Saturday night on the last weekend of 2024, I found myself in my jammies with two of my most special friends (one of whom is twelve). We each had our snacks in hand and were set to watch The Wild Robot on the hotel TV screen. 

Prior to seeing the movie I was not aware of the book series written by Peter Brown so the story was completely foreign to me, and it made quite an impression – since one of the core premises (that it expands upon beautifully) is one that I think about all the time.

Programming.

If there is one thing that has made an indelible dent in my perspective in learning about energy behavior, it is the concept of programming, and how it impacts us.  

And, very importantly, what one can do with it, and about it.

Programming includes thematic beliefs, emotional responses, behavior tendencies, etc. that coalesce into personal life patterns and dwell in the back-end of our awareness, often bypassing choice before we even realize it has occurred. No different than a software program which tells your computer what to do, how to do it, and when. 

And then it does it – “just because.”

Programming is the end result of living a life over time: of having a childhood, being raised by other humans and in a society, exposure to external influences and the opinions of others, including their own programming! We can grow to believe that this is who we are, our identity or our core character, or our value or purpose, when in reality, it’s simply shades of our current personality. 

Programming resides in our energy field, running in the background of our experience on auto-replay like a relentless stamina-filled little gremlin. And oh how we love to feed it. But we don’t have to. 

The “just because” can be undone. 

Here is where things get really cool. Once it’s identified and acknowledged, programming can be addressed with fair ease, in energy work sessions with a practitioner or eventually in your own self-healing practice at home. With some diligence and dedication you can clear the space of your life (and energy body) like nobody’s business. 

And now back to a misplaced robot turned mama, an orphaned gosling and their red fox friend; two quotes by Roz from The Wild Robot movie:  

“I know you all have instincts that keep you alive. But sometimes, to survive [or thrive], we must become more than we were programmed to be.”

”I have been overriding my code for months. It was the only way to complete my task.”

Important to note is that programming is not “bad” or “negative,” rather it simply is – but it does shape our way of being in the world, the choices that we make, and how we relate to others and our circumstances. 

While programming can contribute to desirable traits or serve us well in navigating  tough or extreme life moments (especially in our younger years), it can also pose some major challenges.  

A few examples of challenges that can result from programming:

• Undesirable habits or tendencies that we would like to change but can’t seem to figure out how, or get the changes to take hold despite efforts
• On repeat: feeling emotions or reacting in a given way during certain types of interactions (i.e. being triggered or finding self in same type of relationship or conversation over and over again)
• Behaviors that we (and others) can perceive as our greatest strengths, though these same behaviors could in reality be to our detriment

If there is something in your life that you would like to shift, heal or let go of – consider the potential role and impact of programming. Programming, along with several other energetic constructs, can be worked with selectively and with great intention: to bolster your autonomy, change your choices, and significantly evolve your experience. 

Sidebar: I looked up the expression get with the program in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and one definition was as an idiom meaning: “to start doing what others need or want one to do.”  Interesting….eh?

Photo by Neenu Vimalkumar on Unsplash