Conditioning and Conscious Awareness: How conditioning interferes with rational thinking and HOW conscious Awareness can change that
From the moment we are born the process of conditioning begins. As we get older and gather our experiences, so we become more and more conditioned. It happens to us unconsciously and for much of the time we even welcome it. We like to be on familiar ground because I suppose we feel more in control of our lives than when we are on unfamiliar ground. I know I do. The ironic thing is this, yes we feel on familiar ground, yes we feel more in control, but actually when our conditioning takes over we actually are far from in control, the conditioning is.
It sounds quite clever and magical, but actually for much of the time conditioning is TOXIC. It is toxic because in a conditioned state we react totally in relation to how we have been conditioned rather than what is appropriate for the situation.
Thinking in a conditioned way is a real problem because in a conditioned state we aren’t actually consciously thinking, we are reacting according to our conditioning. The conditioned thought may have been appropriate once, but unless we test it we don’t know if it is appropriate this time. Trusting our conditioning is a mistake, because it is never conscious thinking and we are off our guard.
Conditioning means we don’t have to think, we simply follow the conditioned thought, feeling or behavior, don’t think twice about it, we just do it. If we don’t actually think then we aren’t actually conscious and if we aren’t actually conscious how can we consciously decide whether or not what we are doing or thinking is right? The thinking process simply passes us by and although we don’t know it, we are not in control, our conditioning controls us and the situation.
This is certainly not where you want to be, especially if you suffer from depression or any sort of anxiety related problem. You really want more control over yourself, not less.
Yet here we are a thousand times a day allowing our conditioned mind to rule what and how we think, behave and feel. The sad thing is half the time we aren’t conscious enough to even realize it.
Depression and anxiety are difficult enough to mange in their own right, let alone also having to deal with conditioning.. In both cases it definitely pays to undo conditioned behaviors, so that in those bad moments, you won’t just react in a conditioned way.
You can find out if your life is or is not dictated by years of conditioning. Try asking yourself the following questions to get an idea.
Q: In stressful or situation where you feel depressed do you usually react in the same way you have a hundred times before?
Q: Or do you consciously think about whether or not that particular response is appropriate in the new situation?
Q: Does it mean that because a certain response was right once, that it is automatically appropriate in every similar situation, or are all situations unique requiring of us to rethink every time a fresh?
Q: On a scale of 1-10 where would you come in terms of living your life through a conditioned window?
Write your answers down and take a good conscious look. If you have been living your life through a conditioned window it’s never too late to change. Conditioning will have been very instrumental in the on going development of your depression or anxiety, just as Core Beliefs are.
Let’s take for example a conditioned thought: “I feel depressed again, it’s hopeless”. Maybe you had that same thought a hundred times after becoming depressed. It is so second nature and so much what you expect that you might just accept: “Yes I am depressed again and yes it’s hopeless.” Every time you go there, you reinforce the same thoughts, not because you have consciously thought about it, but because your conditioned mind clicked into place and the message arrived in your head without an invitation from you. Your non conscious, conditioned mind just stepped in and went straight to that conditioned place.
Conditioning is easier than consciously thinking, but whereas a consciously aware mind will question a thought, a conditioned mind will not. The conditioned mind believes that when you are depressed it will be hopeless, because your conditioning says so. If on the other hand you become conscious, aware and realize that much of your thinking and reactions are the result of your conditioning and your toxic NAT’s, if you want to change them you can. You decide, you act, you don’t react,. This is the trick!!