There’s a lesson in the spiritual text “A Course In Miracles” that says “I see only the past,” and I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately – and how true it is.

Think about it.

Everything you “see” in the world, aka how your life is right now, is based on your past understanding and learning of how the world works, your past personal experiences and outcomes, past relationships, education, jobs, and so on.

How “autopilot” works in your brain

There’s a part of your brain called the “reticular activating system” that filters all input from your senses, and determines what makes it through to your consciousness from the basically endless soup of stuff that you’re coming into contact with in every moment.

This system does the helpful and necessary job of making sure you’re never overwhelmed by what your senses can perceive, and that you receive only the most important information necessary for survival and functioning in the world.

Except…how does this system know what is “important information”?

If you guessed “based on your past experiences, worldview, and opinions” – ding ding ding! Nailed it!

What this means then, is you “see only the past” or what you expect to see, because that’s what you’ve already given attention and importance to.

This system is how you can pick a familiar voice or face out of a large crowd, or how when you do learn something new you’ll start to feel like you’re seeing it everywhere (any deeper meaning of synchronicities aside for now.)

How to see more than the past, and create your new “autopilot”

That last point is of course how you can start to use this trick of biology to see more than the past – to see a new future, based on intentions and information that you choose to put into your awareness, vs just repeating the same old that you learned in the past (most of which you picked up before age 7, btw – can I get a yikes?!)

We change through intention and repetition, and once we actively, on purpose repeat a new behaviour or a new thought/belief enough times the reticular activating system in our brain will pick up on that, and start to confirm it for us in what we see and experience in the external world.

That’s how you can start to actually change your “autopilot” system and start to feel like your habits and beliefs are working for your highest good, and not against you and the goals and dreams you have for your life!

You pick a new belief or habit, and begin to repeat it with intention as often as you can – before long, you’ll start to see evidence that it’s true in your life everywhere.

And if you just went, “pffft, I can’t change my habits or beliefs, that shit is hard” may I suggest you begin what THAT belief?

Repeat after me: “I can always change my thoughts, beliefs, habits, and life for the better.”

Here’s to an upgrade for your autopilot!