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I went for a walk two weeks ago with my three-year-old daughter at a local county park here in Wisconsin. The weather was absolutely beautiful; the sun was shining, and there was a gentle breeze in the air — just enough to keep you cool, but not cool enough to necessitate wearing a jacket. I always enjoy taking my daughter places she’s never been before, because it not only gives me the opportunity to introduce her to new experiences, but it also gives me the opportunity to see how our brains are wired and how they operate “right out of the box” when experiencing new situations.
I decided to take her for a walk through a wooded path — it forked over and over again, so you had the option to “choose your own path,” as it were, as you walked along the path. Every time we got to a fork in the path, I would ask my daughter which way she wanted to go. Sometimes the paths looked the same, but sometimes one path looked a little darker or more treacherous. It was interesting to see she rarely chose the path that was darker or looked a bit more “dangerous.” She always liked the more safe-looking paths when presented with the option.
We are running on ancient “programming,” as it were. While we have progressed so much as a species over the past few thousand years, our brains remain largely the same as they were back in the “caveman” days. Back in those days, we had to struggle just to live to see the next day, so we were built to rely on intuition and “gut” reactions. We also are hard-wired to remember successful outcomes, so that when we experience a positive (0r negative) result, we remember it and make sure we repeat (or don’t repeat) that again.
Watching my daughter decide which path to take was very intriguing, because she was exhibiting these same “hard wired” behaviors we were built to perform. It was clear that she felt hesitant about taking a route that appeared more dangerous.
What’s at play here? It really is all about a protective mechanism that is built into each and every one of us, but it’s a mechanism that we can’t really control. It’s our subconscious mind. While our “conscious” mind can be consciously controlled, the subconscious mind operates without our consent or knowledge. It does what it is programmed to do — it keeps us safe and alive. This is why my daughter was hesitant to take the “dark” path; her subconscious mind was pulling data from her memory banks and instructing her body to avoid the potential danger in the more treacherous path. She was executing that ancient program — the program that is designed to keep us safe so we can live to see tomorrow. Obviously our lives were not in danger on that day, no matter which path we took, but her brain was operating on that “out of the box” program of the “caveman” days.
Here’s a neat trick, however, that we can utilize once we have awareness of this subconscious mind and how it works. Remember how I said the conscious mind is consciously controllable? This means that we can consciously refuse or accept anything that we consciously take in through our common senses — the senses like sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. If we don’t like something we see or hear or touch, we can consciously move away from that stimulus.
Everything that we consciously perceive — everything that comes into our sensory systems on the perceptual level — is “fed” to the subconscious mind for processing. The subconscious mind takes what it is “fed” consciously, and then executes what it is fed. While we can consciously refuse a conscious stimulus, our unconscious mind cannot refuse what it is “fed.” It can’t say no! Our subconscious mind also doesn’t know the difference between what is “real” and what is not “real!” It can’t determine what is actually true and what is actually imagined!
Knowing this information, we have tremendous power, but the power can be used for or against our benefit, so read on carefully…
If we consciously “feed” our subconscious mind beliefs that are rooted in negativity, scarcity, or fear, our unconscious mind will have absolutely no choice but to tell our body to perform actions that produce that result. However, if we consciously “feed” our subconscious mind beliefs that are rooted in positivity, abundance, and fearlessness — if we feed it what we “imagine” to be the end result — our unconscious mind will have absolutely no choice but to tell our body to perform actions that produce that result! How powerful is that?
So even though we operate on an ancient program, this program is very powerful. We can use it as a tool to positively transform our lives into whatever we can imagine. We literally have the power to “imagine” ourselves into whatever we want to become! We just have to “feed” our unconscious mind the goods! That’s it!
Let me ask you: What are your dreams? What do you absolutely want more than anything? Have you asked yourself for it? Have you been dreaming about it? Have you been imagining it? Have you asked for it?
If not, it’s time to ask! Make it an offer — it can’t refuse!
Take time to check out some great posts that inspired me this past week:
How Bite Size Changes Lead To A Life of Joy And Abundance
One Important Thing You Always Want to Keep Top of Mind
Ruler of Your World
How to Face Your Fears and What Having a Baby Has to Do With It
How To Do the Difficult and Impossible In Spite of Fear
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What a beautiful title – and post. It is joyous to see through the eyes of a child. In my life, I’ve seen the reverse. When my son was little, he would always choose the tougher option – whether it was paths, or the way of doing things – and usually come out tops. As he grew up, the “wired thinking” kicked into gear along with class room discipline – and we saw him standardizing as a normal kid in the place of a super-precocious kid. 🙂 Very interesting. Nothing really wrong with that – so long as they don’t lose that adventurous spirit. Although I did make choices in life, there are times I allowed it to take me with its flow. Mostly good, but you know how hindsight is – 20/20 and thinking back, I see how I could have done some things differently :-). Now, I am just grateful for the learning I gained from those experiences.
Thank you for a wonderful post that makes one introspect.
Vidya,
Thanks for coming by. That is very interesting, indeed, how your son chose the tougher option. I wonder what determines what a child prefers or is drawn to. That is very intriguing. I am glad you enjoyed the post! Thanks so much!
I’ve seen it both ways, myself — my son is by far the more cautious of my children, and usually tends to think before doing anything. Even as a baby he was cautious — we never had to worry about him climbing on things or putting things in his mouth, for instance. When my daughter came along, I was completely unprepared for her wilder, more adventurous spirit — she was climber very early on, still puts everything in her mouth, and will take off anywhere on a whim. She even had stitches at barely a year old. 🙁
It’s funny how different they are, and I am curious to see how the evolve as they get older — will their different personalities have moderating effects on each other, with becoming a little more adventurous and the other a little more careful? And how will those influences affect the paths each of them choose as they grow up? Parenthood is fascinating sometimes… 🙂
Hi Nathalie! Nice to see you here! Thanks for coming by. Isn’t that funny how children differ so? Same genes, just mixed differently. I read a book that talked about a research project on how “bold” children were at a young age, compared to what they ended up being when they were older. From the best of their estimation, children were “plastic” to change…More timid children could become more bold as they got older and more bold children could withdraw…It depended on their life circumstances between studies. There was one child who was very outgoing at a young age, but then his father died of cancer, I believe, and from then on he was a different person, and much more withdrawn as an adult. It just goes to show that it is both nature and nurture that mold someone into who they become!
Thanks again for stopping by! Be sure to come back again! 🙂
Victor….It’s true that our mammalian brain of playing it safe and staying part of the herd has allowed our species to evolve. But i have seen on several occasions where kids will take the riskier choice…and it is always breathtaking.
Unfortunately, once they’ve been schooled enough, they learn NOT to take ‘the road less travelled’. Those that do are rare individuals indeed.
The work that all of us are doing as adults is to strip down all of these layers that keep us walking on the safe road….rather into the dark woods. Fran
Fran, it’s so nice to see you here! Thanks for stopping in!
Yes, you are right — children can be conditioned to accept belief systems rooted in limitation, scarcity, and fear, and then unfortunately they manifest that to become a reality for them. Unfortunately, some people never realize this, or they realize late in life, after they could have really done something to make a difference. Instead they live lives unfulfilled and unhappy.
Thanks for offering your insight! Take care!
[…] fear and scarcity is based upon conscious acceptance of stimuli from the five senses, coupled with subconscious programming. When we were too young to make decisions for ourselves, our parents and teachers made conscious […]