Personality and the Subconscious

How our subconscious mind governs our responses and why we should challenge it

By the time we reach our mid-thirties, our personalities have been significantly shaped by a multitude of factors, including genetics, upbringing, life experiences, and environmental influences. As a result, our subconscious mind takes the helm in governing our responses and behaviours, making it a powerful force in our everyday lives.

Our personalities are formed through a complex interplay of nature and nurture. Genetics provide a blueprint for our temperament, which serves as the foundation for our personality traits. Simultaneously, early childhood experiences and interactions with parents, caregivers, and peers further mould our personality as we grow. These experiences lay the groundwork for our beliefs, values, and coping mechanisms, which in turn shape our perceptions and behaviours.

Over time, our brains develop neural pathways in response to repeated experiences, thoughts, and emotions. These pathways become more ingrained and automatic, eventually forming the basis for our subconscious mind. This subconscious realm is responsible for our automatic responses, habits, and conditioned behaviours, which make up a considerable portion of our daily actions.

As we progress through our twenties and into our thirties, we encounter various milestones, challenges, and experiences that continue to shape our personalities. By our mid-thirties, these neural pathways have become well-established, making our responses and behaviours more predictable and routine. This is not to say that our personalities are fixed and unchangeable, but rather that our default reactions and decision-making processes are influenced heavily by our subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind is a vast storehouse of memories, emotions, and beliefs, many of which we may not be consciously aware of. These stored experiences and emotions can trigger automatic responses to situations and people, often without our conscious understanding of the underlying cause. This can result in patterns of behaviour and emotional reactions that we may find difficult to change or control.

For example, someone who experienced frequent criticism as a child may develop a subconscious belief that they are never good enough. This belief can lead to a persistent pattern of self-doubt and a tendency to seek validation from others, even if they are not consciously aware of the root cause. Similarly, a person who has experienced significant loss or trauma may develop subconscious coping mechanisms that influence their behaviour and emotional responses in future relationships.

While the power of the subconscious mind can be both positive and negative, understanding its influence on our behaviours and responses is essential for personal growth and self-awareness. By recognizing how our past experiences and conditioning have shaped our personalities, we can begin to challenge and reshape our limiting beliefs, emotional reactions, and patterns of behaviour.

Various therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy, can help individuals access and reframe their subconscious beliefs and responses. Mindfulness practices, meditation, and journaling can also aid in developing greater self-awareness and fostering conscious decision-making.

In conclusion, our personalities are significantly shaped by our mid-thirties, with our subconscious mind playing a pivotal role in our responses and behaviours. While this automaticity can serve us well in many aspects of life, understanding its influence and learning to harness the power of our subconscious can lead to profound personal growth, self-awareness, and transformation.

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