I’m working on a presentation on centering for a women’s professional group here in Denver, and as I was gathering my research I came across a version of this statement:
An estimated 95% of our choices, behaviors, feelings, reactions, and decisions are made non-consciously.
Being somewhat fact-driven, I attempted to look this up and only found references to Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard professor, and his work on purchasing. And I found a discussion about how there’s no way to really measure cognition, but the 95% figure sounds reasonable based on all the things our brains are doing. This quote was particularly interesting:
“Consciousness appears to be a way to monitor and share the choices we make unconsciously. All the work to make most decisions is made before conscious awareness. The 95% is the actual cognitive effort of making decisions. The 5% is making up a story of why the decision was made.”
– John Light on Quora
So what does this mean in a practical sense? We operate mostly from the shortcuts that our brains have developed over the years, and we may not be making the best decisions or having the best reactions as a result. We have ingrained stories and beliefs that often are mostly untrue, and we base our actions on these stories.
And how do we change this? By developing awareness, and noticing when we are basing our reactions or decisions on reasons we haven’t fully processed.
I will be posting a resource list from my centering presentation and more info on how to use centering to develop awareness, so keep an eye out!
If you would like to explore how to brighten your path, or are just curious about coaching, contact me to schedule a complimentary discovery session.
