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Over a year ago, I stopped watching television. In fact, I don’t even own a television. It’s saved me money, freed up my time, and given me back my opinions. When I tell people I don’t have a television, they always respond with shock and awe, followed by either admiration or scowl.

I usually get the following questions:

• What do you do with all that time?
• How do you know what’s going on?
• Don’t you get bored?

Here are some answers:

1. Save $2000 a year from cable and electricity.
2. Engage in your life instead of watching people pretend to live theirs.
3. The average American spends 28 hours week watching television. Reclaim your time.
4. Make love passionately for hours.
5. Visit another city, state, or country on your savings.
6. Go to the spa every month.
7. Go salsa dancing.
8. Take bellydancing, yoga, pottery, name-of-the-class-you’ve-always-wanted-to-take-but-didn’t-have-the-money-to classes.
9. Learn to invest.
10. Pay off your debt.
11. Read a book a week.
12. Enroll in courses for a degree.
13. Get a part time job.
14. Cook.
15. Start a business.
16. Become a Toastmasters’ Competent Communicator.
17. Canvass for your favorite presidential candidate.
18. Develop your spiritual practice.
19. Take bellydancing, yoga, pottery, name-of-the-class-you’ve-always-wanted-to-take-but-didn’t-have-the-time-to classes.
20. Exercise.
21. Acquire leadership skills by serving as an officer in your favorite organization.
22. Screen your news.
23. Get information from consciously chosen sources.
24. Create your own standards for living.
25. Visit museums.
26. Create your own beauty standards.
27. Experience joy.
28. Meet your neighbors.
29. Talk to your neighbors.
30. Make friends.
31. Reconnect with friends.
32. Explore the city you live in.
33. Attend concerts, dance recitals, and plays.
34. Visit local art shows.
35. Discover music.
36. Plant a garden.
37. Get a pet.
38. Go for aimless walks.
39. Watch birds, lizards, and other creatures.
40. Babysit for a friend.
41. Search for the Truth.
42. Date yourself.
43. Go to bed and wake up early.

Guess which 5 I haven’t done

In Spirit,
Nneka

Consciousness is all there is, was, and ever will be. In essence, it is God or Spirit.

Consciousness/God/Spirit does not have a beginning or end, but it chose to come into expression as you. Your body to Consciousness is like you putting on your clothes in the morning and going out into the world, if your clothes were integrated with your body - like the suits in the movie Fantastic Four.

Some people do “remember”, some of us don’t. Different people remember to different degrees. Some people have a vivid memory of being pure Consciousness, some don’t. We are always pure Consciousness in expression, it is who we are. The degree to which we are aware of this determines whether we “remember”.

The word remember connotes a past, but there is no past. You are here now. Always in existence. I haven’t figured out how to explain this yet, but it makes sense in my being.

Consciousness and Intentions

Consciousness from this perspective does not intend. If we were referring to it as you, conscious and subconscious mind, that would be true. However, it is not your Consciousness that intends say peace, it is you (or lowercase c-consciousness). Consciousness/God/Spirit is peace. What you are intending is to align yourself (your beliefs, your mind) with what already is. How much peace you manifest or experience is determined by how much you allow pure consciousness to express through you. Add to that, you have a unique blend of experiences, skills, and talents that allow you to express and experience peace uniquely (the how). You are the filter, so to speak.

The same with love. Consciousness/God/Spirit is love. People are loving because they express Consciousness. Some people let it flow freely, some people block it. Some people are aware of letting it flow or blocking it and some people aren’t.

Consciousness and Growth

God/Spirit/Consciousness is all knowledge. Hence the saying, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

You are here to express and experience Spirit. Growth the way we see it might be the progression of expressing more and more of it like Hawkins’ Power vs. Force scale.

I’m not sure that we have to progress in awareness, expression, and experience at all. It seems to me that babies express more of Spirit than adults. Some of us might realize that’s what we want to do and how we want to do it, then start trusting, becoming aware, expressing, and experiencing gradually. But I don’t think there’s any rule that says that that’s the way it has to be.

Your level of awareness, expression, and experience is determined by how much you trust or are open to It. Try as you might to be completely open, there are still parts of you that insist that it just can’t be that way.

As a practical example, take money. I believe intellectually that Consciousness is infinite supply. However, I also harbor another belief, and I believe this viscerally because to me it is reinforced by my experiences. I believe viscerally that I have to put in a certain amount of work to get money.

I could have an epiphany and suddenly believe in my core that I don’t have to do any amount of work for money (I’ve done that a couple times in my life and it appeared from the ethers), or I could “grow” into the idea that there is indeed infinite supply.

It’s not Consciousness that will be growing, it will be my capacity to express and experience it.

Nothing is outside of consciousness.

In Spirit,
Nneka