds you is just images created and interpreted by your inner self. Thus, by exploring the layers of your mind, you will comprehend a deeper understanding of the universe.
- You are not trying to examine or criticize yourself. Feelings of any kind that cause pain or discomfort indicate that you have not freed yourself from emotions.
5 If you are unable to meditate, then expand your horizons. Some people believe that they can achieve supernatural states of self-awareness if they do something that they would not normally accept. The benefits of this method have long-term effects and help to achieve introspection. You can try one of these instead of meditating. Make sure it's safe, though. Below are some examples:
- Do strength exercises
- Take a journey through virgin countryside
- Speak to an audience
- Tell someone about secret memories or feelings
- Write in a diary about your innermost feelings
- Go skydiving or bungee jumping

Recognizing the layers of our mind

The instructions in this section are intended as a general guide to introspection.Note that no two people are the same and that not all of the instructions in this section may work for you..

1 Focus on how you present yourself to those around you. The first, surface layer of the mind, you use to present yourself to others (especially to people you don't know well). This layer is often used to create a complex facade that will hide your true thoughts and feelings behind a "decent", "acceptable" state. Think about how other people perceive you... To gain control over your layers of mind, you need to recognize these characteristics, then only look for their source.
- For starters, these thoughts may help you:
- "My name is ..."
- "I live in ..."
- "I work in ..."
- "I like this and that, I do not like that ..."
- "I do this, I don't do that ..."
- "I like these people and I don't like those people ..."
- ... etc.
- Memories, experiences, and personal values are what you will find as you complete this step. You can write down any serious ideas that arise during the course of these exercises, especially after you delve into the depths of your consciousness. If you don't want to record, you can use a digital voice recorder.
2 Study your habits and routine. Reflecting on your daily activities can lead you to unexpected ideas, especially when viewed through the introspective frame of consciousness. Think to yourself, "How do I feel doing this routine? Why am I doing this? The purpose of this exercise is to see how much of a feeling of your own I plunges into these repetitive actions.
- Here are some examples. Note that these are surprisingly mundane thoughts. If you are like most people, then the vast majority of your thoughts will be about minor things.
- "When I wake up?"
- "Where do I buy groceries?"
- "What do I usually eat during the day?"
- "What do I do at any given time during the day?"
- "What kind of people do I prefer to spend time with?"
3 Reflect on your thoughts about the past and the future. How did you get to where you are now? Where do you go? This exercise can be very instructive. Impressions, people, goals, dreams and fears are usually not the thoughts that excite us for one single moment. Rather, they extend from the present to the past and the future, shaping our self, over time. Thus, understanding "who I was" and "who I will be" will help to better understand your essence.
- Here are some questions to look at:
- "What have I done in the course of my work in the past? What do I ultimately want to do?"
- "Who did I love? Who will I love in the future?"
- "What have I spent my time on in the past? How do I want to use the time allotted to me?"
- "How did I feel in the past? How do I want to feel in the future?"
4 Get to the bottom of your true desires and hopes. Now that you have broken down important aspects of your self-awareness, you have a chance to contemplate your true inner self. Try to find those hidden layers of your being that you do not show to others. These may be thoughts that confuse you or actions that you do not want to admit to others. Anything that you don't show in your daily life.
- For example, you can use these sample questions:
- "How do I really feel about what I do all day?"
- "How confident am I about my plans for the future?"
- "What memories or feelings that I hide from everyone gnaw at me most of the day?"
- "Is there something that I don't have, but I secretly want to have?"
- "Do I want to be able to feel in a certain way?"
- "Do I have secret feelings about people close to me?"
5 Consider your perception of the universe. How you really look at the world, your worldview is one of the deepest layers of self-awareness.In a sense, your worldview is the most important part of your personality, as it affects the way you interact with almost everything, from interacting with people, animals, nature, and ending with interacting with yourself.
- To determine your worldview, use examples of general questions about humanity, about the world, such as:
- "Do I think people are mostly good? Or do I think they are bad?"
- "Do I believe that people can overcome their shortcomings?"
- "Do I believe in the existence of a higher mind?"
- "Do I believe that everyone has their own purpose in life?"
- "Am I looking to the future with hope?"
6 Think about your perception of yourself. Finally, let your thoughts turn inward until you find yourself really thinking about yourself. This layer of the mind is one of the deepest. We do not often spend time thinking about our relationship to ourselves, but such deep thoughts can more than anything else affect the cognitive traits and quality of our life.
- Do not be afraid to get to the bottom of the truth that may amaze you. Such a deep dive into the jungle of one's own consciousness is usually very instructive, albeit extremely exciting. After this meditation session, you will learn to understand yourself better.
- Here are some tips to help you. As you answer the following questions below, keep in mind the answers you gave to the previous ones.
- "Do I criticize myself too often? Praise myself?"
- "Are there qualities that I like or dislike in myself and in other people?"
- "Do I want to have certain qualities that others have?"
- "Do I want to be the person I am?"

Part 2 of 2: Improving our sense of self

1 Look for reasons for your self-image. Knowing the bitter truth about yourself shouldn't be the last step on your introspective journey. Adjustments are possible with careful consideration. First, try to define why you have such self-esteem. Maybe there is one main reason that you cannot explain, even if you try hard. It's OK. In this case, just try to admit there is a reason. Once you understand that your self-image has a reason (even if it is difficult to determine), you can improve it.
2 Determine your life priorities. If you are like most modern people, then your low self-esteem may be due to the fact that you attach great importance to things that are not really worth it. Ideally, you will be much happier by freeing yourself from these attachments and will be able to improve your self-esteem. You will be able to concentrate on the most important things for yourself and your loved ones.
- Money, material goods, social status, and so on - all of this is often highly valued in the modern world, but, in fact, has little effect on true happiness.
- On the other hand, people tend to often sacrifice personal time, projects, family friends in favor of relatively insignificant things. In fact, it is scientifically proven that strong family ties make a person much happier than high income.
- One person's life priorities might look like this:
  Children
  Spouse
  Relatives
  Work
  Friends
  Hobby
  Health
3 Determine how far you can go to get started. Unfortunately, people sometimes cross off something extremely important from the top of their personal priorities (such as a sense of ethics) in order to keep something less important from the lower points (such as driving a good car.) Your goal is to define how far are you willing to go to achieve what you have at the top of the list, knowing, of course, that you have to sacrifice something at the bottom.
- Here is a good example from the literature: Othello Shakespeare's character Othello kills Desdemona, the woman he loved, because his friend Iago made him believe that she was cheating on him. In this case, unfortunately, Othello was persuaded to abandon, perhaps, the most important thing - the man he loved. This happened because he put his personal honor and reputation above all else. Attaching great importance to something that, in fact, did not make him happy, played a cruel joke on Othello and at the end of the performance, he killed himself.
4 Once you have determined what exactly you are ready to do to achieve the goals at the top of the list, you must create a clear, sensible plan of action. After that, you should have no reason for low self-esteem. All you need is just to get started! Low self-esteem won't help you, so drop it.
5 Try to give up your addiction to unimportant things in life. It is often difficult to give up part of your life right away. The main thing is to admit to yourself that you are wasting your energy on the wrong things and plans. And then you can fix it. Make a concrete plan so you can focus on what matters most to you.
- For example, if you finally realize that you are spending more time worrying about your job than spending time with your family (when, in fact, your family is more important to you), you may still not be able to change jobs. if your family depends on your income. However, you can To start searching new job while maintaining commitment to the family.

Tips

There are a number of different philosophies that include concepts like those described above. For a deeper understanding of yourself, you can explore some of the following philosophies on your own:
- Ananda Marga: A Socio-Spiritual Movement Founded in India in 1955.
- Freud's theory: According to Sigmund Freud's theory of personality, personality consists of three elements known as Id, Ego and Superego.
- In addition, metaphysical movements (such as Slaves to Conditioned Reflexes) include the theory of the multi-layered mind.
It can also be helpful to study mental philosophy, which challenges the theory of the multilayered mind. For example, the famous Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas did not believe in the multi-layered mind. According to his theory of ‘human’ ’cognition, a person consists of several interrelated concepts of mind, body and soul.