Your brain could be working against you.
On December 26, 1944, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese Imperial Army was deployed to the small island of Lubang in the Philippines.
His orders were to slow the United States’ progress as much as possible, to stand and fight at all costs, and to never surrender.
In February 1945, the Americans arrived at Lubang and took the island with overwhelming 😲 force.
Within days, most of the Japanese soldiers had either surrendered or been killed, but Onoda and three of his men managed to hide in the jungle.
From there, they began a guerrilla warfare campaign against the U.S. forces and the local population, attacking supply lines, shooting at stray soldiers, and interfering with the American troops in any way that they could.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered, and World War 2 ended.
However, thousands of Japanese soldiers were still scattered among the Pacific islands, and most, like Onoda, were hiding in the jungle, unaware that the war was over.
The U.S. military, in conjunction with the Japanese government, dropped thousands of leaflets throughout the Pacific region, announcing that the war was over and it was time for everyone to go home.
Onoda and his men, like many others, found and read these leaflets, but unlike most of the others, Onoda decided that they were fake, a trap set by the American forces to get the guerrilla fighters to show themselves.
Onoda burned the leaflets, and he and his men stayed hidden and continued to fight.
By 1950, the leaflets had stopped. 😢 The local population attempted to return to their normal lives of farming.
Yet there were Onoda and his men, still shooting at the farmers and burning their crops.
In 1972, a guy named Suzuki traveled to Lubang and then shouted Onada’s name literally, and he said that the Emperor was worried about him.
Suzuki asked Onoda why he had stayed and continued to fight.
Onoda said it was simple: he had been given the order to “never surrender,” so he stayed.
For nearly 25 years, he had simply been following an order. 😮
So if you notice that Onada was following the order to never surrender, and in this process, even harmed the locals for more than 25 years. He did not even realize that he was doing a self-goal. 😬
Correction with Onoda’s Story
Just like the story above, many times, our brains stay stuck to the old patterns think are much needed for the brain to survive and protect from danger.
But then an act of self-reflection and sharing your story with people who have gone through this journey can be really a game-changer.
In my case, I got a command that I can sleep only when my conditions are right, like the same pillow, same blanket, etc.
This caused a lot of issues in 2019. I had the Anxiety of not sleeping, and also the wrong command. I did many self-goals like Onada and kept on living in a state of fixing the problem.
But then, in May 2019, I was introduced to the practice of meditation. Nothing dramatic happened all of a sudden. But then I started the point of self-reflection, and when I meditated regularly, I understood that my command was wrong, and then came out of doing a self-goal.
I hope this story made you realize that just by blindly following a command, you end up self-sabotaging and you end up damaging your body.