Perception vs Reality

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• Input -The subconscious mind processes sensory data at the rate of approximately forty thousand bits per second! (Sensory data = hear, see, feel, smell, and taste data)

• Even more incredibly - The subconscious mind must first sift through an average of approximately two million bits of available data - per second - to select "important" data and screen-out "unimportant" bits of data.

• "Important Data" is defined as anything that supports what I have already experienced and "made sense of" - My Maps of the World. These "cognitive maps" are neural networks that include my values, my strongly-held beliefs, my past experience (processed memories), how to do things (programs), and my survival needs.

• The Reticular Activating System (RAS), a "Doorman" for the subconscious mind, uses three processes to screen out unwanted data -- Generalization, Deletion, and Distortion. The RAS is a key factor involved in perception vs reality by allowing in only data that supports my current maps which strengthen and reinforce those maps. (Biased Data)

• Output - Our cognitive maps are broadcast out into the world subconsciously through non-verbal para-messages (sensory data). Our "output" is now available for input and processing by others in our world through the process described above.

• This input/output processing is responsible for recurring themes in our lives -- i.e., Perception vs. Reality. For example, this is how a codependent finds herself involved with one dysfunctional partner after another. The cognitive maps for a codependent are subconsciously compatible with the cognitive maps of alcoholics, addicts, and other dysfunctional people.

• Only through conscious effort can I challenge and change cognitive maps that limit me or hold me back from what I want - in other words, awareness of limiting cognitive maps is the first major key to changing them.

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