Subconscious Subterfuge
Indeed, we are not our thoughts. But from where do our thoughts originate? Why do we believe what we believe? What do we truly believe? What feels false, even though we may have long ascribed to those premises and beliefs? What resonates to the core of us? We can't see our thoughts - where do they even exist? These are all good questions to ask ourselves. Because our lives truly begin in our thoughts - especially in those thoughts we repeat to ourselves enough to become our beliefs. And by changing our thoughts, we can change our experiences.
So how do we do that? A good way to start is just to take a look at what we're thinking, to question. Is this something I want to remain a part of me? How does this feel in my body? Where do I feel this in my body? How does this feel in my emotional body? Every thought is actually an opportunity to make a choice for whether we want to hang onto it or not.
Many thoughts - up to as much as 97% of them - are just regurgitations of the thoughts from the day prior... and the day prior to that... and the day prior to that... rooted in beliefs we've internalized into our subconscious, which keeps generating these thoughts in our now moments. Many of these were formed or taught to us as children.
As children, we're "suggestible." Our brains are like sponges, soaking up language and culture and customs and interpersonal interactions and how to love and who to trust and how the world works. Our brains are in theta state, which we can also achieve as adults through meditation or hypnosis. Some of these thoughts could be trauma-based, and not just from trauma we ourselves experienced, but from something someone else experienced and then relayed to us when we were children. "Be careful!" our mother may have warned us. "(This certain type of person) only wants to do (this dreadful, harmful thing, and is therefore dangerous,)" based upon a situation that happened to her, or her mother, or her mother's mother, or whomever originally told her the story to her. These kinds of beliefs become so deeply ingrained, we are sometimes not even aware of it.
(Read this article to learn more about the theta brain state in children.)
In the psychology department where I attended university, all undergraduate students were required to participate in a certain number of psychological studies conducted by the graduate students. One such study was about unconscious bias. This study paired pictures of persons of a darker skin color and persons of a white skin color on the same key on the computer with either negative or positive descriptor words like, "bad, good, dangerous, friendly." It also included superfluous words which were to be ignored. The goal was to select the correct key for the different persons and the descriptor words, and in four different sections, the order in which they were shown and the key used to select each changed. So it would be darker skinned person and negative descriptor words on one key and lighter skinned persons and positive descriptor words on another key, and then it would switch, lighter skinned persons with negative words, darker skinned persons with positive words, and so on.
What was found through this study, which was replicated many times over, nationwide, was that there was an unconscious bias toward darker skinned persons. Even in progressive, open-minded persons who would never act upon it, this unconscious bias exists. So we know there are beliefs lurking in our brains, which, until we make a concerted effort, roll about in there, largely unnoticed, but deeply affecting our choices and opinions.
I encourage you to just start with questions. When you have a thought and recognize your body reacting with tension, anxiety, a knot in your stomach, and tightness in your chest, ask, Do I really believe that thought I just had? Why? Is that "why" reason I gave myself really true? Where did I learn that thought? Does it resonate (ring true)?
And of course, meditate. Meditation helps us observe ourselves. Who is the "I" who is experiencing thought? We learn to have compassionate detachment, seeing ourselves for the composite we are of everything we've learned, heard, experienced, seen. We learn to hold compassion for this little human animal who is just doing the best they can with the awareness and understanding we have access to in every now moment.
We are not our thoughts, because our thoughts can be changed. Who would do the changing, then, if we were our thoughts? Who we are is part of the unchanging.
When we notice something, a pattern or consistent thought habit, for example, it must change. On the quantum level, an observed particle changes its activity solely by the act of observation. So notice what you're thinking. Make a conscious effort to replace old ways of thinking with new truths - truths about your value, your potential, your life. Change what you feed your mind: what you tell yourself about yourself, your world, other people, and monitor the entertainment you "consume" for alignment with your new truths. When you change your thoughts, you can change your life in powerful ways. The effects are so far-reaching, you can barely imagine all the good it will do!
So how do we do that? A good way to start is just to take a look at what we're thinking, to question. Is this something I want to remain a part of me? How does this feel in my body? Where do I feel this in my body? How does this feel in my emotional body? Every thought is actually an opportunity to make a choice for whether we want to hang onto it or not.
Many thoughts - up to as much as 97% of them - are just regurgitations of the thoughts from the day prior... and the day prior to that... and the day prior to that... rooted in beliefs we've internalized into our subconscious, which keeps generating these thoughts in our now moments. Many of these were formed or taught to us as children.
As children, we're "suggestible." Our brains are like sponges, soaking up language and culture and customs and interpersonal interactions and how to love and who to trust and how the world works. Our brains are in theta state, which we can also achieve as adults through meditation or hypnosis. Some of these thoughts could be trauma-based, and not just from trauma we ourselves experienced, but from something someone else experienced and then relayed to us when we were children. "Be careful!" our mother may have warned us. "(This certain type of person) only wants to do (this dreadful, harmful thing, and is therefore dangerous,)" based upon a situation that happened to her, or her mother, or her mother's mother, or whomever originally told her the story to her. These kinds of beliefs become so deeply ingrained, we are sometimes not even aware of it.
(Read this article to learn more about the theta brain state in children.)
In the psychology department where I attended university, all undergraduate students were required to participate in a certain number of psychological studies conducted by the graduate students. One such study was about unconscious bias. This study paired pictures of persons of a darker skin color and persons of a white skin color on the same key on the computer with either negative or positive descriptor words like, "bad, good, dangerous, friendly." It also included superfluous words which were to be ignored. The goal was to select the correct key for the different persons and the descriptor words, and in four different sections, the order in which they were shown and the key used to select each changed. So it would be darker skinned person and negative descriptor words on one key and lighter skinned persons and positive descriptor words on another key, and then it would switch, lighter skinned persons with negative words, darker skinned persons with positive words, and so on.
What was found through this study, which was replicated many times over, nationwide, was that there was an unconscious bias toward darker skinned persons. Even in progressive, open-minded persons who would never act upon it, this unconscious bias exists. So we know there are beliefs lurking in our brains, which, until we make a concerted effort, roll about in there, largely unnoticed, but deeply affecting our choices and opinions.
I encourage you to just start with questions. When you have a thought and recognize your body reacting with tension, anxiety, a knot in your stomach, and tightness in your chest, ask, Do I really believe that thought I just had? Why? Is that "why" reason I gave myself really true? Where did I learn that thought? Does it resonate (ring true)?
And of course, meditate. Meditation helps us observe ourselves. Who is the "I" who is experiencing thought? We learn to have compassionate detachment, seeing ourselves for the composite we are of everything we've learned, heard, experienced, seen. We learn to hold compassion for this little human animal who is just doing the best they can with the awareness and understanding we have access to in every now moment.
We are not our thoughts, because our thoughts can be changed. Who would do the changing, then, if we were our thoughts? Who we are is part of the unchanging.
When we notice something, a pattern or consistent thought habit, for example, it must change. On the quantum level, an observed particle changes its activity solely by the act of observation. So notice what you're thinking. Make a conscious effort to replace old ways of thinking with new truths - truths about your value, your potential, your life. Change what you feed your mind: what you tell yourself about yourself, your world, other people, and monitor the entertainment you "consume" for alignment with your new truths. When you change your thoughts, you can change your life in powerful ways. The effects are so far-reaching, you can barely imagine all the good it will do!
The Washed Out remix of My Morning Jacket - "Outta My System"
The speaker offers great mind-expanding thoughts. This song first introduced me to the simple beauty of encouraging others to just question how they know what they "know"
The speaker offers great mind-expanding thoughts. This song first introduced me to the simple beauty of encouraging others to just question how they know what they "know"
Learn more about brain waves and explore your mind at this link: Exploring Your Mind
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