“Until we have met the monsters in ourselves, we keep trying to slay them in the outer world. And we find that we cannot. For all darkness in the world stems from darkness in the heart. And it is there that we must do our work” (Williamson, 2002, p. 13).

Are We Sabotaging Our Dream Lives, and Humanity in the Process?

In short: Yes. But, usually not purposely. Sabotage happens unconsciously because old stories, beliefs, fears and wounds are still running the show, outside of our conscious awareness. These old stories, beliefs, fears and wounds come from our individual experiences, our families (including their genes) and the outside world.

We are only consciously aware of an infinitesimal amount of what is actually happening in our minds and environment (we take in 11 million bits of information each second but only consciously process 40 of these; Zimmerman, 1986). And if we are only aware of a small fraction of what is happening, that means we only have control over a small fraction of what is happening. This is fairly disconcerting, especially for those of us who like certainty and control. The good news is that we can use various tools to begin to become consciously aware of that which was previously unconscious. Therapy or healing work, meditation, dream interpretation, inner child work, energy healing, self-reflection and introspective writing (journaling) can all help unearth these unconscious processes, so we can begin to take back control of our lives. However, as anyone who has attempted self-improvement can attest, the moment we try to make a change, we get pushback, from external forces (e.g., the culture) and internal forces (e.g., the ego). Our self-improvement is a threat to the status quo of the culture and our ego. As a result, these forces will try to step in to sabotage our efforts. It’s our job to stay strong and keep fighting for change.