As both a Life Coach and an Energy Healer, I work to clear the many negative belief patterns clients hold in their energy field and their brain. These negative patterns run our lives automatically without our conscious knowledge. One of these stubborn patterns is the belief that life happens to us and all circumstances are out of our control. This is what I refer to as “Victim Consciousness”. We all harbor this point of view, and live our lives as if it is true.

 

So just what is Victim Consciousness? It is the process of viewing life happening to us rather than realizing our ability to create it ourselves.  It functions as a habitual mechanism through the perception that we are separate from one another, when in fact we are all connected. This belief causes war, hate, greed, jealousy, crime, prejudice, failure, poverty and even disease. Over the last 5000 years we have become dependant on this belief for our very survival. We have been conditioned with this illusion from the time we were born. It is the main affliction of the human race.

 

We do create our lives, just not consciously. This deep seeded belief grows like a weed intertwining itself through every word, act and thought. It plays out in our lives constantly and automatically. In fact it is so subtle, it prevents us from seeing our own divinity. It is this specific belief that prevents us from accessing our inner power.

Consider driving for a moment… When you encounter heavy traffic, how do you deal with it? How do you see it? How does it make you feel? What actually goes through your mind and body? Do you see cars or traffic as an obstacle in your way? Even if you believe the universe is trying to tell you something or prevent you from an unfortunate event, you are still operating from victim consciousness. You can only observe this belief by becoming keenly aware of how you are thinking and by noticing how you manage your everyday life. 

Victim consciousness functions at a very deep level. It is hidden in our blind spot. It is the way we approach life as right and wrong, good or bad, and better or worse than. It is the primary cause for experiencing fear, paranoia, frustration, anger, resentment and many other negative emotions that store in our bodies while causing havoc to our health. It ages us quickly through the stress of having to figure out strategies to stay alive. In a seminar I attended, the speaker pointed out that we continuously act like we are at war, living on the streets or being chased by a saber tooth tiger. Through this perception, survival is all that is on our minds. Remember the Seinfeld episode when George is trying to “look good” for a girlfriend and her family? While attending his girlfriend’s son’s birthday party, a fire starts in the kitchen, and George finds himself pushing down a little old lady to save himself. We are a lot like George. Most of won’t push a little old lady down, but we do view others as competition because we look at living as, “if I’m not first, I will die”. This belief is constantly being played out as blame and justification. Think about it. We stay in jobs we hate or relationships that are abusive or unrewarding, all for survival. We put up with life rather fully live life. Darwin phrased this exact belief in the title of his famous book, “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” Believe it or not, we have downloaded this very thought into our subconscious mind.

This programmed belief is why we have judgment of self and others, and the reason we do struggle through life. It takes a huge amount of energy to keep functioning from this point of view. We operate by trying to control our outer world. Imagine the amount of energy you would have, if you would just let go.

Many times throughout my life, my focus was on others. Caretaking was one of those downloaded programs that I thought I needed to carry out in order to survive. It is an extremely subtle program that presents itself in the form of “love” when in fact it is all about us. Our children are perfect examples of this. When my son was 16 years old, he decided to go somewhere without telling me. When he didn’t return at a decent hour, I was sick with worry. Frantically I called everywhere to make sure he was ok. After he returned home, I felt my body and mind relax. I laid in bed pondering how I would feel if something had happened to him. At that moment I realized his safety was all about me. I was more focused on how “I” would feel, instead of allowing him to be free to discover his own life. I became conscious of my lack of trust in him and the choices he made. I was trying to stay in control so that “I” could be okay. We love our children and would be heartbroken if anything happened to them; however, a lot of rules are in place when we care take, and the freedom to truly live is taken away. When these rules are broken, we get angry and complain. It is not unconditional love.

 

I know a man who determines his happiness on a set of rules he learned as a child. He views these rules as common sense, so most likely he learned them at a very young age. He was born and raised on the east coast, and being the most densely populated area of the United States, I suppose they were taught to him as tools for survival. I saw these rules as a way to control his life around him for his safety and security. In order to have a relationship with this man, one would have to abide by his set of rules. The point being, he is victim to these rules. On a subconscious level, compromising his rules would mean his death. To drive my point further, because of the stress of having to set his life around his rules, he is plagued by a lot of health issues.
 

Victim consciousness distracts us from our higher purpose, our intuition, our power, self-love and our ability to create. It only sets us up for failure. Observing our actions, thoughts and words through our vigilant awareness is the key to distinguishing this program. Once we distinguish this program, we can detach from it and actually truly live. If this belief weren’t operating when my son went missing, I would have had a great night’s sleep. I would have known he was safe by listening to my own intuition. Perhaps if this man from the east coast would see that his set of rules was simply a programmed belief, he might be able to restore his health. “Let go, and allow” is now my motto.

Look at how victim consciousness is being played out in your life. Here are some questions to consider:

Are you constantly defending yourself? Are you full of excuses? Do you view yourself as better or worse than someone else? Do you feel you have no choice or feel trapped? Are you constantly asking yourself “why is this happening to me?” Do you complain about your job, relationship or your life? Are you feeling stressed or worried about someone or something else? Do you want approval from others? Do you constantly compare yourself to others? Are you trying to prove something to the world? Do you find yourself blaming others for your misfortunes?

Within each of us is a spark of the divine whole. “We are a spiritual being having a physical experience.” As the famous French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once pointed out. We incarnate to create and carry out greatness in our own unique way. It is imperative to move beyond this debilitating belief into a world of self-empowerment and limitlessness; however, it must come from an authentic understanding before change can take place. We must honestly look within ourselves and notice how we operate in life.  We must relinquish all survival strategies to become free and trust in our own divinity. In other words, we cannot “fake it til’ we make it.” We simply need to let go of control.

In truth, the world around us reflects our current state of consciousness. If you are unhappy with what you are experiencing and sick of being sick of your life, it's time to discover the way out!

Article Written By: Roni Antonio, certified life coach and energy healer. 2012 and revised in 2016