Using Logic and Reason to Deal With Superstitions

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Many years ago, someone warned me not to turn on a computer on Friday the Thirteenth—any Friday the Thirteenth—because a computer virus was supposedly automatically triggered to infect every machine on that date. Was it true? I had no idea, but I believed that the source was reliable so I didn’t really question the veracity of that claim. Furthermore, I was also fairly computer illiterate at the time, so I reasoned that the safest bet was to stay off a computer on that date—which I did, for many years—just in case.

That subconscious mental script was pretty much locked in and faithfully followed until last month. For whatever reason, perhaps because I simply had too much work to do online to stay off the computer that day—I decided to test and rewrite that script. I ignored the whining, “Oh, but you can’t! You shouldn’t!” protests of my subconscious mind and turned to the logical, reasoning, and decision-making part of my conscious mind to evaluate what kept me stuck in this behavior.

The first and obvious reason I followed this suspicion was, you guessed it, my suggestibility to friends and perceived influential people (Friendly influences, December 3, 2014). According to Hypnosis Motivation Founder John Kappas, Ph.D., we get our early suggestibility from how the primary caretaker (usually the mother) takes care of and interacts with us during early childhood (birth up to age 5). When we are around 8 years old, the secondary caretaker (usually dad) has more influence over our suggestibility, while peers, teachers and others impact suggestibility between the ages six to nine years. By the time we are adults, our suggestibility is pretty much established but our subconscious mind remains receptive to other people’s suggestions if they resonate with our established known behaviors or interests. Since a friend originally told me about that computer virus, and I trusted this person and believed his knowledge about computers and technology to be superior to mine at that time, I believed the warning was legitimate. While it was fine to be cautious, the error in judgment was not investigating whether the threat was legitimate.

The second thing I noticed was, I had been using this date as a defense mechanism—specifically, undoing (Defense Mechanisms: Undoing and Superstitions, March 23, 2015)—to avoid doing necessary work on a specific date. Since the middle of the month is typically a very busy time of the month, the thirteenth of the month is when a lot of companies are really gearing up to get things done. With news of so many technological advances being made in computers, it was reasonable to worry that someone has also designed a super-bug to disable computers whenever its inventor decides the time is right to launch it into cyberspace. Since I enjoy a three-day weekend as much as the next person--who hasn’t heard about “bad things” that happen on this day?—I was willing to indulge in my superstition so I could kick back a little bit.

Make no mistake, I took every precaution to stay “computer safe” when I decided to test that superstition for myself. I had recently installed a very high-end anti-virus program. One of my good friends is a computer guru, and I am on a first-name basis with the computer technicians at Staples. No one I know has ever been “contaminated” with the Friday the Thirteenth virus (or whatever it’s really called). The time had come to make a stand. I logged on. And nothing happened.

Nothing bad happened, I mean to say. Something very good happened, too. I rewrote a negative, subconscious mental script that no longer worked for me so I could get back to work.

I do love it when a subconscious script has a happy ending—even if it’s a rewritten happy ending.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

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