I think I’ve discovered a pretty interesting distinction of something people consistently do within their subconscious minds that often has notable effects. That is, put simply, I believe people often think through the perception & consideration of other people. I’m especially talking about instances that don’t consciously or logically have anything to do with the people that we think though.

I figured this distinction out by observing my own inner thoughts over time, as I often do, but not specifically looking for this. I’ve consistently picked up on brief moments of myself thinking about other people in relation to my thoughts about decisions, actions, & other scenarios of my life and life in general.

To give you something to compare this concept to, we’ve all heard the bit of how society subconsciously influences us. Well, this is the distinction of how we subconsciously relate our own thoughts to other people and essentially think through them, which can influence us and our behavior.

Let me try to come up with some examples…

I think a lot of the thoughts we think though others are driven by core human needs and deep meaning we have personally built-up in things. Therefore, making this process of thinking through others more of an outlet to manage & play out effects of these deeper motivations. The biggest core driver may consistently be that of connection/acceptance/belonging across humanity. However, sometimes it doesn’t have to be due to something deeper like this.

So, obviously, a big distinction to make is that the people you think though and the way you think through them can either help you or hurt you in life. It might cause you to make a bad decision, believe something false, experience stress or negativity, etc. It might cause you to make a good decision, believe in something empowering, experience abundance or positivity, etc. All directly from this process of thinking through other people. The key for achieving greater performance & quality of life is to manage & optimize this process of thinking through other people. For example, here are some key questions to ask of yourself when aware of this process…

You may not notice this consistent process going on much at all. I didn’t for twenty some years of life. However, when I realized it by probing more into my subconscious thoughts, I could see that I have been doing it my entire life and it has been consistently influencing my life in good & bad ways. You can hopefully become aware of this subtle process as well by monitoring your micro thoughts. It might show up in the form of pictures, feelings, words, etc. Maybe you are thinking about making a decision and an image or feeling of a past experience with somebody flashes into your mind for a brief moment. Look to measure the emotional hit you get from these thoughts as well as any logic based influence emerging from them.

In becoming conscious of this process and observing parts of it on & off, I have determined a few patterns in who I consistently think through…

…this is not currently the best set of patterns for who I am building myself into. One of the distinctions of popular personal development is to surround yourself with high quality people because you become who you spend the bulk of your time with. I’ve seen value in that distinction, but now I believe I have found a fundamental reason for how much of that effect actually works. For example, I wouldn’t be thinking through my close family & friends if I didn’t spend time in their presence often, but I do, for better & worse results in life.

I believe most all people are consistently engaging in this process of thinking through other people several times per day, maybe hundreds or more. I think it accounts for a notable amount of influence over us day-to-day, where if we freed ourselves from this process or optimized it, our lives & behavior would begin to look differently.

Let me know… Who do you think through?