Toothbrushes And Beliefs

A few months ago, my wife Irene got us new electric toothbrushes. Both of us had been using normal brushes for a while. Any time you do something new there’s a learning curve - in this case getting used to the tickle on your gums, figuring out your favorite setting, and perfecting your new form. It didn’t take long.

But one night, something odd happened. I caught myself brushing my teeth with my old toothbrush and for whatever reason I found that fascinating. Nothing happens on accident, there’s an explanation for everything but often you don’t have the awareness to know it. 

So I challenged myself to explore it. What issue might I have with my new toothbrush? Did I find the sound annoying? No, it’s not that…

I have some sensitivity on the top of my molars sometimes, was I unconsciously avoiding the electric toothbrush to avoid pain? No, the sensitivity isn’t any more significant with the electric toothbrush than the old one…  

And then it hit me. There’s one, hardwired, inescapable belief that is deeply embedded in humanity, and it was the reason that I chose to use my old toothbrush instead of my new one.

Familiarity. We are designed to do what is familiar and resist what is not. It’s a defense mechanism to keep us alive. Something that is less familiar is less predictable and therefore could pose a threat to our safety and survival. It’s this underlying belief that unconsciously led to me going back to using my old toothbrush.

Living with more consciousness is a process of treating everything like this. With curiosity you understand the engine that’s working behind the scenes to produce certain results in your life. Your belief system is evidenced in environment. 

For example, right now as I prepare this I see a pile of mail stacked in the corner. Why haven’t I gone through it? It’s easy enough to just do it, isn’t it? A deep and honest reflection reveals that I’m uncomfortable doing things I don’t know how to do, and there might be some of that in the mail so I avoid it. And a part of it relates to how I value my time and choose to do things that I reason to be more important, even thought sometimes it’s misinformed and creates a pattern of getting behind on things.

Every moment of life is a moment to understand more about yourself and what drives you to do certain things. It’s with that awareness that you can make new choices and create new results.