The Greenhouse of Consciousness

How our inner and outer environments shape who we become and how to change it - Free.

By Alex the Builder Philosopher

11 November 2025

We are the sum of:

1. What we put in our body

2. What we put in our mind

So why not celebrate one’s humanity by building a beautiful greenhouse to nourish the body? It’s almost poetic haha. Will the veggies taste better in an environment built with good intention and love? Likely!

As I was building, i came to think, that the greenhouse is the perfect microcosm metaphor: you build it, nourish it, and its conditions determine what grows

— just like consciousness. —

This is why we need to pay close attention to:

• What we eat

• Who we spend time with

• What we read

• What we listen to

• What we watch

• What our environment looks like

And if you don't; Garbage in, garbage out!

The subconscious acts in a funny way and tends to mirror inner conflict:

• You can’t stop buying useless shit — what void are you trying to fill?

• You jump from one addiction to another — what part of yourself are you not listening to?

• Your friends and place are a mess — why are you avoiding self-respect?

You want to change something inside you;

Work on your environment.

Or if you want to live in a better environment;

Change within.

Here are 7 useful practices that appear everywhere across time and tradition:

Zen, Vajrayana, Yogi, Gnosticism, Dzogchen, Sufism, Hermeticism, Alchemy, Advaita, Taoism, Qigong, Ritual Magick, Kabbalah, and Christian mysticism.

1. STILLNESS TRAINING (10–20 min/day)

• Sit.

• Watch the breath.

As you become fully aware of your breath, the next step is conscious breathing:

• Inhale 4 seconds

• Hold 4 seconds

• Exhale 4 seconds

• Hold 4 seconds

• Repeat

This is foundational work; you must master it.

This is the Gateway.

2. BODY AWARENESS

While conscious breathing (4–4–4–4), do a body scan, feeling every part of the body, especially:

• head

• heart

• spine

• belly

• feet

This grounds the mind and stabilizes energy.

Once you can do a full body scan with attention, the next exercise is to circulate a bright light in your body from head to toe.

If you feel compelled to keep the light in one place longer, this is entirely normal — that’s where energy pools and where you need more “charging.”

This is a good point to start studying the chakras, or any similar system of energetic correspondences in the body.

3. SELF-INQUIRY

The question is simple:

“Who is aware of this experience?”

The unraveling of the mind is not the answer.

The real truth comes from within, like a flash — without thinking, not intellectually.

As you get better at differentiating the “voice” of your subconscious from your intellect, you can meditate and ask yourself why you feel certain emotions (whatever you’re going through):

• fear

• rage

• grief

• pride

• old wounds

Some answers will surprise you, because what agitates us most is often the repression of an inner conflict.

At this stage, it’s a good moment to introduce “energy hygiene.”

As these things unravel, you want to flush them out of your body and replace them with their positive aspect.

This can be done with visualization and simple actions such as:

• Write a letter and burn it.

• Take a bath and imagine your filthy thoughts disappearing down the drain forever when you pull the plug.

4. MINDFUL ACTION

Pick any simple daily behavior and perform it with full attention:

• washing dishes

• walking

• cleaning

• building

• breathing

• eating

• COLD SHOWER

I can’t recommend cold showers enough. They really suck — but they are an instantaneous path to full-body attention, plus they come with tons of health benefits.

This is also a good place to introduce physical workouts.

Strong body, strong mind.

5. SURRENDER

Stop the mind from projecting into the future (fear, doubts, expectations) and trust the higher entity.

This doesn’t mean passivity — it means dropping the illusion of control.

This creates profound peace.

6. ALIGN WITH YOUR VALUES

As you master the steps above (after months of daily practice), you can meditate and find, deep within yourself, your core values — not what the exterior world wants from you.

Immersing yourself in nature will supercharge this practice.

7. RESEARCH AND PRACTICE EVERY DAY

No teacher will save you.

No book will replace practice.

Nothing will happen if you don’t act.

Discipline yourself to do the work every day. It must become part of your routine, like sleeping and eating.

As mentioned at the beginning, there are countless systems out there. You just need to find the one that works for you. Some of them will only teach one or two components, which is why research and study are crucial.

Read books on the matter. Give your full attention to them. Take notes. Try other methods.

If you like something, go to another author to see different ways of approaching it.

You're the one in control.