The Arms Of Conditioning - Grasshopper

How often have you been scared into the arms of your conditioning? After you come up with that answer, notice a fear that takes you into hiding more often than not. That’s the one to bring out into the light of day and let it have its say. Then you’ll have the best chance of letting it go away.

It may sound like I’m saying, “Face your fears.” It’s deeper than that. It’s a reminder to notice that most of your fears come out of conditioning, not necessarily from the world of factual data.

 

Have you ever heard, “Button up or you’ll catch cold.” That’s conditioning. But we treat it as fact and pass it on as fact and open ourselves up to the belief that if we don’t button up, we’ll get sick. The evidence doesn’t support that belief, but our conditioning does.

 

You may have heard a time or two that we act in accordance with our beliefs. At a time not too long ago, it was believed that Leprosy was a highly contagious disease. It wasn’t and never was. But that didn’t stop people from going into a fear state and looking for their “hidey-hole.” 

 

When we’re in a state of fear, we’re more susceptible to disease in general. We set the table for it to come and have a meal at our expense. The more often we shine a light on our conditioned fears, the less often we suffer the consequences.

 

Start noticing your conditioning and begin to notice the lack of data most of it contains. Reminds me of a story . . .

 

When I was in basic training, I met a kid from New Mexico. One day in conversation he said, “I was taught that all Catholics had guns in their basement.” This caused him a state of suspicion and fear whenever he encountered a Catholic person. He said he was wary around Catholics and it kept him from getting to know them better. It wasn’t until he put a spotlight on that belief that he began to get more chummy with Catholics.

 

That story sounds absurd, but we all have our version of that story buried in a conditioned belief.

 

The objective here is to be in a state of fear less often. You can accomplish that by not being a slave to your conditioning. Take a factual look at what scares you and generally you’ll find that you just got someone else’s unsubstantiated fear passed on to you.

 

The arms of your conditioning don’t protect you; they keep you in the dark. And from that vantage point it’s hard to see that what’s scaring the bejesus out of you is more than likely a fantasy.

 

All the best,