This statement of truth reminds us that our pain and suffering occurred in the past-and brings us into the present to see if the experience is actually still occurring. And, in fact, that old experience of life is never occurring in the present-unless we drag it into the Now. That is, unless we unconsciously re-generate the expected, habitual past experience into the present moment. As another sage, Harry Palmer, expresses it, "The past only exists to the degree we re-create it in the present."
We often set ourselves up for this unconscious carry-over by saying things like, "Oh, Jake's always negative!" But does Jake "always" have to be pessimistic? What if we approached Jake today with the willingness to be open to the possibility that he may be different, new, fresh? What might happen?
In study after study, researchers have found that when one schoolteacher is told a new group of students is "intellectually challenged," those students will test very low on objective exams. When a different schoolteacher is told the same students are "geniuses," those same students will test very high on objective exams in her class.
We experience our expectations. We cruise the road of life projecting our beliefs ahead of us, only to arrive exclaiming, "Oh, wow. It's just as I anticipated!"
Who Are We?
The same unconscious dynamic occurs with our own self-image! If we've come to believe that we're not artistic, then we continually prove it by seeing our creations as crude, uninspired or amateurish. If we've decided we're not "athletic," we're not surprised when we don't catch the ball. If we're not a "dancer," we trip on our own feet.
As long as I can recall, I've never been a "morning person," so, "God, I'm tired this morning. I just can't wake up. You know what I mean?"
Our unconscious beliefs about ourselves act as a filter, only letting in those perceptions of ourselves that "fit" our set image of ourselves. If we should accidentally happen to do anything "out of character," we either won't even perceive it-or we'll rationalize it away as an aberration, a fluke, a one-time chance occurrence.
And we'll even solidify the past by exclaiming, "That's not me! I don't know how that happened. I'm not usually like this. Please excuse my behavior." We even apologize for being spontaneous and inventive!
Disguised as "facts" these unconscious old beliefs filter our perception of every event, distorting reality to fit into our rigid, preconceived framework. Lord, save us!
The liberating truth about these self-convictions is that they are totally arbitrary. Our limiting beliefs about ourselves are only past experiences that over time have become so-called fact. These "facts" are only old personal perceptions that we have come to believe are "the way I am."
The Maintenance Project
I refer to this unconscious perpetuation of past experience into the present as the "Maintenance Project."
And, boy, does it take a lot of energy to sustain our "Official Self-Image."
One day I watched young kids running repeatedly up and down a steep mountain trail. It takes me all the energy I can muster to scale that climb once a day! I asked myself, "Where did the vitality go that I had as a kid?"
Whamee! The realization hits me like a Mack truck. I see that I still have all that vigor! But now that energy all goes into preserving my belief system about myself and my world-my own "Maintenance Project."
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