Conscious Feeling

by | Oct 15, 2021 | ShiftHappens

About a year ago I had surgery. I was fortunate to have a wonderful team that, even all this time later, I still recall with tremendous gratitude. Under their skillful care, the difficulties I faced for some time were healed. 

Lately, I’ve been thinking in particular of the anesthesiologist, whose job is to put the patient into a state of unconsciousness. While I am an advocate for conscious living, in the setting of an operating theatre unconsciousness is welcome on the part of the patient. Why? Because in such a state one is no longer in a state of wakefulness and therefore one can no longer feel. 

To truly feel is only possible when we are awake. 

While unconsciousness is welcome when we do not want to feel the pain of the surgeon’s blade, in the realm of social good, compassion, and activism we want the polar opposite – we want to be as conscious as we possibly can.

To be conscious means to be awake, alive, and aware. An alternate definition is to be deliberate and acting with intentionality. Weaving all these thoughts together, then, we can surmise that to feel requires us to be awake and intentional. 

Yet the world is awash in unconscious feelers; those who form strong opinions and become emotionally reactive, clinging to a particular position without ever really examining the identities, fears, and emotional underpinning of those assertions. 

So often, we beat back the feelings we deem “negative,” disallowing ourselves the opportunity to examine or learn from them. In doing so we deny the intelligence of our emotions and create the conditions for disconnection. Unconscious feelers are numb; it is easy to become apathetic and deny injustice if we are continuously training our hearts to reject that which is uncomfortable. 

To develop conscious feeling is not an invitation to become swept out to sea in the current of your emotions. Rather, it is an opportunity to sit with your reactions, impulses, and predilections so that you can see them clearly. 

As Victor Frankl famously wrote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

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Please, meet Maida Šabeta-Lemajić , our Heartivist of the Week!

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a landmark document from 1948, marked a pivotal moment for humanity by acknowledging inherent rights for all individuals, regardless of origin or circumstance. However, while humans have seen progress in safeguarding their rights, the same cannot be said for other inhabitants of the planet. Maida Šabeta-Lemajić, a passionate advocate for animal welfare, is tirelessly working alongside the Global Animal Law GAL Association to extend universal protection to all sentient beings.

Born and raised in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maida's journey into animal advocacy began during her college years when she discovered the pervasive issue of animal cruelty. Since then, she has been instrumental in shaping animal protection laws in her country, leading to significant reforms such as banning animals in circuses and curtailing animal experimentation.

Maida's dedication to animal welfare has taken her to various organizations, including PETA Germany and Cruelty Free International. However, it is her involvement with the Global Animal Law GAL Association that has allowed her to pursue her dream of enacting global animal protection laws. Under the leadership of figures like Dr. h.c. Antoine F. Goetschel, the association is working towards establishing the United Nations Convention on Animal Health and Protection (UNCAHP), a monumental initiative aimed at legally safeguarding animals worldwide. 

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Read the interview on our website [https://thepollinationproject.org] 

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