Bulls n' Bears

 

Contributions to Parent - Ego I

One of the ways of determining the source of your Parent-Ego is to try to find where your habitual behaviours originate from. This can be more difficult than it sounds because we take most of them absolutely for granted and are not even aware that they must have had an origin. They are not a matter of instinct but more arise from the influence of Parent figures in our past.

So the absolutely essential first step in this sort of analysis is to look at your usual behavior with a critical eye and try to determine who had a same or similar behaviour. It helps to make a list of habits and to add to this list as you go. Initially you may not be able to decide where something originated, but with persistence the answer will usually eventually come to you.

We may not always even be aware of the origin: of our little subconscious habits: we may have picked them up by unconscious mimicry of someone we admired or were in contact with  without even consciously noting the behaviors in the Parent figure and repetition could then have fixed them as part of our own repertoire.

We are likely to learn and perpetuate certain rituals which may later be replaced by new ones as we associate with a different set of rituals. In fact, the form certain rituals such as the customary greeting can vary from moment-to-moment depending on the company at the time. Some people are very attached to certain rituals and don’t like to any alteration while others are more willing simply to conform to whatever the current norm might be.

Mimicry can be an insidious thing; some people pick up accents by osmosis from their companions on moving to a new country, while others are very little influenced by new surroundings. It can be amusing to listen to a returning diplomat speak with his customary accent, while his wife and daughters have adopted new accents. 

(continued)