Anchored to Origins

Acrylic, house paint, hardware, and wood on salvaged wood.

7” x 11” x 3.5”

"Anchored to Origins" explores how our childhood experiences of stressful situations shape our behavior as adults. The rules we learn during those times often influence how we navigate life. While we consciously live in the present, our instinctual responses are rooted in the past, when we lacked the capacity to handle threatening situations effectively. Children typically adopt survival strategies other than fighting, leading to a limited set of tools they rely on as adults. The Super Ego, which forms around age 5, establishes the rules that shape our worldview and sense of self. If we never experience a sense of safety before the development of the Ego, the Super Ego takes its place, influencing our entire personality and determining how we react to others. Our Lizard Brain prioritizes survival, causing us to associate more sensory inputs as threats and reducing our tolerance and enjoyment of life. This unconscious process became apparent to me only when I started practicing metacognition.