Stream of Consciousness

Influenced by Outside Forces

How do you know that you have control over yourself? How do you know that you’re being yourself? What if your thoughts are being manipulated or influenced by your environment? Everything you do is influenced by your surroundings, even when you think that you are in control. Your stream of consciousness is influenced by your surroundings. Now this doesn’t mean that you aren’t enjoying your experience. You may very well be celebrating quite often that is! But please understand that you are being influenced every second of your celebrated experience.

Who are these outside forces? Everyone who is part of your reality: movements outside your window, strangers passing you down the street, marijuana smokers staring outside their windows, parking garage employees, liquor store workers, friends, family, social media, the news and the list goes on. Do you get my point yet? Even if you have a strong grip on reality, your mind is being influenced. Keep in mind that influence does not necessarily equate to manipulation.

What is influence and what is manipulation? Being influenced to think, feel or behave in a certain way can be a good thing; it’s not always bad. Being manipulated can be good or bad but it’s always at the advantage of the person or entity who is doing it. Also keep in mind that you can be influenced and manipulated by the internet, television, podcasts, apps, billboards and books; it doesn’t always have to be by people.

Stream of Consciousness: What is it?

A stream of consciousness is a person’s thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow. Your unconscious mind records every waking second of your existence, including when you’re asleep. This continuous flow of recording is designing your reality and influencing your thoughts and behaviors. Your unconscious sprinkles on to your conscious mind what it has deduced from your environment, and you react accordingly. On the other hand, you can also be aware of your stream of consciousness when it occurs on a conscious level. As a matter of fact, you’re constantly experiencing a continuous flow of thoughts and reactions to events; sometimes you don’t notice it because you don’t think about it.

The bottom line: don’t drift through life without being aware of your stream of consciousness, because you never know if you are being influenced by a negative outside force.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)