There are four states of consciousness possible for man. These states define the overall world that we see, think and act upon.
We live in a state of identification, hypnosis. Our attention gets attached and seduced by each thought, emotion and sensation. Because of identification we live a mechanical life like a machine.
Attention is two types of attention: External and Internal. It also has four states: Zero Attention, State of Attracted Attention, State of Directed Attention and State of Divided or Double-Arrowed Attention. The use of Divided Attention is the key to self-consciousness.
Man lives in his mechanical Habits. Habits in thinking, habits in feeling, habits of movement, habits of eating and sleeping. Is man nothing but a bundle of habits? All our habits increase our mechanicalness. Work on self or sadhana is the art of replacing mechanical habits with conscious habits.