In the theater of your mind is a multi-dimensional consciousness.Your perception of each new experience is processed through the filter of your responses to similar experiences in the past.
Neuroscientists have discovered that repetitive thoughts form neural pathways as neurons that fire together get wired together.
Thus, the more a particular thought or belief is activated and reinforced, the stronger these neural pathways become. In turn, the more automatically they become our “go to” pattern of perceiving and responding. For example, social influences and family beliefs have a powerful impact in molding our point of view as individuals. The are repetitive messengers that serve as a reference point for us. We may find ourselves aligning with these messages or rebelling against them.
Neuroplasticity is our brains ability to change our synaptic wiring, which is reflected in our point of view. Here’s some good news about that.
We have the opportunity to intentionally change our thinking by forming new neural pathways that in turn will change our experiences.
Simply put – when we change our attitude, we change our experience. Indeed, we have the opportunity to be powerful creators of our own consciousness. The alternative is to be passive heirs to the autopilot programming of our own history and external influencers.
When we are operating unconsciously on autopilot, we are perceiving new experiences based on similar old experience. We are interpreting them in a way that is in alignment with our existing beliefs, fears, hopes, and dreams. Quite literally, it’s almost impossible for a different point of view to get through to us when we are on autopilot.
Our expressions and behaviors are self-fulfilling prophesies of our mindset.
Over time, when we are running on autopilot, new experiences simply serve to validate our existing way of being in the world. Thus, when we are not consciously encountering our lives, our experiences simply validate and reinforce our existing beliefs. They fail to inform us of new possibilities.
When our perceptions are based on little or no conscious awareness and intention, our minds recycle preexisting attitudes, judgments, illusions, delusions, memories and memory patterns, thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes, and dreams. We exist in a veiled state unable to see what is right in front of us.
Autopilot is not all bad. When we establish healthy habits, for example, we can put them on autopilot. However, autopilot can get us in trouble if we have negative patterns of thoughts or emotions running us and we aren’t even aware of it.
The degree to which we allow our negativity to run on autopilot is the degree to which we are powerless over it.
Alternatively, when we create through conscious intention, we bring our awareness fresh and new to each present moment. We allow our point of view to change based on new input. This updating process allows new and different thoughts and feelings to emerge.
We have the ability to consciously direct our thoughts and feelings through the power of intention. We just need to take a more active role in creating more of what we want in our lives.
The state of our consciousness forms the bedrock upon which the dramas of our lives unfold.
Within the privacy of our own consciousness — in the theater of our minds — we create our own sense of reality.
We then inhabit that illusion and mistake it for our reality in the great drama of life.
An old Chinese proverb captures the power of our thinking in shaping our lives:
Sow a thought and reap an act;
Sow an act and reap a habit;
Sow a habit and reap a character;
Sow a character and reap a destiny.
This is true for us as individuals as well as for groups and societies at large. Thoughts persisted in become taken for granted. They are often misidentified as the truth because of their familiarity. They become the building blocks and assumptions that serve as the foundation for our point of view. Unchallenged, they will invisibly run on autopilot and shape our future thinking.
Step into the process of creating your life through conscious intention, unencumbered by all of this. Allow yourself to be free and authentic. Choose to be more personally accountable and responsible for your own creations.
When our consciousness is present in the moment, we live in our authenticity. We encounter and integrate our new experiences, remaining open to change and alteration as appropriate. There becomes a fluidity and aliveness to our experiences rather than a rote repetition of the past. Even our deepest, most treasured beliefs no longer define who we are.
Let go of your story. Awaken to the magnificence of living more consciously in each moment. Just know that sometimes the price of admission is to let go of the need to be “right” in a fixed point of view. Choose to move fluidly through life, open to change and evolving your point of view.
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