Escaping the Matrix: 9 Ways to Deprogram Yourself
Think of the way most people live. They force themselves to wake up in the morning, dress up, drive straight to work, drive back home about 8 hours later, watch TV, and sleep, only to repeat the same routine next day for almost their entire lives. We consider this kind of living as normal and even healthy, but if you stop and think about it, it’s not healthy at all.
Life is so precious and beautiful, and instead of making the most out of it, we choose to waste it just because we have been programmed to do so. Habits, tradition and belief systems have turned us into mindless automatons who don’t enjoy life and just follow a predetermined path that was handed to us by society. This programming, however, can be broken, if we realize that the way we live is preventing us from squeezing the juice out of life, and gather the courage to transform how we think and act. Then, life can be turned into a beautiful celebration filled with laughter, play, and love.
How to Deprogram Yourself
Below are 9 tips that will help you to deprogram yourself and escape the matrix you’ve been trapped into since the day you were born:
1. Stop giving your power away to authority. From a very young age, most of us were taught to doubt ourselves and do only what authority commands us to, even if we don’t feel like doing so. Now, as adults, we don’t trust ourselves, and so we choose to let others have power over our lives. We vote for politicians who do nothing but lie to us in order to satisfy their inner hunger, being under the illusion that by voting we are granted the power to choose our future, when in reality the choices we are presented with are very limited and almost exactly the same. So we allow a small group of people to manipulate us for their own personal gain, foolishly believing that they want to contribute to the betterment of society. If we truly want to start creating a positive change in the world, we need to stop giving power to a few others and hold them responsible for our lives, and instead start taking responsibility in our own hands so that we can become the creators of our destiny.
2. Question the current economic system. Money, in essence, is created out of debt, thus creating the illusion of scarcity of resources, which compels people to compete in the market, who have to waste most of their life working as wage slaves. This inevitably results in the tremendous suffering and social conflict that prevails all around the world. In addition, our economic system requires people to consume without end so that money can keep on circulating in the economy, thus urging us to continuously buy things we don’t need and which are going to end up in landfills, poisoning the very environment that we depend on and sustains us. If you don’t like this kind of living and would like to create a positive change in your life and the world, research further into the immensely negative consequences of our economy, and educate yourself on alternative, more technically efficient and environmentally sustainable economic systems.
3. Detach yourself from materialism. Being brought up in a consumer culture, we believe that money can buy everything we need and will bring happiness into our lives. So we choose to buy more and more things without end, but we always end up feeling dissatisfied and hungry for more stuff. The truth is that money can only provide us with substitutes for what we truly need, but not the real deal. What we need is neither possessions nor services, but things such as love, friendship, and creativity. So don’t be concerned about which is the next best thing you can buy, and instead invest your time and efforts in achieving heart-opening and mind-expanding experiences that money can’t buy.
4. Be mindful of what you put into your body. Is what you’re eating contributing to your health or is it poisoning your physical organism? Is what you’re eating environmentally sustainable, or is it negatively impacting the natural world? These are some important questions that all people should ask themselves. Most people choose to eat foods which are filled with sugar, preservatives, and which are empty of nutrients or contain animal-derived products, unaware that their food choices are detrimental to their health, contribute to the suffering and death of tens of billions of animals, and have a tremendously negative impact on the environment. From now on, be sure to choose carefully what you choose to put into your mouth, and that this is one of the best things you can do for yourself and the world.
5. Choose your news sources wisely. Knowledge is power, but we are drowning in an ocean of information. Corporate media presents us all the time with biased information so as to fool us into believing the lies they tell us just so that they can manipulate us exactly the way they want. A true seeker of knowledge does not accept anything on belief but seeks out for facts and tries to develop a spherical understanding of the matter he/she is looking into. If you don’t like being misled and desire to better understand what’s going on in the world, do your best to collect information from as many sources as possible and use critical thinking in order to reach to your own conclusions about what’s true or not.
6. Read eye-opening, mind-empowering books. There have been many wise persons who’ve written down their thoughts on life’s problems and how they can be overcome. There have been many persons who have criticized the workings of society and offer their insights on how we can help create a more beautiful world. Books can be immensely helpful to open our eyes and improve the quality of our life, but not many people spend much of their time reading books – or they just choose to read for entertainment reasons alone. To get the most out of reading books, be sure to not just pick any book and read – read those ones which touch your mind and heart and provide you with new perspectives that help you to better understand yourself and the world.
7. Escape the herd mentality. Just as every person alive, you are a unique individual with unique talents and gifts to offer to the world. Unfortunately, society has suppressed our individuality since the day we were born. We’ve been programmed to doubt ourselves and conform to what is considered as normal. This, however, prevents us from embracing ourselves and creating our own path in life, which is causing us immense emotional pain. From today, distance yourself from the herd mentality and start paying attention to your inner voice – doing so will allow you to follow your calling and live the way you truly want to live.
8. Creatively express yourself. A great way to deprogram yourself from the normalcy of modern life is to focus your attention on creativity. We’re all born creative, but slowly our creativity has been suppressed so much that we’ve almost forgotten that we’re creative beings. To be creative means to think outside the box and see life from different perspectives. Most importantly, to be creative means to find out new ways of living and realize that you have the power to manifest the kind of life you desire.
9. Develop mindfulness. Lastly, learning how to live in the present moment is the most important way to break free from your conditioning. By being mindful of the here and now, you’ll be able to respond to whatever happens each and every moment spontaneously, without being a victim of your past. There are many meditation techniques out there that can help you to become mindful, so find the ones that you like most and stick to them until you see positive results in your life.
“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.” – The Matrix
yogaesoteric
January 10, 2018