Are You Under the Influence? Part 1
- Michelle Leduc Catlin
- Feb 3
- 3 min read
Discover how to protect yourself from subconscious influence by understanding the mind and examining your thoughts.
“Know thyself.”
Temple of Apollo, Delphi
Do you question your beliefs?
Do you reexamine your opinions?
Do you know where either came from?
It may sound counterintuitive, but when we hold tight to our ideas without looking at them newly, we become easier to influence.
Our reaction to alternative views becomes a threat to our identity and we become emotional, even fearful, rather than logical.
This is a result of our built-in safety mechanism triggered by a perceived danger.
When the conscious mind feels threatened and can’t reason, the subconscious kicks in.
It’s job isn’t to use logic, but rather to seek safety.
The subconscious does this by searching for the familiar — the comfort of the known rather than the uncertainty of the unknown.
It then latches onto whatever ideas, messages, opinions it hears the most.
Think about a weak animal in a herd.
It will automatically follow the behaviour of whatever the majority of the herd is doing.
When it doesn’t have the strength to go out on its own, it finds safety in numbers.
Human beings are no different in this regard.
Bombarded by information that is designed to increase our fear and often threatens our beliefs and opinions, most people live their lives run by the subconscious drive to feel safe.
Our opinions are mostly unexamined with our executive brain function, but rather are influenced by what we hear the most and what confirms our bias.
Think of how modern messaging works.
Are advertisers appealing to your logic?
Is the media presenting objective news or are they fanning flames of fear?
Is the government providing reassuring leadership or are they causing alarm and creating division?
No one out to influence us uses logic or reason.
They understand that it is the subconscious that is easiest to sway, and the key to the subconscious is heightening our emotions.
In fact, you don’t even have to resort to fear.
Using emotion, a bit of repetitive content, and a few simple mind control techniques is enough.
Here’s an entertaining example of actor Simon Pegg being easily influenced by one of the world’s best mentalists, mind control expert Derren Brown.
Part of knowing ourselves is understanding that we are all subject to influence — even the rich and famous.
So how do you know if your opinion is based in a logical conscious thought process, or a subconscious emotional reaction?
We need to examine what we think.
Here’s a simple test.
What is your reaction when someone expresses a view antithetical to yours?
Think about politics, religion, the war in Ukraine, transgender issues, vaccines, the Middle East.
You likely just had at least a flicker of a visceral reaction.
It is that reactivity that demonstrates the subconscious at work.
The conscious mind can hear different views without emotional reactions.
When we react strictly from our subconscious, we are highly susceptible to influence.
If we cannot consider an opposing opinion, we don’t own our opinions — they own us.
And if they own us, they can be used by anyone who wants to manipulate or control us.
But we can learn to discern — if we are willing to know ourselves.
“Writing in a journal activates the narrator function of our minds. Studies have suggested that simply writing down our account of a challenging experience can lower physiological reactivity…”
— Daniel J Siegel, M.D.
Writing down our thoughts and opinions in the safety of a journal is an excellent way to express not only what we think, but how we think.
In my next blog, I’ll share a simple exercise for freeing yourself from influence.
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