You Are Not Your Thoughts: The Hidden Science of Consciousness and Behavior

Ep 119. Unlocking the Science of Consciousness: How the Brain Shapes Your Reality and Future

Since the dawn of human evolution, our brains have developed powerful survival mechanisms—rooted in consciousness and self-awareness. But what if your sense of self, your thoughts, and even your reactions to stress aren’t fully you—but just patterns shaped by your brain and environment?

This is where neuroscience meets personal transformation.

The Default Mode Network (DMN)—a core brain system—activates when you reflect on yourself, especially under stress or uncertainty. It's where your "narrative self" lives—the internal story you tell about who you are.

But here's the game-changer: Your brain’s interpretation of threats—like words or criticism—isn’t always accurate. Much of what we perceive as danger is filtered through belief systems built by past experiences. What feels like reality may just be a prediction.

In those critical moments between stimulus and response lies a timeless space—a moment of awareness where you can choose how to act. This space is the key to self-regulation, emotional mastery, and ultimately, rewriting your personal destiny.

Understanding this science-backed insight can help you overcome automatic reactions, take control of your behavior, and shape your future intentionally—not reactively.

Your brain writes the story. But you can become the author.

Walk consciously. Live deliberately. Walk well. 

Transcript

Welcome back folks to episode 119 of the Running Man Self Regulation Skills Project Podcast with me, your host, Dr. Armando Dominguez, PhD in Health Psychology, licensed professional counselor and an adjunct professor at a local community college. And what we're going to be discussing today has to do with what we call primary awareness, secondary awareness, and also what we would call our minimal self and what we would call our

narrative self and that's that self our ego self that we develop to interact in the marketplace. So we're going to touch upon some of the aspects of brain science that has touched upon these types of awareness and our awareness of self and how it relates to self-regulation we will discuss as well because it is also tied very closely to what we call the DMN or default mode network that has been identified by fMRI technology.

as being our sort of default resting state whenever we're not in danger in particular, but also whenever we are sleeping and not necessarily active, but yet it's still kind of there, but can also awaken those areas that causes great deal of stress, anxiety, panic, and fear, as much as joy and how to interact joyfully when we're having fun time jumping in the bouncy house, for instance. So from this point,

start looking at well what is the minimal self what is primary awareness and how they tie it together so if we look at what's called phenomenology and that's going to be the study of phenomena or things that exist in our environment we definitely have this concept of separation of individual that's experiencing or observing what we'd call empirical observer of our world or environment or phenomenon and then we have

this separation of the self, the observer, from that phenomenon. So there's definitely a distinction. whenever we're looking at what science is calling primary perception or primary awareness, we're looking at what our perceptions that come in through our five senses is bringing in as far as signal, whether it be temperature and also texture, taste, smell, motion, light, darkness, sort of thing, and also sound.

armando (03:09.648)
and variance of sound pitch timber this sort of thing that we have learned how to name in the scientific sense but in a moment to moment exchange with the environment or immersion in the environment when we take signal in whatever initial

Impact that sound taste touch light has on us that we take into our brain so to speak Those signals are what we would call our primary awareness, which means it's very basic This also means we share with even some of the lower celled creatures that have these Even if they don't have eyes but have sensors that we have this crossover from the external aspect of the individual cell or self in this case human to what?

goes on on the inside and how we respond reactively more correctly how we react to that and that's not necessarily a mindful I'm choosing to do this response but rather non mindful of what we would call in in human a lower brain response that is along the lines of a reflex so primary awareness and primary perception are the things that animals share with us that we share with our

brain level with the other animals and species in the more phenomenological world in our environment. Now why is this important? One is we're going to be actually pointing out some differences not only in awareness but also consciousness that arises from that whenever we start becoming more social so to speak or sociable. It has to do with the signal splitting off and going to our higher cortical regions and this is where we make reasoning we make plans

and strategies and this is where we develop technology as a result of trying to overcome environment so to speak making a better stick so to speak so well from the next aspect which is going to be not primary awareness but we call secondary awareness this is where our

armando (05:15.745)
self-awareness turns into a consciousness of self in a sense wherever within our brain we have this idea of me we have this idea of self and of organism and Distinction of me separate from other things so to speak now They say that animals do not have this but yet there are certain behaviors that animals have that would indicate they definitely have qualities of of character personality so to speak that we tend to attribute to human well

we try to attribute human characteristics in an anthropomorphic kind of way, wherever we attribute human characteristics that we interpret within human behavior between humans to an animal. And these are some things that once again, we do share with animals and they do have communication. they do have a very loose social structure in a sense that is interpreted and it's a narrow range, not nearly as complex as, as human, but still there is

complexity within that as far as what we've been able to interpret externally in observing empirically, so to speak. So the next part is what does this sense of self, not primary, but secondary self, why secondary? Because it happens after our perception of signal from the outside and arises from that. And therefore our interpretations come from that. And the point I'm trying to make of this is something that Victor Frankl made a very distinct point in his

book, Man's Search for Meaning, that talks about whenever we're looking at being able to choose how we arrive and that our environment does not dictate to us what we become, but rather we choose that how we become. We identify as what we choose to be versus it being imposed upon us, then the stimulus and response idea becomes very distinct. And Viktor Frankl mentioned that between the stimulus and the response,

there's a space. In that space is where we determine how we arrive and how we choose to be. So from the signal, from our primary perception to the secondary perception, wherever we become our social self and an observer of an environment from the inside, distinct from the outside, this is where we choose and pick. And if we really look at things in a developmental sense, as far as humans go, long back through history, whenever we're more basic,

armando (07:45.324)
We start seeing where our choice to become more amenable to social interaction and group activity and we are wired to the group. We're wired to other humans for nurturance, but where we may have even seen the rise of numbers of people grow and living together because we were able to start the response reaction more correctly and make it a response, shape it into a response that was more acceptable to those outside of us that we wouldn't necessarily get in the fight or have

to work against someone else for whatever we need to survive. So within that space, in a more modern sense, this is where self-regulatory skill lives, in that we develop our choices and we have that space between reaction and what causes us to have that reaction, which is the stimulus. And the stimulus is what goes on in our environment, the shapes, many times, what our reactivity is going to be like within us, reflex, pain,

response, fear, or even if we have a response, can shape how we respond because we may have the time between that and what we choose to do and maybe choose a higher order thing versus being angry, maybe doing something more compassionate and loving. So within the space between what we call our primary awareness and our secondary awareness, which involves self, it involves an awareness of me. This is where we have that power to choose.

to change. And if you want to use the term control, but I would rather use the term self-regulation. This is where we can use it. This is where we can endow ourselves with an opportunity to choose better, do better, and be better. Now this is where, if we take into consideration what the subjective awareness or the idea of self that we have, our self-image, our sense of ego that starts developing. And I remember my martial arts instructor many years back,

In letter that I wrote to him, I was asking him questions about meditation in particular, but he pointed out that ego is man's attempt at creation. Now I always wondered what that meant, but now getting into the neuropsychology of things, recognizing that our awareness that arises from our more primary sense of awareness moment to moment is wherever we get the social self and often we get stressed whenever things

armando (10:15.168)
it and I put that in quotes threatened because you can't really threaten something that is particularly subjective because it doesn't erase simply because someone says I'm going to hurt it or I'm going to do something to it. It's our reactivity to the belief of what they're telling us. This is influence suggestion that's occurring and this is where that gap between what we would call that stimulus before our response versus having in a reaction and we have no control of

becomes very powerful. We learn.

often to fear and to follow certain guidelines and rules because of the outcome that is told to us that will occur as a result of our failure to follow these guidelines a step within this certain way of doing things. And that may be the case and often these rules that are given to us are done to protect us and they're done many times to keep us safe so we can run the risk of growing up and being an adult in what would long time ago have been an incredibly dangerous

world. Don't touch the bug!

Don't eat the snake, especially that one that has fangs, this sort of thing. I know that I'm being funny about this for fact of the matter is it's very solid in principle what it is that I'm speaking simply because we have to learn to be careful and aware and not necessarily fear, but fear is our teacher. It's also our guideline. Sometimes our breaks and our protector. And there's nothing wrong with having that. There are many that espouse the idea of, of no fear. And really what they're saying is do stuff that is foolish.

armando (11:52.112)
and risky and hope that you survive versus the reality of

Fear is natural and it's okay to have that. The idea is not to let it overcome us wherever we allow our subjective self or even what we would more correctly call our secondary awareness take off because there's a quality of belief that happens within that gap between the stimulus and response as well that can actually shape what our response is and may push us into the level of reactivity that we're really trying to regulate. And this can derail whatever

best intentions we may have that can push us to the point of extreme fear, anxiety, panic, and for those that have experienced trauma, post-traumatic stress reactivity, even on up to PTSD type reactions. So once again, the space is very powerful, but much can occur here. But being aware of the primary awareness and knowing the difference between that and our secondary awareness, where our social judgment starts to arise at the

prefrontal cortical level, then we now know that this is what we're working with. Not only our body's awareness, but our brain's interpretation of those signals. And there's a belief quality that goes along depending on how compelling the signal. So this is the important thing. Whenever we're experiencing any kind of stress and we respond in a way that may be overarchingly

too much. Maybe we over respond. It's our body believing that there is dangerous that may be trying to hurt us or that we may interpret as something we need to get away from very quickly. And that's okay in many cases, but often the response is not a response, but a reaction that looks like it was a response at first that was interpreted and judged and therefore exaggerated as far as the actual outcome.

armando (13:49.632)
exaggerated. Why? Because the quality of belief and maybe even the suddenness of onset. And this is what we start looking at our ideas on perception that we've talked about and how fast a stimulus presents itself or we may see or hear. And if it's faster than 60 to 100 milliseconds at the the longest and we're looking at something that by default will be treated

like an enemy or like a threat. doesn't matter how happy and soft and fluffy and sweet it might be. If it's too fast and it jumps into my awareness, I will treat it like something that would have terrified me with intent to harm by default, just because it's too fast and our awareness cannot bring our consciousness and a recognition of those things that are friendly fast enough to we can make a decision, a safe decision, whether or not I need to react overreact or just say, Oh, it's just you. It's just a teddy bear versus Nope, it's a bear. So

taking this into consideration.

Whenever we're reacting to something often that quality or belief that comes up has to do with one how sudden it could come on or what the level of surprise is, so to speak. And also what it is that I need to do. Do I have a requisite program to respond to that? Am I going to smack it? Am I going to run or am I going to freeze this sort of thing? So that can actually kind of exacerbate a reaction, especially if I am hurt or I'm sick. If I am somehow hobbled because I

can't run because of illness, injury or age or for whatever reason maybe I'm stuck, maybe I'm entangled and this is where the terror levels can go up very quickly because I don't have a way to fight back.

armando (15:29.286)
And this is also where things become very dangerous to someone that may be approaching another that may have limitations and responses. And usually the one that is stuck in defending will be defending with everything that they've gotten and maybe extreme. And if it's too sudden, they could accidentally hurt somebody not meaning to, this is that shock surprise factor. And this is something that I'll probably be writing about later, having to do like the jump scare that has become so popular on social media, but it is something that can also bring out

response and you've probably seen the videos where people jump out of a freezer at a grocery store where they prank somebody and then they wind up getting knocked out because this person attacks versus freezes some people freeze and scream some actually pass out they actually fall on the floor unconscious for the most part and

These are the things that we're actually speaking of that have to do a lot with how we self-regulate if we do how we can possibly get away from danger if we can and if we can't level of escalation that occurs that is not always a conscious response because it's so fast we haven't really had a chance to think about it and choose it but rather it's our body that is trying to protect itself so it can become a very dangerous thing if people aren't careful and trying to prank people

encouraging not to do that. But that jump-scare quality is one of the things that we've been conditioned to react to and we have been conditioned to overreact to because of what we've been seeing on social media, because it's a consumable. It's a suggestion. If you watch this stuff, it's kind of saying that it's okay to respond that way. At some level, some people are doing things that are socially unacceptable and aren't in that flinch response level of speed, but they still see fit to smack somebody because they startled them.

as if that gives them permission to go and do something like hitting somebody. And you can tell whenever it's particularly fast and whenever it's a load of C-R-A-P, but we're not going to say the word, but

armando (17:33.112)
to continue with the discussion on the reactivity of the secondary level of awareness. There's also a shaping of belief that comes as a result of that pressure. And that pressure often will awaken that default mode network I mentioned early on in the intro. And that default mode network is always kind of resting in the background. But when there's anything that appears to be threatening, even

threat to the idea of who we consider ourselves, somebody insulting your, in quotes, honor or your, your integrity, which these are words and have to do with our social scheme. That's all an agreement that we kind of play along with, but can't really take anything away from you at the base level where it's being delivered by a verbiage or action. Of course, you know, that does influence social reaction. not saying there is no impact, but at the level of signal being received and perceived at the primary level.

of awareness to the point that our subjective level or secondary level of awareness is interpreting and our body responds in fear. This is what I'm talking about before it becomes somebody losing a job or worse, maybe even losing a life, this sort of thing, because that kind of influence, no matter what level of life we live in, whether professional or private, or even whenever you're doing something along the lines of military, words can kill. And often assumptions

can kill because an assumption often is based on a belief as well. And this is where we st-

tend to make mistakes based on what things look like without gathering of information. Sometimes we don't have the luxury of information and we have to shoot based on the averages and sometimes we make a mistake. Whenever you have to go by assumption, you're hoping that you will not fall from the frying pan into the fire. And oftentimes we realize that even if we're still in the frying pan, we're still getting burned because there's heat occurring. So that's kind of the leftover effect that we can't account for because the

armando (19:35.02)
that assumption. can't account for every variable and this is an important idea. Now the default moment network, the reason I bring this up is because there is a level of belief that goes along with whatever it is that our brain is perceiving at the most basic signal, pre-conscious, pre-verbal level. This is at the subliminal level. Limin is the term that has to do with the level or line above which our conscious mind may work, whereas the subliminal below that

line is just a hair under and imperceivable to our conscious thinking, reasoning, rationalizing mind. And this is where our autonomic system runs. But all of a sudden, whenever something comes on really fast, it will awaken our reactive responses, so to speak, having to do with, you know, how I'm going to

act as a result of being threatened or looking at something that could be potentially threatening. going to run? Am I going to jump this sort of thing? And whenever we realize that our default mode network awakens, whenever someone threatens our concept of self, as much as our idea of self, this is back to the example of the lemon. Whenever I ask you, Hey, have you tasted a lemon? Or remember biting the lemon or seeing someone else biting or licking a lemon for that matter? What happens often people say, Oh, my mouth, it

It's a watery, I salivate and some people they may reach up and touch or draw in remembrance of what sour things do to them, even though there may not be a lemon, there's an absence of lemon, but there's not an absence of response. That means at that level that our own neurology within itself, and there's a lot of self talk, so to speak in quotes, that self talk is often self signal and aware of awareness of the signal from different aspects of the brain talking to itself or communicating with itself.

But yet there is still a response because there's a belief quality. There's a compelling quality to the signal, even if it was imaginary. And it's enough to awaken that default mode network to elevate our level of heart rate and body temperature and get our sympathetic nervous system online. If it's something that's particularly scary or frightening. And even if it's a long dead memory in the sense that you haven't thought about that in 30 years, it will still be enough to bring up a response.

armando (21:58.32)
This is where we look at that space between stimulus.

and response where we have a chance to choose. And this is where a lot of the work is done. Whenever we learn how to overcome post-traumatic stress reactivity, whether it be by immersion and practice and learning how to respond and realizing, or maybe even going through narrative work where we write the story, talk story about what happened, and then we kind of start bringing it up. We pick it up. It doesn't come on by being triggered by an external environmental signal that reminds

is of, but rather we bring it up and it may not be pleasant, but we learn how to tease out the details so that we know, okay, I'm okay. And we learn how to inject within that space, the self regulatory skills that we need to manage and improve what it is that would be our reactivity if it's a negative thing. But if it's not, this is also where the realm of sports, psychology and hypnosis and suggestion tend to work as well to help us improve.

we respond versus react and to choose to do something else or to do something better and to improve what it is that we're doing as far as outcomes, maybe hitting a ball farther or catching better or staying calm in the presence of having someone throwing something at us or even striking at us and we learn how to exist within that space and that space is timeless.

But at the same time, it's a brilliant space for us to create change. And that's what I wanted to illuminate today between those two spaces, between stimulus and response, there is a space. And I think that Victor Frank will hit it right on the head. So I appreciate you listening today. And I thank you for letting me have some of your time. This is Saturday evening here in West Texas, and it's a little warm, but not so bad. And I want to tell you that, the YouTube channel is still getting quite a few.

armando (23:56.324)
But I only have 93 subscribers. Why don't you like subscribe and share and share that channel with people? There's a lot of information there that is useful. There are a few video instructions that I've done for some of my students years back during COVID and we were in the process once again of getting into interview format and we're about to turn that corner and this one man show was pushing it may be inching along but we are getting there and I already have some guests that are going to be lined up here soon. I'm really looking forward to that little scared, but you know what?

That's okay. Fear is part of life, but it's not something that's paralyzing me I'm going forward and I want to tell you thank you for your patronage. Thank you for listening Thank you for allowing me to enter your mind space. And if you've been sharing this, thank you for that and I certainly look forward to visiting with you You have any feedback comments or suggestions things you'd like to hear me talk about please send that to the email at running man get skills project at gmail

I'd love to hear from you. Take care. Think well. Walk well.