When I hear a politician say, “don’t worry, the general public are intelligent” it makes me suspicious. I wonder what they’re up to! It’s not that I think we’re unintelligent; it’s that I know we’re easily bamboozled.
That’s why companies spend a fortune on advertising; even though we, the general public, know it’s not reality we’re still affected by it and make decisions based on it.
That’s how marketing works; if we hear something often enough we’re likely to end up believing that it’s true.
That’s how salespeople succeed; they use well-known ways to charm us into buying things we don’t need or even want.
That’s how those in positions of power get us to act in ways that suit them even while they’re damaging us.
All this is legitimate, familiar stuff…not propaganda used by the more devious and dictatorial!
The most powerful weapon in the hands of an oppressor is the mind of the oppressed
Steve Biko
We don’t need research to prove to us that we’re bombarded by marketing messages, that it’s been an explosion over recent years; we’re all aware of this. But what we don’t fully understand is the effect this exposure has on us. However, if the spend on advertising is an indication of the extent of our susceptibility, then we can assume that all messages affect us on some level; they alter our perspective and maybe even affect our brain.
If we care about being conscious, and are on a journey of personal growth, we have to be super-alert to how external forces shape our thinking. And this can be tricky! Just as the irritating jingles become ‘earworms‘, so persistent messages become ‘thought-worms’ – perceptions we absorb, we no longer question, we accept as the truth.
Over the years I’ve worked with many, many people whose primary barrier was not their capability, their confidence, or their circumstance. It was this barrier – backward focus – that kept them locked within invisible walls.
Awareness is the first step to breaking through it.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds
Franklin D. Roosevelt
If you removed the thought-worms in your life, what could you achieve?
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