What if the very thing you’re trying to escape is what you unconsciously keep on feeding?
What if your limitations are self-authored — and you’ve been working against yourself without knowing it?
I’ve lived this loop. Many times over. However, things are shifting and something new is unfolding.
This post continues from the other day’s reflection: Breaking the Chains of the Past — now deepening into how repetition becomes our doorway to change.
Dissolving Unconscious Patterns — The Two Sides of Repetition
Repetition is what moves us towards our dreams, goals, and inner aspirations — and repetition is what digs us deeper into sloth, sickness, and a limited life.
Practice makes perfect. What we feed grows. And to stop behaviors and stories that hurt us, we must deliberately repeat those that serve us.
If we do not consciously repeat those thoughts, actions, and behaviors that move us towards what we want — better health, more wealth, meaningful connections, and a higher quality of life — by default, we will repeat the things that move us the other way.
“It becomes a practice of consciously revisiting instead of unconsciously repeating…”
Fighting Fire with Fire — How Reaction Feeds the Pattern
It is like trying to put out a fire by throwing logs at it. When in anger, we do not respond to life; we react. And when we are in a reactive state, we amplify what is coming at us — making ourselves the victim of our own attacks.
By resisting, reacting, and fighting, our attention becomes fuel for the very fire that burns us.
Attention is the allocation of energy, and energy is the force that feeds all life. Good and bad, left and right, what serves us and what does not.
Energy doesn’t care; it simply goes where we direct it. And we do direct it, constantly, whether we are aware of it or not.
When We React — We Attract
As such, we are in a constant state of creation. We are antennas that attract, reactors that amplify, and channels that express energy into the world.
What we send out into the universe creates ripple effects and comes back to us.
Like throwing a tennis ball against a brick wall — the velocity with which it returns is proportionate to the force we exert.
And when we are not present, we will be taken off guard — and we react. Now, with even more anger — and the universe responds in kind, until a breaking point is reached and we are brought to our knees.
Because let’s be real: We cannot win the fight against God.
We may resist for a while. Fight up to a point. Until we learn. Until we surrender — and finally lay down our sword.
Pause and Reflect – Dissolving Unconscious Patterns
Turning the other cheek…
… is not only kindness to the one that did us harm, but to ourselves as well.
Because anger and blame are the poison that kills us from inside.
When we allow ourselves the gift of a breath, we give ourselves the gift of a pause.
And in this sacred pause — in this divine moment of silence — we reclaim our power to reflect and respond.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we find ourselves in a state of presence where we are no longer mindless reactors, but conscious beings with freedom of choice.
Suddenly, we have the capacity to choose where we place our attention — and with what attitude we respond.
From this space, with deliberate attention, we choose which logs to place on the fire — and we decide which fire to feed.
And when we nourish the flame that serves our higher self — our wellbeing, our clarity, our peace — we naturally stop feeding what works against us.
What we feed, grows.
What we don’t, fades — and eventually, dies.
Pause. Listen. Breathe. Feel.
These simple acts form a sacred rhythm — one that pulls us out of the endless wheel of thought and into something real.
Blessed Breath: A Portal to Presence
In the fast pace of everyday life, breath is the gateway home.
Breathing into presence cuts the loop of auto-repeat, dissolves the impulse to react, and brings us back to what truly matters.
We cannot simply do “nothing” — because something is always happening. Life is in constant motion, constantly interacting with us.
Things are either growing or fading.
Energy flowing.
Matter transforming.
We cannot stop life.
But perhaps — just for a moment — we can pause the racing mind?
As we allow ourselves to feel, we may once again lead with our hearts.
From this space of non-reaction, clarity returns, and there is simply no more urge to fight.
Power of Attention
And so, with the power of attention, we lead our lives.
As we forgive, we release the inner conflict.
And as we are at peace within, peace is what we reflect.
Peace brings peace.
War divides — Love unites.
And that’s where it begins — not in some grand breakthrough, but in the quiet, repetitive pause.
One day at a time. One breath at a time.
This essay was edited from its original structure as part of my 31-day-posting-every-day-series on medium.com.
Deepening into this exploration, you may enjoy The Power of Words and Personal Choice and The Transformational Power of Language for more context and insights.
Thanks for reading. See you soon.
