Operating on Auto-pilot: The Beliefs that Shape Our Decisions
How often do you find yourself making decisions based on a single past experience—or even someone else’s story? Maybe it was the one time your partner disappointed you. Or that bad meal at a restaurant years ago. Or perhaps it's something you overheard about a friend's misfortune.
We carry these isolated moments with us, consciously or not, and they quietly shape how we move through the world. A single point of data becomes a rule we live by. And yet, how many other beliefs are buried deep in our subconscious, silently influencing the thousands of choices we make each day?
The Power of One Story
Recently, I met someone whose story perfectly illustrated this phenomenon. They were living with chronic back pain—pain that was affecting their quality of life. Yet despite all their discomfort, they refused to explore surgical options. Why? Because their grandfather had surgery in his 90s, and after that, he was never the same.
When I asked how long ago this happened, they said it had been over a decade. Their grandfather was more than 60 years older than they are now, and medical advancements have come a long way since. But that experience—watching someone they love decline after surgery—had etched a powerful belief into their mind: back surgery equals loss of mobility and quality of life.
From the outside, it may seem irrational. But fear doesn’t operate on logic. It operates on memory, emotion, and deep subconscious programming. And for this person, that single experience—though outdated and not directly comparable—was enough to shape a major decision about their own health.
The Beliefs That Go Unquestioned
We all do this, often without even realizing it. Maybe we avoid a certain part of town, always take the same route to work, or only trust one brand of toothpaste. These aren’t just habits—they're decisions. And behind many of them is a belief we’ve never stopped to examine.
Most of the time, we’re not aware that we’re operating on auto-pilot. Our subconscious mind is incredibly efficient, constantly scanning for patterns, threats, and familiar scenarios so it can help us navigate our 35,000 daily decisions with minimal effort. But that efficiency comes at a cost: we don’t always notice when a belief that once protected us is now holding us back.
Challenging the Script
So, what do we do with this awareness?
We pause. We get curious. We ask questions like:
Where did this belief come from?
What was I protecting myself from?
Is it still true for me?
What belief would serve me better now?
This kind of introspection isn’t just helpful—it’s powerful. It puts you back in the driver’s seat of your own life.
Ready to Dig Deeper?
If this resonates with you and you’re curious about uncovering and shifting the limiting beliefs running beneath the surface, I invite you to explore my Challenging Limiting Beliefs practice. It’s a guided process that helps you identify what's holding you back and replace outdated patterns with empowering new truths.
Let’s stop letting the past write our future.