Gay Hendricks - A Year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose

A daily guide to a year of living consciouslywhat a thrilling idea! That was my reaction when a woman came up to me after a lecture some years ago, asking if such a book existed. She said it would be helpful to have a day-at-a-time guide, so that she could learn a bite-sized piece of just-in-time wisdom and meditate on it throughout her day. I told her I wished such a book existed, too, and promised her I would consider writing it someday.

My thirty-second interaction with her led to a three-year process of gathering material and writing the book. In short, I took her hint, and youre holding the result. If the mystery woman whose question inspired the whole enterprise happens to read these words, I invite her to drop me a note and get a generous supply of the book. For me, the concepts and practices in this book are not only the heart of my work but a way of life. I have spent the past thirty years working with people in their journey of conscious living. The wisdom in this book has given me more than a world of pleasure and exhilarating learningit has given me my life. Nothing between these covers is here simply because it sounds good or looks good. Every idea and practice here has been kitchen tested in the rigorous laboratory of real life. In other words, it isnt in this book unless its helped real people solve real problems.

People have been journeying along the path of conscious living for thousands of years. For a very long time, humans have felt deep urges to discover the truth about how life actually works. Over the centuries, a body of living wisdom has formed, a body we can draw from every moment of our lives. In addition to being a therapist for thirty yearsand therefore concerned with helping real people solve real problemsI have also been fascinated with the study of what others have had to say about conscious living over the centuries. Based on my own experience and the study of sources such as Epictetus, Lao-Tzu, William James, and dozens of others, I have come to realize that human beings have been tapping into a fresh-flowing stream of wisdom for at least the past several thousand years.

What does this wisdom have to tell us?

FOUNDATION PREMISES OF CONSCIOUS LIVING

Throughout your year of living consciously, you will see certain themes repeat themselves, just as certain themes repeat themselves in your own life.

Here are some of the foundation ideas on which anyones journey of conscious living is based. If you open the pages of Epictetus (and I highly recommend that you do), you will see themes similar to the ones we address in this book: self-esteem, relationship, the conscious design of a meaningful life, emotional literacy, and others.

GUIDING PREMISE ONE

Authenticity is essential. A truthful life is both the outcome of the journey and the means of getting there. A successful life is an authentic life. Happiness and creativity rest on a foundation of transparency to yourself and others. Knowing your own heart and speaking clearly to others keep you on the path.

GUIDING PREMISE TWO

Things that can be felt and seenpeace of mind, happiness, and the humane treatment of othersare higher-priority goals than religious concepts such as original sin or beliefs about life after death. The journey of conscious living is based on getting to a deeper level in yourself than beliefs and opinions, in order to experience the essence of what unifies people, not divides them.

GUIDING PREMISE THREE

Conscious living depends on finding out what goals are important to you, and moving toward those goals at a pace that allows you to feel vibrant.

GUIDING PREMISE FOUR

The journey of conscious living begins when you take full responsibility for your life, and slams to a halt when you avoid responsibility for anything.

GUIDING PREMISE FIVE

Happiness, success, and sound relationships depend on letting go of controlling things that are beyond your control. Examples of things you cannot control are the feelings of others, the future, the past, and whether or not other people like you.

GUIDING PREMISE SIX

Spiritual growth comes through a deep embrace of reality, not through flights of arguable fancy. Transcendence is best accomplished by thoroughly acknowledgingrather than ignoring or denyingsuch human realities as emotions, sexuality, and conflict.

GUIDING PREMISE SEVEN

It is possible to make rapid shifts in consciousnessfrom scarcity to abundance, from defensiveness to openness, from fear to loveand these shifts in consciousness will change the outer circumstances of your life.

GUIDING PREMISE EIGHT

Peace of mind comes ultimately from making your deepest creative contribution to the community around you. When you make your full contribution, you feel happy, fulfilled, and at ease. When you dont, you dont.

GUIDING PREMISE NINE

Commitment to certain key valueshonesty, responsibility, gratitudenot only gives you an inner flow of harmony but also rewards you with an authentic form of power that can be recognized by others. Authentic power comes from authenticity; false power comes from control and ego-aggrandizement.

GUIDING PREMISE TEN

You can choose to become the source of attitudes such as gratitude and responsibility (rather than waiting for the events of life to inspire you to adopt them). If you wait for events to trigger those attitudes, you remain locked in a consumer rather than producer mode, and keep yourself trapped in scarcity.

USING THIS BOOK

As your year of conscious living proceeds, you will notice that these premises and other related themes repeat themselves, each time evolving to a deeper level or revealing a different facet. Think of this year of living consciously as an evolutionary spiral in which you soar in ever-expanding circles. As your consciousness grows upward on the spiral, you touch on each turning a foundation theme that you can master at a higher level.

As I began working on this book, I turned to the assistance of a fine writer and insightful therapist who also happens to be my niece and research associate. Laura Joyce, whose voice you will come across from time to time in the book, adds a fresh perspective because shes in a different stage of the life journey than I am. My kids are grown, for example, while hers are running and toddling around the room as she writes (I know this because I often hear them in the background when we talk on the phone). Her input was most valuable.

GOING FORTH

None of us invents the journey of conscious living; we are heir to it. For thousands of years, people from east to west have been looking to the heavens and looking into their own hearts, wondering about the same fundamental questions:

• Who am I?
• Where do I want to go?
• What is my plan for getting there?
• How can I give and receive love to my full potential?
• What is my creative gift and how can I express it?

We are still asking these questions today, and we will no doubt be asking them thousands of years from now. I invite you to join this heartful and mindful community of seekers by making a commitment to a year of living consciously. May your journey be blessed.

JANUARY 1