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LIVING LIGHTS ON!
CREATING GREATER SELF AWARENESS One of the major aspects of gaining greater self awareness is understanding how much your subconscious mind runs your show. Neuroscience studies indicate that as much as 95% of our consciousness is actually subconscious. Our subconscious mind runs much of our daily life and contains a lifetime of programming – both effective and ineffective. It is in our subconscious mind that many of our self defeating behaviors reside. Becoming more self aware is in part gaining an awareness of these behaviors and beliefs that operate separately from your conscious mind. To help you gain a quicker recognition and thereby consciously begin to change these, it is helpful to understand the energy patterns of light, shadow and monkey mind. The Energy Pattern of Light and Shadow Light patterns are defined as what energizes you, and gets you into flow. Shadow patterns are defined as what will stop you, by creating inertia. Using a movie metaphor, it is like recognizing your Luke Skywalker tendencies and your Darth Vader tendencies, the light and dark side characters from Star Wars. Lack of knowledge of your shadow pattern (dark side) is a major factor to stopping you from realizing your full potential. The more clarity you have about your light and shadow patterns, the easier it will be to recognize your shadow patterns. The shadow is always present. However, if you keep your attention on the light, it will lose its power. The key is to focus on the light; on what energizes you every day. Examples of shadow patterns include: fear, obligation, self-pity, doubt, anxiety, quitting, competition, imitation, compromise, guilt, pressure, martyrdom, attachment, envy, apathy, greed, passing judgment, overdoing, control, self-importance, lust, and perfectionism Remember that the shadow is always there – it never goes away. The empowerment strategy is to be truthful about when you are in your shadow, and quickly shift your attention to your journey. The Energy Pattern of Monkey Mind Monkey mind has its physiological origins in the “fight or flight” syndrome. Immediately when threat is perceived, the hypothalamus secretions stimulate the pituitary to secrete a message to the adrenal glands, and they release cortisol thus elevating blood sugar for extra energy to act. This cascade of glandular events prepares your body to be ready for action when it senses a potential threat. Its purpose is to warn you of danger. The constant change of today’s world sends a change equal danger signal. Therefore, your body is on adrenalin alert almost constantly (often at night) in response to perceived threat of danger. This adrenalin alert can show up as an energy pattern of doubt, worry, anxiety, disturbed sleep, restlessness, fatigue, alienation, hopelessness, and inability to focus. The most noticeable result of the monkey mind chatter is how it keeps you distracted from being in present time. It is a constant din going on in the background. It is usually judging and criticizing you. You are scattered and distracted. This is literally an internal monologue taking charge of a situation. Years of listening to people talk about their monkey mind has provided the following observations. This is very useful and adds humor to a deeper understanding of this energy pattern, because here are a few of the key findings:
If you pay attention to your monkey mind, it is like having a worried, negative 5 year old in charge of your life. Fortunately, there is a way to change this. It emerged as a pattern that we have recognized through the years of coaching people to make their dreams come into reality. Whenever clients get stuck by monkey mind, we coach them to recognize and acknowledge the chatter while continuing to stay in action toward their dreams. Instead of resisting it by focusing on meditating longer in an attempt to push monkey mind away, they accept and acknowledge its presence. Accepting the presence of monkey mind while simultaneously staying focused on what lights you up has proven to be very successful. It is a great exercise in letting go. This releasing of resistance and going into acceptance creates a powerful shift. Again the key to successfully gaining self awareness is that of pattern recognition – rapid discovery and then rapid recovery. When you get a shaky and doubtful feeling, the primary recovery strategy is to be conscious of the monkey mind monologue, without resisting it or agreeing with it. Live every day with your lights on! For more information, check out our website, or call us at 877-335-9333 Refer a friend to Lights On Living! Click Here
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