The more I understand human behaviour and our psychology, the more I realise how unconscious we are of our unconscious behaviours…

And, the“things” in the background that are often running the show!

What are these“things”? �

They are our beliefs (whether empowering or limiting), values, ideologies and frameworks of how we see ourselves, others, and the world at large.

They all profoundly affect our daily actions and behaviours and how we show up in the world.

Let me ask you…

How aware are you of your beliefs, values, ideologies, and frameworks? 🤔

For many, the answer is not very, to say the least.

Being super conscious of everything that makes up our psychology would be overwhelming and send us into a mental frenzy and head spin.

We have an unconscious mind for a reason…

That reason is to help process information and make decisions quickly and effectively without conscious deliberation.

This is a feature of our minds, not a bug and is designed to keep us alive!

In fact, it has kept us alive throughout our evolution.

The challenge is that our mental wiring hasn’t caught up with the modern world and still sees dangers today as it did over 10,000 years ago, when the Saber Tooth Tiger was wandering the planet!

As you can imagine, there was no time for conscious deliberation if we came face to face with a Saber-Tooth Tiger; our brain went into “fight-or-flight” mode, and it was an automatic response to run as fast as we could or fight. But, I’d imagine our ancestors would have gotten the hell out of there in most cases!

Therefore, our unconscious mind is very important.

As alluded to, the challenge is that it’s set on survival mode by default when we don’t need to be in survival mode for the most part in the modern world.

There are no Saber-Tooth Tigers hiding around the corner ready to eat us.

This often leads us to perceiving even the smallest thing as a threat, such as when someone cuts us up in traffic and we go into a red mist and want to punch them in the face! 😬

In that moment, our “fight-or-flight” mode is activated! ✅

This doesn’t even include how our unconscious picks up on the beliefs, values, and frameworks we learn, develop, and form through our earliest years, which shape our perspective and viewpoint of the world.

Getting our head around this can be a bit of a minefield in itself, and at least for me, it makes me question how much control we actually have.

If all these hidden factors are rooted within us and affect how we show up in the world, how on earth do we “undo” all of that programming, whether it’s from an evolutionary biology (how we’re designed) or social conditioning perspective 👀

Undoing all of this programming is not just overwhelming; it can be draining.

One thing I have realised, though, is that remaining so unconscious of our unconscious behaviours and constantly reacting to daily life doesn’t lead to a good life!

This is where personal growth and spiritual practice come in…

I believe that the purpose of all personal growth and spiritual practice is to help us become more conscious of our unconscious behaviours so that we can grow and be the best versions of ourselves and live our best lives possible!

It’s not an overnight process.

In fact, due to how we are hardwired and years of conditioning and programming throughout our earliest years, it often takes double, maybe even triple the time to undo the conditioning and reprogram ourselves in alignment with who we truly are and the life we truly want to live.

Much like our health, I think personal growth and spiritual practice are to be adopted as a way of life.

This is why daily practices like journaling, meditation, etc., play a powerful role in chipping away at our programming as we learn to change our mental framework.

It’s by doing this that change will occur and growth will happen.

It’s a big old task, but it might be the only task we have to do when it comes to developing ourselves.

And, like all great journeys, they all begin with a single step.

What step are you going to take today?!