Are You Living Life Like a Safety Robot?
Have you ever heard of the vacuum cleaning robots who can learn the layout of your house? After some trial and error, they’re able to eventually navigate your entire home without falling down the stairs or getting stuck in an area they won’t be able to maneuver. Much like machine-based robots, human beings are also somewhat robotic. From the ages of 2 to about 6 years of age, our brains are functioning in a state of hypnosis known as theta as we navigate the world. During this stage of the brain’s development, a child is in a state of super learning as they download every bit of information possible about their outer world. Unfortunately, we not only download true dangers to our wellbeing, but we also download our caregivers’ irrational fears and beliefs.
As children, we learn that the stove is hot, but we may also learn that it is dangerous to express ourselves freely in social settings for fear of rejection. We see more and more people modeling and living by the updated belief that “authenticity is everything!” Every artist knows that the key to success is originality and the only way to ensure originality is to be your raw and authentic self. If you’re authentically expressing yourself through art, communication, lyrics, business designs, inventions, etc. then you’re likely to produce something that inspires the rest of society. The act of doing so makes you relevant.
Even though we see that authenticity has proven to be a successful model of living for many people, we still somehow engage in limiting beliefs and behaviors that keep us safe from the irrational fear of rejection. Authenticity vs. social conformity is just one of many concepts that we automatically download from our environment at a young age. Some beliefs can be more damaging to the self than others, but we see adults struggling every day to navigate their world safely as they bypass every opportunity the universe provides for their growth due to fear of the unknown.
Much like a vacuuming robot is stuck within the safe boundaries of the home it has learned, people, too, can become stuck within “safe” boundaries that feel more like a jailcell of the mind. Early childhood programming can be helpful when we learn true dangers and positive coping skills, but those first few years of learning our environment can also result in some unhealthy and self-sabotaging programming. Limiting beliefs are like walls that we build up around us to protect ourselves, but the reality is that we are making ourselves captives of nonexistent threats.
We sometimes hear of children growing up to realize that their parents — who were young and naïve when they first chose to start a family — were still maturing into adults themselves when they became parents. Certainly, no parent can claim to know everything at the onset of parenthood! For this reason, it is inevitable that some of us will end up holding some limiting beliefs about our environment that are either (a) outdated and only relevant for our parents’ generation or (b) simply not true.
In order to escape the matrix that our early childhood experiences have conditioned us to believe is true, we must engage in critical thinking about our entire social, emotional, and intellectual operating system. As a belief about the world arises, we must ask ourselves why it is that this belief is true. If your reasons are irrational or fear-based, then you’ve landed on some faulty programming that needs to be updated. Instead of reinforcing our beliefs by putting ourselves into a hypnotic state in front of a screen, we could all devote a little time every day to understanding our inner world and how we could improve our ability to navigate the world safely and effectively.
For some people, this will mean abandoning unhealthy methods of interaction that our childhood environment influenced during our early development. For other people, this will mean redesigning beliefs about the world and humanity. For most of us, this will mean diligent efforts to become more aware of our motives and thought process. As you increase your awareness of why you are the way you are, you will also increase your ability to change maladaptive behaviors to high-functioning behaviors. This process is sometimes easier with a life coach who is able to help you navigate these waters with a sense of self-compassion and self-love.
The goal is not to judge who you have been or become overburdened with grief about your inadequate childhood; rather, the goal is to live so securely in the present moment that the story of who you were does not dictate the story of who you are becoming. This type of freedom and liberation allows us to take full control of our subconscious programming. Once we achieve self-awareness, we are no longer forced by default to run on outdated software. The world becomes a beautiful place when we no longer have to live within the boundaries that society has shaped for us. Imagine breaking through the walls (or limiting beliefs) that have been holding you captive for years only to find that your happiness was just on the other side of it!
To learn more about how to give yourself the best automatic programming possible, subscribe for updates on my upcoming articles about reengineering the subconscious self.
