Reprogramming The Meme

The human brain is very complex. It contains over 100 billion neurons, linked together by thousands of synaptic connections.  The brain is the control center of the body and is responsible for all the functions of the body.  Motor control and hormonal secretions are derived by the brain.  Though the brain is the control center of the body it is also the place where we store and interpret information.  

From the moment the brain is developed we begin to collect information. The information that we gather through our development embeds into our psyche and becomes the foundation of our moral and value stature.  We are all taught certain ideas, behaviors and beliefs that are transmitted to us through rituals, gestures, mental awareness from person to person– these are meme’s.   Meme’s are considered to be accepted as ideas that we embrace as rules or guidelines.  Meme’s can be negative or positive constructs that turn on and off during times of our lives.  By reprogramming the meme we can redirect the negative ideas and beliefs and turn them into positive and inspiring ideas.  Here is an example of what I am talking about.  Let’s say that you have this idea in your head that you have to eat everything on your plate.  This idea has been instilled in your memory banks during your time growing up.  Your mother would always say “you can’t leave the table until you  eat all the food on your plate.”  Her mother would say the same thing, her grandmother would tell her mother and so on and so forth.  This is how a meme is developed.  It is an idea that get’s passed on and on and becomes common.  If we don’t stop and identify the meme we will continue passing it along generation to generation. We will continue to force down the food no matter how stuffed we get because we can’t leave the table until we eat it all.  For some reason we feel compelled to continue to follow the meme.  Until one day we break it by stopping the idea of having to eat everything on our plate. 

To turn a negative meme into a positive meme we must reprogram it into our memory.  By rephrasing the idea of having to eat everything on your plate you could say, I am going to eat until I am comfortably satisfied and give myself permission to leave the table with food on my plate.  This new meme can be transferred to your kids stopping the negative idea with a positive idea.  

The food on your plate meme is just one of thousands of meme’s that are common to us.  Once you identify  a meme you can change it so that you don’t find yourself always following the same negative pattern.  By changing all the negative mind viruses that have been passed on from generation to generation you can reprogram the psyche to be more positive and not so held down to years and years of underlying guilt. 

Daryl Conant, M.Ed