I've spent 7 years as a photographer and have seen people from all over the world repeat the same self-destructive traits without even knowing it.
Simply because most of them don't understand the body and brain connection. Why anxiety hits their chest in a crowded room, why jealousy arrives when they're faced with their internal wound, or why they get angry and hit the car horn when someone cuts them off.
Each person is responding back to every situation with their nervous system, not just their mind. This is why one person remembers a crowded room and another person remembers the popular cafe.
Same story, different nervous system.
Here is what I mean. Your nervous system is where your mind and body connect, and it's what I call your body's mind. It holds everything outside your brain and drives your conscious decisions based on subconscious programming.
Here's the critical part: your nervous system is responding to what's been programmed into it since childhood or from past experiences. The moment you experience something that hurts you, your body remembers that and continues trying to protect you. It recognizes things as familiar. So even if you're consciously aware of what you want or don't want, if your body recognizes something as familiar, it attracts that into your life. If you're accustomed to a certain bank balance, certain types of people, or certain relationships, your body keeps attracting those because it recognizes them as safe.
This is why people stay in toxic or abusive relationships. They're consciously aware it's not safe, but they can't leave. That's because what they believe isn't just happening consciously. It's hidden in their subconscious and living within their body.
Once you understand how it works, you can rewrite what's already been programmed into it. That's where your real power lies.