I keep on being inspired by my great mentor, dr. Wayne W. Dyer. Even though he has long since crossed over, he is always present in spirit.
The title of this blog is another one of dr. Wayne Dyer’s quotes:
‘Habits rule the unreflective herd.’
Habits truly are a very, very persistent bunch, aren’t they?
If we do not pay attention to our daily routine, to our actions and re-actions, we will be doing the same stuff, saying the same words, acting in the same way, throughout our whole lives.
Is that a bad thing?
Not necessarily.
But we have to always remain conscious about them.
As our subconscious mind stores everything we ever heard, saw, learned, experienced, 95% of our actions are initiated and inspired by this archive of experiences. A situation occurs, and automatically our subconscious mind searches for a similar one in the archives. This archive, our subconscious mind, our Protective Self, our Ego, is a very necessary aspect of our mind, as otherwise we would never learn and remember anything, but at the same time, it is a very stubborn, very persistent, and not at all flexible part. So, if we are not aware of our automatic responses, we will stick to these habits our whole lives.
For a lot of things this is very practical, imagine you have to relearn every day all that you do, say, …everything.
But on the other hand, that is also where the danger lies.
If we are not reflective, critical, investigative towards our actions, our beliefs, our values, … we might just be living according to other people’s beliefs, we might be just voicing other people’s opinions, …and never trusting ourselves to see things differently, or to explore new horizons.
That is where the conscious mind, our Higher Self, comes into the picture.
If we reflect on how we act in life, on what we do, on what we say, …we might come to the conclusion that, actually, we have very different views on things, that we have very different dreams, that we want to live our lives in a very different way than the way we’ve been living it so far.
Our old beliefs, stored in the archives, will always try to convince us that this is not possible, that this is unsafe, that this is not ‘how things are done’.
For dangerous things, it is good that we have that safety built in, but we have to learn to overrule it, when it makes no sense to not try, and do different things.
The good thing is, you can train your conscious mind by training your mental muscles*. Thanks to consciously changing the way you look at things and the way you react to things, you
- can start believing, this too is possible,
- will know you are allowed to have your own opinions,
- can learn new skills,
- can create new habits.
And that is how you find, and start, your path towards your enlightened life, towards being happy and content, towards being, and living, fully who you really are.
The first thing you need to do is becoming aware that you function by old habits, that you live on autopilot.
Then, start reflecting on what you do every day.
Start noticing how you talk to yourself, to others.
Start being aware of how you see the world, how you see other people, how you see yourself.
Once you notice these things, ask yourself:
Is this who I truly am?
Is this how I want to exist in life?
Search your deeper self to (re-)discover who you are and what you feel is right for you.
Then learn to stop yourself whenever you feel your automatic reaction popping up.
Stop, regroup, and act in your new way, your true-self way.
The more you do this, the closer you will start living to who you truly are.
The good thing is, these can become your new habits, as what you often repeat, becomes a habit, and once installed, it will become easier to live as you.
But stay vigilant, be always aware of how you are thinking, as these new habits need to stay accurate too.
Whenever you feel yourself being held back by your opinion, your thoughts, your beliefs, ask yourself:
Is this really true?
What else is possible?
That way, you will always be able to live your best life possible, being true to yourself.
Thank you all for reading me, and for supporting me on Medium. If you want unlimited access to all of my articles, and of many other authors, you can become a Medium Member. You’ll be supporting me and all the other authors. Many, many thanks to you all!!!
Katrien
*”The Trouble is, it’s All up to You. The Good Thing is, it’s All up to You.” By Katrien Degraeve.