You trust your memories. You rely on your senses to inform you about the world around you. Crucially, you trust your mind, both conscious and unconscious to process and store all that’s happening. Additionally, you assume that when you think about the past, you’re presented with an accurate representation. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Realistically, you have your version of events. Astonishingly, even that is not fixed and static. So, you wonder, is your reality really real right now?
In short, no it’s not. Your reality is the reality that you’ve created in your head. Or, more, specifically, it’s the reality that your unconscious mind has created for you. It’s not a trick. Your unconscious mind is doing what it does. It does it for a very good reason.
Firstly, think of everything your senses are experiencing. You are bombarded with information every second of every minute of every hour. All day. Every day. Obviously, there is some respite when you’re asleep. There is so much data that there is no way that any of us could process and retain it all.
Your unconscious does a lot of deleting, distorting, and generalising. It saves the essentials, draws parallels, and fits in with past experiences.
Everything is run through a mighty long list of filters, from time, space, energy and matter, to beliefs, values and attitudes.
Eventually, you’re left with an internal representation of events, your abridged version of what went on. However, that’s not it. You’re not done, and you’re never done with that representation.
Your state, your emotions, and your physiology will affect how you view that representation. Think about it. How easy is to access the good, positive memories when you’re having a bad day? Equally, when all is going well, it becomes so much harder to recall the bad times. Even when you do, they seem so much less bad that they do when you’re having bad day.
All of that combined affects our behaviour. Ever notice how much easier it is to make things happen and get it all done when you’re having a good day? Conversely, on those bad days even getting up and getting going becomes a chore. Sometimes, it’s so bad it becomes an insurmountable chore.
Understanding how this works gives you power. It’s the subject of my most recent podcast which you listen to here (or on your usual podcast provider – find me on Spotify, Amazon, YouTube and Apple Podcasts).
Because, once you understand how you experience the world, the transient and variable nature of our memories, and how we’re all creating our own internal representations, so much makes so much sense. Embrace the power that you now have.
So, if you know what to do next, take the next step right now. If you’re not sure, book an initial consultation here, and then take the next step. You know that you can do it and you know that it makes sense, don’t you?
