Becoming conscious of our unconscious biases

There are the beliefs, the philosophies we consciously choose - and there are the ones that quietly choose us. They work in the background, unseen, deeply shaping how we feel, think and act.

Unconscious bias lives quietly behind the things we know and the assumptions we don’t even realise we are making. It hums beneath our awareness, shaping perceptions, decisions and our interactions.

At its core, it is part of the human condition. Our brains are wired to make quick decisions. Every second, we are processing an overwhelming amount of information, but consciously, we can only handle a fraction of it. To bridge that gap, the brain uses shortcuts, drawing from memory, culture and experience to fill in the blanks. However efficient it is, these patterns are built on stereotypes or ingrained prejudices. They don’t just distort our thinking, they also limit our hearts.

Bias isn’t something we just carry. It is something that carries us - away from connection, from understanding and from growth. When we choose to question and to unlearn, we begin the work of reimagining not just how we see others, but how we see the world itself. We begin relearning and forming new neural pathways in our thinking and feeling.

Bias is often a reflex, born from familiarity. The comfort of what is known, the ease of what feels safe. It’s favouring what is familiar and dismissing what is different - whether it’s a person, a decision, or an idea. These biases are often invisible to us, making them all the more powerful. We shrink the vastness of human potential into neat little boxes.

Unconscious bias doesn’t just affect how we see the world. It shapes how the world sees us, and how we move through it. It creates boundaries where there should be bridges. It builds walls where there should be open doors.

By becoming conscious of our unconscious biases, we begin to loosen their hold on us. We create space between reaction and response. We interrupt the autopilot, to notice our internal retorts, to question their origin and to choose with intention. To recognise our bias is not to confess wrongdoing. It is to reclaim our capacity for choice. It is to respond rather than to react. It leads with discernment, not default.

Let’s allow curiosity to replace assumption, pause where judgement used to be and notice the pattern in our preferences. This is not a call to perfection. It is a call to presence. To awareness. To humility. The real gift lies not in being right, but being willing to see what we have never noticed before.

The more we observe, the more we begin to change the way we engage with others, and the more we allow others to change us. It's not enough to want to change. We must choose it, moment to moment. It is in this choosing that we may finally be able to see the world with its infinite possibility.