Cultural Conditioning

99% of the people you meet are living their lives in reaction most of the time. Their actions are based almost entirely on what is happening to them right then. This is a gut level short term mode of operation. This works fine for situations where a gut reaction is required. For instance, if you are in the jungle and a tiger jumps onto the path ahead of you, a quick reaction is a good thing at that time. The problem is that most of the time we aren’t in the jungle and we aren’t being attacked by tigers. We are living a life of relative comfort with little or no immediate physical danger. Yet most people live their lives as if death is just around the corner. They are scared senseless about missing a bill payment or getting fired from a crappy job, things that mean nothing in the long term.

Why do we do it? When nearly everyone else is operating reactively, that becomes the paradigm that is programmed into us all through our lives. Everywhere we go and everyone we talk to re-enforces the idea that reaction is the appropriate way of dealing with life. The idea never crosses our minds to act differently because we take it for granted that reactionary living is normal. It is normal, but by no means is it optimal.

Most people are following the programming their parents gave them. It doesn’t stop there, though. They are operating based on conditioning that has been passed on for generations, going back hundreds if not thousands of years. So not only are they living in a reactionary way, they are reacting to a world that no longer exists. Think about when someone is in a situation where they don’t have enough money. Most people would look at that situation and decide to cut back on spending. Why? Because that’s what you do when money is short if you live in medieval times. You could very well die of starvation back then. But that decision is the worst possible thing someone can do in our modern world. Instead of cutting back on spending, make more money! It’s just a matter of deciding to move forward instead of back. The normal reaction in most instances will lead back into perceived safety and powerlessness. That is madness!

The shift in perspective that I am pointing at in this series is about moving from that feeling based processing style to one based on ideas. When a person acts from ideas, they form a clear image of what they want and then consistently put in the effort to move that image into the subconscious mind, which is the feeling mind. Put simply, the shift is about learning how to act based on your thoughts and dreams rather than your impulses and feelings.

How does someone act on their thoughts and dreams without the subconscious fear constantly setting them back? The simple answer is any and every way possible. We are attempting to re-program thousands of years of very deep conditioning. This is why it is a high price to pay to enjoy abundance.

In a future article, I will explore the idea of acting on your dreams in more depth and give some practical tools for making the shift. It is a radical shift to make, and astonishing as you begin to notice the changes it makes in all areas of your life.