Hindrances to Self Knowledge, Part II

Sad Black Women

Hindrances to Self Knowledge, Part II

Every week I do research on what I wish to write about. The community needs to be heard and understood. Each individual has their own way of thinking and behaving, and it is the ability to find balance that seems to be the hardest thing to do. This week I want to talk about another hindrance to self knowledge; blind spots.

So what is a blind spot? Webster dictionary defines a blind spot as a tendency to ignore something especially because it is difficult or unpleasant. You would be surprised with how often this is happening in your life. Many of us are not as ignorant as we may want to appear. We know that there are certain things in our lives that must change in order for things to get better; unfortunately, we have chosen not to change them. There are many reasons for this; one reason is that we really are unsure how to change. There is a lot of neurotransmissions that are responsible for change. Our brains can literally be programmed by our life experiences. You have to remember; blind spots are defense mechanism put in place to protect the individual. Change can be hard, painful and tough to get through. It is no wonder that we will pretend that these changes in our lives don’t need to happen.

I want to break down what is happening in our brains. So we have neurons that are constantly firing in our brains. The neurons are responsible for transmitting messages throughout the entire brain. The messages are responsible for the way we perceive, act, and think. Some of these messages allow you to continue to live your life as you have been. Over time, the firing of these neurons will build pathways in your brain. These pathways become solid and are very hard to disrupt. You can think of it like a pathway through a forest. Over time this pathway becomes more distinct. In order to change it, one would have to completely alter the path. This would take time; someone would have to continuously walk this new path so that it too could be distinct. This is how our brain works. Once a pathway is set, it is difficult to change. This pathway is your behaviour; it is easier to keep acting the way you do, then it is to change your behaviour. If you do decide to change, you have to continue to act in this new manner in order for it to become a habit. If we were going back to my analogy of the pathway through the forest, one would have to continue to take the new path until it became natural to go that way.

Our blind spots cannot be seen by us. These blind spots can only be seen by others around you. This is why it is so important to surround yourself with positive individuals. Individuals who will constructively help you build new paths in your life. Be mindful of whom you share your time with; you would not want them to assist you in creating a path to your destruction.