Life Part 2

The psyche is very fragile, more specifically; direct observation of negative behavior in the household can be very detrimental to one's self-esteem. For example, children who have witnessed domestic violence are likely to view this heinous act as copacetic and therefore more prone to internalize it. Hence, children growing up in environments where disagreements are resolved with physical assaults will tend to handle their problems in a similar way. Their aggressive reactions are almost instinctive, as this is what was modeled for them from a very early age. These individuals endure grave psychological consequences which they may not be cognizant of how deeply those early years affected them. On the other hand there are situations where the dichotomy of nurture vs nature is not evident. In these scenarios nature and nurture coincide. Somebody could be born angry and also find domestic violence to be socially acceptable by having witnessed it at home. This combination of nurture and nature either increases individuals' likelihood of reenacting the domestic violence or of observing it without intervening.

Once we realize why we are the way we are we will begin to discover the secret of life. Now whether we use it to our advantage or take the gift for granted is up to us. We might be able to change this but some things are impossible to prevent from happening. For instance if you are born a certain way, you can’t completely change these circumstances but you can improve on any flaws that you may have been born with and that may end up hindering your growth. If your environment is affecting you negatively you can either try to physically modify your surroundings by moving out if you have the economic means or socially modifying your surroundings by changing your circle of friends to a group that will be most beneficial to your growth. Both of these tasks can be daunting and arduous but if the change will ultimately benefit you in the long run it will be best that it gets done sooner than later.

Another hindrance to personal growth is the reticence to change. The reason why people don’t want to change is because it takes them out of their comfort zone. Generally speaking we as a society do not want to partake in any action that deviates from the norm or that is different from what they are accustomed to. People that can modify their behavior or instantaneously change certain things that are constant in their life are really extraordinary individuals. As I digress I come back to the major point. Are we the way we are because of nature or nurture? I really do not know but I profess that our personal attributes and character traits are acquired from our physical, spiritual, social, and academic environments. The more we see a certain act reiterated and the more we are exposed to a certain activity the more prone we are to follow suit and mimic these actions. Its just a common law of social psychology. A good personification of this theory is the good musicians that grow up in musical households and as a result are exposed to the arts at an early age. In this scenario the child is subconsciously absorbing all of this. They internalize the richness of sounds and channel this energy into their own creation of music in the future. When you constantly observe or participate in a certain activity you begin to develop a higher level of understanding of this activity: for example if you are watching and playing basketball at the age of three; by the time you are an adult you have a higher likelihood of intuitively making plays or understanding the game better than the rest of your teammates.

The power of the subconscious lies in the fact that I might see it as normal but other people may find my talent amazing, but since it lies in my subconscious and I watched somebody perform this act over and over again the action becomes natural, automatic and part of my muscle memory. I don’t even think about doing the act. For example I am a dancer, and I speak with all humility when I say that some people are like wow how do you do that move and I tell them that I don’t know I just "dance". Another great example is people who play a certain instruments and hit unique notes or have unique styles. People can ask how do you play that note or have that style and they will reply "its hard to describe" or "I just feel it". It is because what is natural for them may not be natural to us in addition it may lie in our subconscious and we may not be fully aware of it. The innate nature of the talent propels greatness and exudes genius. This is why luminaries in any field perform so effortlessly!

THAT IS THE POWER OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS AND WHY WE ARE THE WAY WE ARE!