Mastering the Systems of Life

A Guide to Conscious Control and Personal Growth

Author

Yervand Setoyan
January 12, 2024

Dear, Reader,

Imagine driving to a familiar destination and arriving without any memory of how you got there. Your mind was elsewhere, lost in a pool of endless thoughts, while your body navigated on autopilot. This is one of many examples on how unconscious systems guide much of our lives, often without our conscious input.

Today, we will explore these invisible systems that control our actions and shape our destiny. It’s about recognizing and understanding these patterns in order to take control of them. We’ll dive into how to identify these systems, align them with our goals, and change the ones that no longer serve us.

Here, you’ll find practical and straightforward methods to fine-tune beneficial systems, create new ones that drive you towards your goals, and discard those that backtrack your progress. Join me on this journey of self-discovery and empowerment as we learn to switch off the autopilot and take the steering wheel of our lives. You have goals, and I want to help you achieve them.

Understanding the Conscious and Unconscious Mind

In this section, we'll explore the fascinating world of the conscious and unconscious mind, uncovering how they shape our thoughts and actions. You'll learn to distinguish between decisions made with mindful intent and those driven by the unseen forces of our subconscious mind.

Conscious Mind: 

This is the part of your mind that's aware and in control of your thoughts, feelings, and memories which you can easily think and talk about. For instance, when you consciously choose to read a book and also the book that you choose.

Unconscious Mind (The Shadow)

The unconscious mind includes automatic processes and deep feelings not readily accessible to your awareness, like involuntary actions (e.g., breathing, heartbeat) and instinctive responses like saying (huh) even though you heard what someone said.

Human Systems: Figure 1.0

Lets use some common examples to help this sink in.

  • Conscious Actions: Choosing what to wear or deciding what to eat for dinner are examples of conscious decisions. You are fully aware and in control of these thoughts and actions.

  • Unconscious Actions: Breathing, your heart beating, or even blinking are actions controlled by your unconscious mind. You don’t actively think about these processes; they just happen.

Interplay Between Both

The conscious and unconscious mind often work together, influencing our decisions and behaviors. For example, your conscious decision to avoid sweets might be undermined by an unconscious craving for sugar. This interplay shapes our daily experiences, behaviors, and even our personality. The unconscious mind can have a powerful influence over our actions, often in ways we're not fully aware of (Koffka, 2006).

Understanding this interplay is crucial in recognizing and modifying our behaviors to align with our goals. By being aware of the influence of both the conscious and unconscious mind, we can make more informed decisions and exercise greater control over our actions.

Introduction to Systems in Our Lives

What are Systems in Human Behavior? 
Systems in human behavior are intricate networks of rules, habits, and responses that guide our actions and decisions. These systems can be broadly categorized into conscious and unconscious systems, each playing a pivotal role in our daily lives.

Conscious Systems:

These are intentionally formed systems involving higher-level brain functions and are often involved with our goals and values. They involve areas like the prefrontal cortex, which is essential for decision-making, planning, and moderating social behavior. For example, when we set goals, such as improving our fitness, we activate these areas to create and maintain our plans.

Unconscious Systems: 

These systems function automatically and are often formed through repeated behaviors and deep-seated emotions. They are primarily linked to areas like the amygdala, which is crucial for processing emotions, and the basal ganglia, involved in habit formation and reward processing. An example is our automatic stress response, like craving comfort food.

Our daily actions are a blend of these systems. Conscious systems help us make planned choices, but unconscious systems can sometimes overpower them with automatic reactions. This interplay is crucial in understanding our behavior.

For example, you may consciously decide to eat healthy foods, but an unconscious system might drive you to crave sugary foods when stressed. This tug-of-war between conscious intentions and unconscious impulses is a central theme in understanding human behavior.

Recognizing these systems allows us to identify patterns that may hold us back and to adjust them to better suit our goals. By managing these systems, particularly by being mindful of our unconscious habits, we can make more informed choices that lead to a more purposeful life.

Identifying Your Own Systems

Let us dive into the practical aspect of recognizing your own systems, both conscious and unconscious. I’ll guide you through simple, reflective exercises to uncover the patterns influencing your daily life. You can use the Y Tracker 1.0 for an enhanced experience, but these exercises are effective even without it.

Self-Reflection Exercise: Uncovering Your Systems

1. Daily Routine Analysis:

Goal: Notice the choices you make consciously and actions that seem automatic.

  • Without Y Tracker: Write down your daily activities and emotions for 2-3 days.

  • With Y Tracker: Log these in the tracker, using the morning and evening check-ins to capture your day's start and end.

2. Emotional Response Tracking:

Goal: Identify what triggers your emotional responses.

  • Without Y Tracker: Keep a journal of strong emotions and track their triggers for a week.

  • With Y Tracker: Use the mood logging feature to record these emotions.

3. Decision-Making Reflection:

  • Goal: Understand if your decisions are intentional or automatic.

  • Without Y Tracker: Think about a recent decision and what influenced it.

  • With Y Tracker: Review your logged decisions to spot patterns.

Evaluating and Adjusting Your Own Systems

In this journey of self-discovery, we explored the conscious and unconscious mind, and recognized the systems governing your behavior. Now, it's time to steer these systems in a direction that will accelerate your progress towards your goals.

Altering Actions for Goal Progression

Lets use an example: Imagine you've identified a system where stress leads you to eat unhealthy snacks.

Altering this system might involve:

  1. Recognizing the trigger (stress).

  2. Changing the response (choosing a healthier snack or a stress-reducing activity like a short walk).

This simple change can significantly impact your health goals.

Self-Reflection Prompts

Ask yourself:

  1. What habit do I often default to under stress or pressure?

  2. Is there a system in my daily routine that seems to work against my goals?

  3. How do my emotions influence my decisions in this system?

Reflecting on these questions can unearth systems needing adjustment.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adjust Your Systems

  1. Identify the System: Pinpoint the system or habit you want to change.

  2. Set a Specific Goal: Clearly define what you want to achieve with this change.

  3. Plan Small Changes: Start with manageable adjustments to avoid getting overwhelmed.

  4. Track Your Progress: Use tools or journals to monitor your actions and their outcomes.

  5. Evaluate and Adjust: Regularly review your progress. Be flexible to make further changes if needed.

Altering your systems isn't about drastic changes but making conscious, incremental adjustments that add up to significant improvements. By continuously evaluating and adapting these systems, you align them more closely with your aspirations, steering your life towards greater fulfillment and success.

Conclusion - Utilizing Human Systems

We've explored the roles of both the conscious and unconscious mind. Our conscious decisions shape our actions, but it's the unconscious mind that often quietly influences our choices without us realizing it (Masicampo, Luebber, & Baumeister, 2020).

Understanding the interaction between these two aspects of our mind is key. By becoming more aware of how they work, we can better align them with our goals, leading to more intentional living and personal growth.

In our upcoming topics, we'll focus on habits. We'll see how they can be developed and used to support the systems we've discussed, helping us apply this knowledge in practical ways.

I'd love to hear from you. How have you noticed these systems in action in your own life? Have you faced challenges in aligning them with your goals? Sharing your experiences could help others in our community learn and grow.

To use the Y Tracker simply download and print.

Thank you for taking the time to read and join in this exploration.

Best Regards,

Yervand Setoyan