Conscious and Aware: A Six Principles Anthology Book

Conscious and Aware: A Six Principles Anthology Book by Charlie Botting is one of the books in our Six Principle Anthology series which share blog stories written by Trails to Empowerment community members, guests, volunteers and students. Focusing on one of the Six Principles, Conscious and Aware, this book shares stories about the three branches of this principle – awareness of self, other people and the environment.

All of our Six Principles are a holistic concept as each principle is essential for every other principle. Conscious and Aware is a kind of foundation principle because if we are not aware of ourselves, other people or our environment, it is much harder to implement any of the other principles. For example, if we aren’t aware of ourselves, we won’t know what areas we want to work on to experience personal development. If we aren’t aware of other people, we won’t know how best to work in a team to overcome challenges and experience a sense of empowerment. If we aren’t aware of the environment, we won’t feel connected to it, we won’t even notice the wild edibles we could eat to be more self-sufficient, and we won’t have an interest in conserving it. In our context, Conscious and Aware isn’t just about theory or retreating to meditate. It is an active practice of being one with the natural environment, of really noticing and acting on what we see.

One of the key ways that we become more conscious and aware is by using the Consciousness Chart, described by David R. Hawkins in his book Power vs Force. Read more about his book in our blog story here. By understanding the different levels of the Consciousness Chart, we understand where we are at and what we can do to become more conscious.

Gary Zukav’s Spiritual Partnership book moves our awareness from self to others, providing tangible ways that we can relate to others on a higher level. Read more about this in our book summary here.

But the theory is only a small part of being conscious and aware. Our greatest growth comes when we are out in the wilderness, truly experiencing it. Horses and wildlife are mentors, helping us become more aware. Some key horses, such as Tatla, Duke and Cheyenne all showed the authors of these stories how to become more conscious on all three levels, either by mirroring each person’s challenges or by showing a clear alternative.
Riding or hiking through wilderness terrain, tracking wildlife or looking for wild edibles also require us to be more conscious, otherwise we wouldn’t notice things such as changing weather, horse behaviours or fresh grizzly tracks. Noticing these things or not is the difference between avoiding a challenging situation or walking right into it.

Being conscious and aware allows us to make a choice and reframe challenges from a solution-oriented mindset. This allows us to be more self-reliant and more self-sufficient. In our community, we also focus on the difference between what is learned in school and what we learn from being out in the wilderness. Whatever we are doing, whether it’s a conservation project, making decisions with changing variables or taking ownership for a task, these are all ways to help us become more conscious and aware and contribute to others.

In the Trails to Empowerment community, we live in an international environment. Learning from people who have different cultures and backgrounds helps us become more conscious and aware of other people.
The concept of time is also reflected on as living in a wilderness lifestyle creates a different concept of time, meaning nature’s schedules are the rules that we live by. Reducing our dependence on technology also provides an opportunity to become more conscious and aware that is harder to achieve outside of a wilderness environment.

Throughout the book, the importance of being conscious and aware as a foundation for all areas of growth in the Six Principles is clear. These stories provide tangible ways for everyone to become more conscious and aware in their own lives, whether they are in a wilderness environment or not.

Conscious and Aware: A Six Principles Anthology Book is available in paperback and ebook on our partner, Fortress Books and Web’s website here.

Want to learn more about being conscious and aware with an online course? Our Conscious and Aware online course from our training partner, the Institute for Human Potential, will introduce you to the principle of Conscious and Aware and how to apply it in your life. Sign up here.

Want to experience some of these wilderness opportunities for yourself? Our Wilderness Lifestyle Experience with our partner Wilderness Trails allows you to experience all of this and more – you’re only limited by your imagination. Find out more about the Wilderness Lifestyle Experience here.

Find more recommended books from the Trails to Empowerment community here.