Past Meets Present

Hi, guys. My name is Donnie Rouse, and you're listening to the podcast One Life. Past Meets Present. Are your daily experiences absolute truth, or are they just fabrications of your mind? They are absolute, at least to us, but they are also fabrications of the mind. In order to understand this, you really have to understand how the mind works. Our mind is nothing but a bank of past experiences. When we experience something new, our minds create a new record and meaning before storing it away until it's recalled again. And these records act as somewhat of a filter in which we see and experience the world as well as each other. We start to live when we turn off this autopilot mechanism and we see each experience for what it is, a new experience. Yesterday I went to a cafe. I was actually on my way to a cafe, I should say, and I parked my car and there was. In the driveway that was perpendicular to the street, there was a guy getting out of his car. And I noticed a triggered response. I felt angry in a way, and I was making judgments about this person. Funny enough though, in that moment, I was like, well, why am I. Why am I feeling this towards this person? I was looking at the way he was dressed, and it wasn't so much of me being judgmental, but I said, well, what in my past is making me have this association or is triggering me in this way? And then it hit me. I realized when I was in high school that there was a bully that had picked on me. And he had the same. He actually dressed. They almost looked identical, first of all, but they had the same kind of attire. They dressed almost exactly the same. And as a result of that, without even knowing who this person was, I was now applying the filter of that experience onto him. And that changed how I felt in that moment. And also, if I were to interact with him, it would change. It would impact the interaction I have with him. So I continued to walk. I was walking. Now I'm walking on the sidewalk. There's a storefront to the left of me. And. And because I'm now aware of this, and I was asking a different question. Well, what about the past is impacting this, this moment right now? And how I'm filtering what I'm seeing. I walked by a window and there was a picture of like several girls wearing these. I don't know if you familiar with them. They're these hats. They remind me of like Amish hats. But when I see those, those also had trigger an effect on me. There's very few people that I. I see where those Hats that I actually like. I'm just not a big fan of those hats. But when I actually ducked out, I was like, well, why is this triggering me? And then I traced it back. I traced it back to a point where I was. I was approached a girl and I was rejected. So as a result that rejection, I, you know, I took every, like, you know, I took a snapshot of her and the look, and then I applied that filter towards other people who dress the same. Two examples. But the similar filter, the similar methodology was being applied. And once I saw that filter being applied, I was able to take a step back and say, well, that's interesting, and start to question and break down those beliefs. Because I'm like, well, all right. Well, first of all, if I was turned off, if I was rejected by this person. Well, first of all, the truth is that no one can reject us, right? We could only allow. We allow ourselves to feel rejection. No one can reject us. Nothing externally could impact us internally unless we allow it to. So I was looking at the experiences and I started questioning, well, yeah, maybe I felt rejected in that moment. What's the truth? Maybe I'm just not the person's type. And I started to break down this experience to the point where it lost the emotional intensity that it had. And I start to see that the filter that I was applying towards this person, toward this picture was not true. The same thing with the gentleman who was getting out of his car. I was applying that he, you know, he would start fights. And as a result, what kind of a thing do you have? What kind of effect do you think it had on my physiology? If I believe someone's going to, you know, someone's going to start get hostile or start a fight with me, now all of a sudden, my physiology is anticipating that and I'm ready for a confrontation. But once I took a step back, then I could say, okay, well, no, this is a different experience. The interaction I have with this person is going to be completely different. And only when you do that can you have and create a new experience. That's one of the things I love so much about travel, is that when you. When I travel, the experiences I have, the people I meet, they break down these. These constructs that I have, these, These beliefs about a certain type of person or maybe habits a person has. And. And I start to see you. You see people as who they are, people as individuals, not as like a stereotype. So how about for yourself, when you feel yourself? I leave every episode with a kind of like an Exercise. And the exercise for this is more just to be self aware. Because I believe that every single day, if we were to just take one day of our lives, all the triggers, like everything we need to improve upon, to make our lives one of beauty, to one of growth, and everything's present in that one day. We just have to be conscious enough and aware to see all the mechanisms that are at play that are kind of going off without us even knowing it. So the intention for this podcast is for you to become conscious of those triggers. And once you become conscious and you see yourself being triggered, say, okay, well, what is it from my past? Is there something from my past that's triggering this response? And if there is, separating the current experience you're in from that with other questions, be like, well, how is this different from the experience I had? Why is it incorrect to apply that filter towards this? What information am I missing? If you answer those questions, you'll see, well, yeah, there's a lot of information. A lot of this is just being created in my own mind. And doing that will open you up to a new experience. And by opening yourself up to that new experience, you're creating a new record in that memory bank of your brain. And now all of a sudden you're like, oh, well, you know what? People who dress like that are pretty awesome. And they're very laid back, easygoing, and I get along with them versus they're always ready for a confrontation. And even that could be a skewed belief. So it's really just accepting everything as it's coming to you. Not to try to apply kind of filter on anything, but just to open yourself up to the experience of life. That is it for today, guys. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please hit subscribe, share it with your friends and family and follow. If you're on Apple, if you're on Spotify, follow the One Life podcast with Donny Rouse. Again, One Life Podcast with Donny Rouse. I'm going to be doing a workshop this coming January, January 9th, to be exact. And this workshop is around creating the next year of your life. Of course there's going to be those things you want to do professionally and with your life, but this is about creating the passion, the things that you know that are going to bring you joy, that you've been putting off for far too long and making those a priority. Because I'll tell you this, by making those a priority, the rest of your life is going to fall into place. Because the energy, the spirit that you're going to live each day with will carry into every single activity everything you do and to your family and your personal relationships. And what kind of effect do you think that's going to have on your life? That is it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I wish you the best. God bless, and I will see you next week.