Rewriting one’s ‘scripts’

Rewriting one’s ‘scripts’

By Jimmy Henderson

BA Hons (Phil), MA (psychology)

If we ever wish to achieve psychological and emotional growth, it will be necessary to first deal with unwanted emotional, and psychological baggage or ‘debris’, that which has been left over from our unpleasant past experiences.

After this initial stage of clearing or cleansing, the next step would be to gain the cooperation of the unconscious mind in challenging and changing unhelpful schematic rules, sometimes called ‘scripts’, which may still be limiting our thinking and perception (a script can be viewed as a set of instructions which guides one in the completion of a particular task). Changing these scripts could be likened to opening new gateways in the mind which can result in a greater flow of consciousness and even higher levels of perception and understanding. As they operate at an unconscious level, scripts can also be compared to hidden ‘programs’, as they are often able to govern our actions without us even knowing it.

Rewriting outdated and negative scripts can boost potential and achievement in almost any field of endeavour. Even human athletic endurance could be governed by these subliminal scripts. For example, about fifty years ago no-one believed that it was possible to run faster than a four-minute mile. And this belief appeared to present a psychological as well as a physiological barrier to athletic achievement. However, due to his persistence and eventual record-breaking feat of a sub four-minute mile, it could be said that Roger Bannister was the first person to successfully rewrite the old script for what is humanly possible when it comes to running.

An interesting outcome of this achievement was that immediately following his success, a number of other runners in quick succession, also accomplished this important athletic milestone. In terms of human psychology, this could be explained as a subliminal script representing the collective thoughts, beliefs and perceptions of the world’s athletes, presenting the (perceived) impossibility of a sub-four-minute mile, being replaced by a more powerful and evolved script which now included the idea that there are no real limits to human potential. In other words, this new script had given ‘psychological permission’ for the next step in human athletic advancement.

Self-limiting scripts can therefore be ‘re-written’ at an unconscious level by consistently and continuously challenging them with new insights, views and perspectives into self and the possibilities that really exist for growth and unfoldment.      

Jimmy Henderson is a philosopher, metaphysician and the author of a number of books and articles on self-development. He has an Honours degree in philosophy (metaphysics) and a Masters degree in Psychology. He is presently busy with his PHD in cognitive psychology and his books ‘Multi-Dimensional Thinking’ (2007) and ‘Multi-dimensional Perception’ (2010) are available on Amazon.com and Kalahari.com and can also be ordered via his website www.jimmyhendersonbooks.com