What was your first reaction on reading the title of this post? For most people the answer is going to be Denial. Whether you consciously thought it or not, the reaction to this post's title for most people would have been utter and complete denial. And that is the topic I would like to touch upon in this post.
For those who are unaware about this, the mind functions at different levels. The highest level of distinction is Conscious and Subconscious. The subconscious function of the brain is the part about which most people are not fully aware, yet this part dictates everything in our lives. Whether it is your reaction to reading something or flinching when someone raises their hand at you, or even covering your face when you sneeze or cough. Everything that your senses perceive is processed by the subconscious and becomes a part of you. Even if you don't consciously realize it, your brain still has the ability to learn much more than you know!
Right from your childhood, every single thing that you have perceived has been stored by your brain, within the deep layers of your consciousness. This information is inaccessible to the majority of people, and yet it governs every part of our lives. The information stored over the years is used by the subconscious when making each decision, which is what makes you react in certain ways which might be unpredictable if you are not aware of your complete consciousness. Take for instance denying the message in the title of this post - there is no way that you could have consciously processed the meaning of the title in the few seconds that your mind took to make the decision that it will deny the message. It was your subconscious that made the decision to deny this message. The objective of this post is to show you Why!
As the brain processes information over the years it develops concepts or truths. For example, it automatically believes in things like Gravity to be on the ground, Air for breathing, Light for seeing, and even other concepts like Life and Death. Some of these are developed early and others we learn as we grow, but each of them gets ingrained in us over time. The first time you learn a concept it might be accepted or rejected depending on other concepts that you already believe in. If there is a conflict then your mind will automatically deny the new information. But if you keep seeing the same information in different contexts and from different sources then your brain will slowly start processing the new data, and as you start reasoning with your conscious mind, you may or may not change your beliefs.
Understanding the concept of denial is very important. Once you are aware of this concept and realize the impact of the subconscious, you can slowly start realizing your reactions and eventually with focus and intention you can start changing them! There are a few ways to realize denial - you can use the direct or indirect approach. In the direct approach, you start looking for things that defy your belief system and consciously take note of your thoughts. Make efforts to realize all your reactions - the conscious ones you are already aware, and the subconscious ones you can focus and bring to your conscious. The indirect approach is just to be aware of times when you feel denial. This requires more awareness in your daily life, but if you have that and you are able to realize your thoughts then all you have to do is pay attention to the times when you are denying some information.
The second reason that learning about denial is important - it is the strongest blocker for growth. There are a lot of negative elements in the world that have trained our minds to believe in concepts which are detrimental to us, but because our subconscious has accepted this information as a concept or a truth, it is now ingrained in us. A very basic example of this is the feeling of depression. When we get depressed, based on examples that we have seen in movies and on television shows, we continue to mope around and complain and feel negative overall. But what most people don't realize is that if you are feeling negative then you will continue attracting negativity. The way to change negativity is to be positive and soon you will start attracting positive elements which will make you happy and get you out of depression.
Now note your reaction to the above example - again most people will deny this concept because your subconscious is so used to the idea of staying negative when in depression, that even the thought that you can be positive while feeling depressed seems ridiculous. But if you were able to catch yourself in the act, then that's great! Stop! Be fully aware of your thoughts, and this is how you can bring change to the reaction of denial. But how do you react to new information if not deny it? Process it! Think about it. Does it make sense? What is the foundation of this information? Is there any credibility to it? Let's use it practically! The best way to change your beliefs is to actually experience the concept.
Why is it so easy for your brain to believe in gravity? Because if you try to fly from the roof of a building you'll fall! Or just the fact that you can't jump and remain airborne should do it for most people. What I'm trying to convey is that your mind is experiencing gravity in every moment so it believes. But if I tell you that you can get out of depression just by being positive, then instead of denying it, the best way to test this idea is to go do it! Now hopefully and probably not everyone reading is going to be depressed, but there is some negativity in all our lives. Think about this negative aspect of your life and eliminate it just by looking at the positive of it. What did you learn? Was it worth the experience? As soon as you find a positive in the negative, you can completely transform your thoughts and let go of this negativity in your life permanently!
If you are able to realize the primary reaction of denial to conflicting ideas, you can work towards changing it. The moment you start experiencing and reasoning instead of directly denying, you have learned one of the key tools to grow unbounded. If you subconsciously deny all information that is presented to you just because it conflicts with your belief system, you are just going to hinder your growth. You may be receiving information vital to your growth which may benefit you to an unimaginable extent, but just because it conflicts with what you currently believe, your mind will deny it and let it go. Now ask yourself - Is this what I want?
For those who are unaware about this, the mind functions at different levels. The highest level of distinction is Conscious and Subconscious. The subconscious function of the brain is the part about which most people are not fully aware, yet this part dictates everything in our lives. Whether it is your reaction to reading something or flinching when someone raises their hand at you, or even covering your face when you sneeze or cough. Everything that your senses perceive is processed by the subconscious and becomes a part of you. Even if you don't consciously realize it, your brain still has the ability to learn much more than you know!
Right from your childhood, every single thing that you have perceived has been stored by your brain, within the deep layers of your consciousness. This information is inaccessible to the majority of people, and yet it governs every part of our lives. The information stored over the years is used by the subconscious when making each decision, which is what makes you react in certain ways which might be unpredictable if you are not aware of your complete consciousness. Take for instance denying the message in the title of this post - there is no way that you could have consciously processed the meaning of the title in the few seconds that your mind took to make the decision that it will deny the message. It was your subconscious that made the decision to deny this message. The objective of this post is to show you Why!
As the brain processes information over the years it develops concepts or truths. For example, it automatically believes in things like Gravity to be on the ground, Air for breathing, Light for seeing, and even other concepts like Life and Death. Some of these are developed early and others we learn as we grow, but each of them gets ingrained in us over time. The first time you learn a concept it might be accepted or rejected depending on other concepts that you already believe in. If there is a conflict then your mind will automatically deny the new information. But if you keep seeing the same information in different contexts and from different sources then your brain will slowly start processing the new data, and as you start reasoning with your conscious mind, you may or may not change your beliefs.
Understanding the concept of denial is very important. Once you are aware of this concept and realize the impact of the subconscious, you can slowly start realizing your reactions and eventually with focus and intention you can start changing them! There are a few ways to realize denial - you can use the direct or indirect approach. In the direct approach, you start looking for things that defy your belief system and consciously take note of your thoughts. Make efforts to realize all your reactions - the conscious ones you are already aware, and the subconscious ones you can focus and bring to your conscious. The indirect approach is just to be aware of times when you feel denial. This requires more awareness in your daily life, but if you have that and you are able to realize your thoughts then all you have to do is pay attention to the times when you are denying some information.
The second reason that learning about denial is important - it is the strongest blocker for growth. There are a lot of negative elements in the world that have trained our minds to believe in concepts which are detrimental to us, but because our subconscious has accepted this information as a concept or a truth, it is now ingrained in us. A very basic example of this is the feeling of depression. When we get depressed, based on examples that we have seen in movies and on television shows, we continue to mope around and complain and feel negative overall. But what most people don't realize is that if you are feeling negative then you will continue attracting negativity. The way to change negativity is to be positive and soon you will start attracting positive elements which will make you happy and get you out of depression.
Now note your reaction to the above example - again most people will deny this concept because your subconscious is so used to the idea of staying negative when in depression, that even the thought that you can be positive while feeling depressed seems ridiculous. But if you were able to catch yourself in the act, then that's great! Stop! Be fully aware of your thoughts, and this is how you can bring change to the reaction of denial. But how do you react to new information if not deny it? Process it! Think about it. Does it make sense? What is the foundation of this information? Is there any credibility to it? Let's use it practically! The best way to change your beliefs is to actually experience the concept.
Why is it so easy for your brain to believe in gravity? Because if you try to fly from the roof of a building you'll fall! Or just the fact that you can't jump and remain airborne should do it for most people. What I'm trying to convey is that your mind is experiencing gravity in every moment so it believes. But if I tell you that you can get out of depression just by being positive, then instead of denying it, the best way to test this idea is to go do it! Now hopefully and probably not everyone reading is going to be depressed, but there is some negativity in all our lives. Think about this negative aspect of your life and eliminate it just by looking at the positive of it. What did you learn? Was it worth the experience? As soon as you find a positive in the negative, you can completely transform your thoughts and let go of this negativity in your life permanently!
If you are able to realize the primary reaction of denial to conflicting ideas, you can work towards changing it. The moment you start experiencing and reasoning instead of directly denying, you have learned one of the key tools to grow unbounded. If you subconsciously deny all information that is presented to you just because it conflicts with your belief system, you are just going to hinder your growth. You may be receiving information vital to your growth which may benefit you to an unimaginable extent, but just because it conflicts with what you currently believe, your mind will deny it and let it go. Now ask yourself - Is this what I want?