We are a divided consciousness.

In the most shallow and simple scenarios, this everyday struggle can be seen as we call out one another’s indecisiveness. For example, it’s seen when we allow a one-second pause after the burrito master asks, “Guac’s extra. Is that okay?”, when a quick two-second “yes” or “no” response would have sufficed.

Take a minute and ask yourself, “What do I really want out of life?”

It’s no secret that many people spend their entire lives trying to answer that question, which is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. It breaks us out of going through the motions of life, drives us to new experiences — we make career changes, maybe seek new friend groups and establish varying daily habits all in an attempt to create meaning within our lives.

This epic quest comes with its fair share of adversities. Side effects include, but are not limited to, extreme frustration, periods of confusion and the ever-destructive instance of settling.

Take a look at the two individuals who are running to lead our country, the political parties’ lines and the divide in our nation. We have difficult questions arising and no clear answers. We have people who are pro-life and respect a woman’s right to choose. We have people who own guns and push for gun control. We have people who crave change, but can’t explain what kind.

The problem lies in the lack of dedication to self-inquiry. We don’t know ourselves. We haven’t searched the depths of our minds or our values, or really tried to understand our actual thought process. We are pushing away the difficult questions and settling with shallow, indirect answers across the board.

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It’s so easy to say, “Man, I don’t know. You choose,” and place the burden on someone else. We have become okay with following along — we prefer our friends to choose the restaurant or the movie or even our outfits so that we don’t have to face the consequences of the decision.

We become puppets. We become sheep.

We need to start grabbing the difficult questions by the roots and planting them within ourselves. Once we start searching inside, we can push ourselves further. We can advance our thought processes and challenge what we believe in either supporting or opening our eyes to something new. We can create clearer goals for ourselves — as individuals, communities,teams, nations, you name it.

We can shape our own realities, but we first have to search inside and understand what we really want.

These “wants” are by no means concrete. Our mindsets, moods and priorities change every day, but that’s why self-inquiry is so important. We have to listen to ourselves and stay in tune with the constantly evolving vibrations of consciousness.

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Want to avoid becoming a puppet? You can start while sipping your coffee tomorrow morning. Take five minutes and just sit with yourself. Invite yourself to listen.

Ignore all outside distractions, literally keep your mind open. For two to five minutes, allow all thoughts to come to the surface but don’t focus on any one in particular. In other words, try not to think.

Eventually, you will begin to recognize your unprompted thoughts — raw expressions from within, the answers to the difficult questions. For the next couple of minutes, retrace your thoughts.

Do any still stand out to you? Can you connect an emotion to those thoughts? What thoughts are sparked by others?

Again, sit with yourself. Sit with the idea. Explore your mind. Inquire within.