Now, I'm very confident (in the humble way, not the arrogant way!) that very quickly, you'll see how simple what I'm trying to share with you in this article really IS. Indeed, one of the characteristics of all real wisdom is that it's simple.

Of course, it may not seem simple at first; but once you "get it," you can't help buy reflect and go: ohhhhhh yeah, that's so simple!

The reason I'm sharing all of this, is because before we can visit our good friend Charles Darwin, I'd like us to visit one of my favourite films of late: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

(By the way, if you haven't yet seen The Secret movie, or mapped out its various beneficial aspects, borrow it from a friend or do a search online and have a look, and you'll be amazed at what you can learn -- and yes, it's simple!)

Now, in The Secret, one of the underlying themes that is either overtly discussed or subtly alluded to, is that we create our own reality. That is, reality is not something "out there" -- it's as much an expression of what's "in here" -- in each one of us -- as it is anything else. In other words: reality is a dialogue between the outer and the inner. We aren't passive observers who simply "objectively" see reality for what it is. Indeed, real objectivity does not exist. You may need to read that again because it's a powerful, potentially transformative statement of fact: real objectivity does not exist. And that is the reason -- and the only reason -- why we create our realities; or, at the very least, we contribute to our realities in much deeper ways that we can "detect" using our senses or our intellect.

So....what? Good question. We aren't done yet...

Another way of understanding this basic fact is through the word filtering. We filter our reality through our perceptions; and that means that WE SEE WHAT WE EXPECT TO SEE.

Sounds weird? Yes, maybe -- but if we look into our own personal experience, we can see that this is indeed quite true. Do you remember being in love? Or the days after a blissful, inspiring experience? How does the world look? If you have to stand in line an extra few minutes because the employees are chatting aimlessly, or you get stuck in traffic longer than you expected, or it rains all the time, or something else "negative" happens...do you care? If you do, then it's just barely caring.

Now picture yourself on one of your BAD DAYS. How much tolerance do you have for even the slightest inconvenience? How do you respond to bad weather, to traffic jams, to "rude people" at work or the daily, ordinary, frustrating things of life itself?

Obviously, something has to be "different" about these situations. The rain is the same. The traffic is the same. The aimless talkative employees are the same. Everything else is the same. YOU are different! Your perception is different; your FILTER is different. You are simply "changing" how you see reality; or rather, your unconsciousness is changing it for you. That's why you can go through a similar experience in two different "moods" and experience wildly different emotions, and even conclude wildly different facts. Those chatty employees can go from being "carefree and playful" to "JUST PLAIN EVIL FIRE THEM ALL!! AHHHH!"...... :)

Now, with all of this in mind, let's jump over to Charles Darwin and his rather oft-borrowed (and widely misunderstood) observation that 'only the fittest survive'.

You see, in today's world, the people who tend to "use" this observation almost always use it as a justification for a very (very) aggressive approach to life. They see life as a threatening jungle within which everything is out to eat everything else -- or if not eat it, then harm or destroy it "just because that's what things do in the jungle."

But...ah, yes, you're thinking it with me now, right? THEY'RE FILTERING! They're doing exactly what The Secret says they're doing: they're seeing reality through the filter of "dog eat dog." Naturally, they'll see this wherever they look. In fact, they might see ten or even one hundred examples of harmonious cooperation; but the ONE time someone fights with someone else, they'll pay attention, look at you and say: see? see? I told you! Survival of the fittest! So what, really, does this tell us about Darwin's statement? It tells us that Survival of the Fittest does not mean what we think it means!

It does NOT mean that "only the strong survive." It means only the aware survive, because only the aware are aware that they're filtering! Only the aware -- that is, only those who are grounded in the present and conscious of what's really happening -- can adapt to reality and see it for what it is.

That's what Darwin meant.

It's survival of the fittest, yes. But the fittest doesn't mean the most aggressive. It means the most conscious; the most aware.

Your task? Filter your world around awareness and consciousness. See awareness and consciousness in your life. When you look at a flower: LOOK. Don't think about the flower, what it's called, whether it would look nice in your garden, or whatever. Be conscious. Be aware.

Start small, and then keep adding more and more awareness and consciousness into your life. Eventually, small things will become big things: relationships, career, social contribution...it will all be filtered through your lens of awareness and consciousness.