You become what you think
I don’t know if you are familiar with the uncertainty principle. Even if not, you might have heard about it before. You must, if you are interested in or have taken, science in your high school. It’s about uncertainty in measuring the complementary variables of a particle. If you try to measure “x” more accurately you kind of loose accuracy in “p” and vice versa. You can’t and will never measure both “x” and “p” of a particle accurately. You have to choose one.
There is one whole episode in Mind Field about the sacrifice of our short-term memory in an effort to improve our communication skill throughout evolution. And there is a kind of demo in that episode. Where our immediate evolutionary neighbor, Chimpanzee, competes with — host of Mind Field — Michael. Chimpanzees seem to have a lot better short-term memory and quick decision skill than us. We traded that ability to learn the language. The same part of the brain was needed for both. A little bit of trade-off happened.
I will relate above example later on. But let’s focus on the title of this story for now. You become what you think. I don’t believe this is the first time you have heard this. This is too much of a cliche now. But to what extent is it true? I don’t know if you believe this or not but what you think and what you do is your character, and is all subconscious, programmed deep inside your mind. The program which is ready to take over your conscious mind at any time. Like an auto-pilot. Have you ever eaten without even realizing that it’s finished? Have you ever rode to or from home without even noticing anything on your way? That task was done subconsciously and was pre-programmed to do exactly how you did, while consciously you were wandering somewhere else. To put that program in your subconscious, you must have done that task enough times consciously. Repeat it enough that you can do it even without thinking. That’s transferring your conscious program to an unconscious mind. Like downloading a file from the internet. If you struggle in doing something then it’s not in your program, you know what I mean!
That was all about learning, physical things. And mentally, it is not any different than physical. You have to train your mind….how do you train your mind…….think about it enough, that it goes into your subconscious. Then you don't have to think anymore. It all happens in auto-pilot after that. That's why we see all job vacancy with a required minimum experience. Because you have repeated it enough, that you don’t even think about it, you act. If you have ever been in a difficult situation where you had to decide quickly than you thought, then you understand what I mean.
Now coming to your character and behavior. Most of the time you don’t even think what to say and what to talk about, it just comes naturally. And if you want to build, or improve, or change, your character. You can do it by programming, i.e. “fake it till you make it”, or repetition, or imagine acting the way you want in every hypothetical scenario inside your mind. And wherever you struggle in real, remember that it’s not in your subconscious, yet.
Thinking is what we humans do best in comparison to other species in our animal kingdom. That’s what makes us human. But that same thought also divides us into good or bad, mature or immature, intellectual or a fool, loyal or disloyal, selfless or selfish, optimist or pessimist, generous or greedy, understanding or cruel, Respectful or Rude, kind or mean, peaceful or hostile. And you can’t be both. You have to choose a side. Which side do you want to be on? You can answer this consciously but the answer to “which side are you currently inclined to?” lies deep beneath your subconscious mind. And what you think repeatedly most of the time is being programmed, thus you become what you think. You made your own choice.
Did you know? our brain has way more potential than we are using in our day to day life. And in the percentage of what we use, it’s mostly subconscious, 90% to be approximate.
