What are the ways to be conscious in all situations?

Question

1. Ways to be conscious in all situations
2. How to do one thing at a time ?

Answer 1

1. Ways to be conscious in all situations

Just like anything else, to be good at martial arts, at playing the piano, at math, etc... the only way is to practice, practice, and practice. Practice mindfulness meditation diligently and one will be able to have very sharp awareness/mindfulness any time, any place. For a straightforward and practical advise on the what and how, check out Ven. Gunaratana's excellent "Mindfulness in Plain English"

2. How to do one thing at a time ?

Actually if one's able to be good with step 1 above, whether one does one thing or many things at a time no longer matters. S/he'd have just as much awareness/mindfulness at all time!

Answer 2

You can try to first practise the mindfulness meditation taught by Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu, including the sitting meditation and the walking meditation. There is the text for this here and the YouTube video playlist here.

After that, you can slowly incorporate it into daily life.

In Chapter Six, he says:

Further, one can apply the same technique to any small movement of the body – for instance when bending or stretching the limbs, one can note “bending” or “stretching”. When moving the limbs, “moving”. When turning, “turning”, and so on. Every activity can become a meditation practice in this way; when brushing one’s teeth, “brushing”; when chewing or swallowing food, “chewing, chewing”, “swallowing, swallowing” and so on.

When cooking, cleaning, exercising, showering, changing clothes, even on the toilet, one can be mindful of the movements of the body involved, creating clear awareness of reality at all times. This is the first method by which one can and should incorporate the meditation practice directly into ordinary life.

Another teacher who has produced good material on this subject is Thich Nhat Hanh. See "Be Mindful in Daily Life" and "Thich Nhat Hanh on The Practice of Mindfulness".