At some point I encountered the idea that all human consciousness exists on a continuum with two extremes. The low extreme is Fear, which is lower consciousness or awareness, with the ultimate endpoint of Fear being death, a total absence of awareness. The high end of the scale is Love, which is higher consciousness or awareness. Unlike Fear, Love does not have an endpoint: there is no maximum state of awareness, and one can always be more aware and conscious of his surroundings and fellow humans.
The deeper into Fear one allows his mind to wander, the less aware he becomes of his surroundings. He acts without fully understanding the consequences; he is unable to empathize with others or consider their needs; he can only react to changes in the moment without stepping back to see the bigger picture. A fearful person's actions are unlikely to yield the desired results, especially the longer he remains in Fear; however, a mindset of Fear is useful in the appropriate time and place: if I touch a hot stove burner, my first course of action should be to remove myself from the danger and to tend to the burn. There will be time later to be aware of the pot of water that's almost boiling over, or studying exactly how my hand reacts to the burn at a cellular level.
In contrast, the further into Love one's mind goes, the greater his awareness of his surroundings. He considers the consequences before acting; he empathizes with others and tries to meet their needs in addition to his own; he doesn't act rashly but instead imagines what he wants to do, then plans how best to do it, and then does it. It's easiest to attain a mindset of Love in a stable and predictable environment, with no emergencies that require immediate action (though such an environment alone will not put one into a mindset of Love, and, with discipline, one can elevate his consciousness to Love even in an unstable situation).
Mark Passio explores this idea much more deeply in this podcast. It's long, but give it a try now and come back later if it proves worthwhile. Also note that on a computer, it can be played faster by hitting the Cog icon and changing the Speed setting.
I find the Love-Fear model of human consciousness to be incredibly powerful. It might not seem particularly novel or useful at first, but give it some time; think about it when observing other people, or even characters in a book or movie. When I find myself feeling stressed, or when it seems like I'm struggling to keep up with life, I find it helpful to ask myself whether I'm acting in Love or Fear. Just stopping to consider this, and considering what the most Loving action I can take is, rather than the most obvious action, helps me keep stress in check and to handle situations smarter than I might otherwise would.