Levels Of Imprinting

Imprinting has consequences. Many of our reactions are based on our level of imprinting. This is because Imprinting Levels define the nature and direction of our reactions. On Level 1 the reaction is about seeking approval. It is about going along and attempting to be seen in a way that can be validating. Unfortunately, it is rarely successful, which drives us to make greater efforts. The cost of this imprinting is that individuals in imprinted patterns cannot connect to us easily. On Level 2 the reaction is about pushing our self and others to conform to our desires. We react against anyone attempting to override our truth or experience. The problem is that our over-reaction only increases our intensity, pushing others away from us. As a result we become more isolated. The cost is that they see our distain and aversion and will not trust us with activities that could trigger them. On Level 3, our reaction is to switch to some other issue to distract our Self from our imprint problem. What we are avoiding is the perspective that we are impotent, falsely believing that we need to find a way to be successful which others have already pioneered. The cost is that we do not want to work with these individuals because there is always some reason things do not work out. This is why franchansing is one of the most ‘diverting’ ways to be successful.

Imprinting has three levels of increasing depth. What makes these levels of imprinting important is how much Imprinting we received, not only over Primary, Secondary or Mental Body differences, but how many of us had Expressions at different levels. Each level of Imprint has either Excitement, Intensity or Anxiety as its core feature. This is because the Objectification, Subjectification and Idealization of our parents end up energetically compromising our Life, Light and Love energies. The Imprint becomes a mixture of an Intention, a pattern of behavior and the trigger that sets it in motions when certain events occur in our lives. The more we, as children, look to our parent for guidance, the more we unconsciously take on these energetic compromises and replicate them within ourselves. This is how their coping mechanisms are translated into our coping mechanisms. The more our parents were incomplete or not successful in their own expressions, the more it creates a burden on their children to either push through these patterns and become successful or accept the turbulence of the world without a sense of being able to do anything about it.

The more feminine our natural Expression is, the more likely we take on greater imprinting overall. There are additional factors, such as a Goal of Acceptance, a Disarming Defense Style or Spiritualist Attitude, which could lead to greater imprinting as well. On Level 1 we take on certain patterns, word choices and behaviors to get approval and acceptance. These are mostly Covers. On Level 2 we take on the belief we need to learn more about specific things to be sufficient in the world. This is mostly about Taking Back Our Ground. In Level 3 we take on the role of the pattern, in terms of Intent, Content and some degree of Context. In so doing, we lose ourselves in the process. This is called a Diversion. Imprinting can become more important to individuals than being who they actually are. If we reach this level, it indicates we likely have been highly Objectified and Subjectified by our parents.

Level 1: Early in our development, we decide that our parents do not fully accept us as who we authentically and naturally are. By interacting with them, we formulate ideas of what we must do to survive. These ideas then tell us how to interact with others and how other should behave with us. Most level one imprinting relates to how we wish things could be better or different. We wax romantically and keep expressing ourselves in stories about how we want others to accept us, but do not have the guts to actually request acknowledgment. We commonly feel we are victims of our circumstances, and that only through fortuitous events will someone actually see and accept us for who we are. Over time, we unconsciously build these ideals into standards about how to act, which paradoxically become substitutes for our sense of loss at not being able to be ourselves. We become actors in a drama not of our own creation. We overcome these role-playing processes by becoming conscious of them.

Level 1 Indicators: We think we are helping others, but, in fact, we feel discounted and denied by them. When people do not honor our Level 1 imprinting, we feel irritated. We keep trying to make things better until they accept us in a particular way (which never seems to be a factor in the relationship, creating frustration).

Level 2: Imprinting involves losing ourselves in trying to anticipate what others expect from us so we can prove ourselves. This imprinting is deeper than level one in that it seeks specific ways to get seen, recognizing that other areas will not be acknowledged. In a way, this level reflects that we have given up hope that others will get us in a natural way. Ironically, it means that imprinting becomes work or a job to get done in order to maintain the status quo. It is primarily generated from family interactions, including older siblings. We believe that it is clever to get attention by adapting to others’ ways of being, but the more we try to provide what we think they need, the less we see that they do not want what we are trying to provide. The result is doing the best we can without believing it will make a difference. This can be validated by the degree we know things are not working, but we do them anyway. This level of imprinting promotes codependence, as each person attempts (for his/her own security) to match their own strengths with their partner’s perceived weaknesses. This hopeless perspective hinders the engagement of our imprinting. We heal this imprint by using humor to recover displaced frustrations and anger. We gradually invest in being true to ourselves rather than getting caught up in what others think about us.

Level 2 Indicators: Needing to be needed. When people do not honor our Level 2 imprinting, we feel powerless. We feel reassured when our partners have the same amount of pain around their imprinting. It disturbs us when others do not take our imprinting seriously.

Our deepest imprinting, Level 3, occurs only with parents, caretakers or other major authority figures in early childhood. Level 3 imprinting is where we lose ourselves completely in the identification of the imprint. In other words, we cannot see that we are not ourselves, or admit that it is any kind of performance or compromise. We create our own inner reality about how others appreciate us and become emotionally attached to this belief about how we should be. We defend our beliefs in this role, blind to the fact that it is not our true self when someone reflects we are not doing this role well. Ironically, we are oblivious to how the imprint is not working and keep making excuses based on the faults of others for why nothing seems to manifest. In Level 3, we are so disassociated that we do not even experience the pain of not being a contributor to life. This reflects how we were traumatized and fearful for our own safety and security to a degree where we mandated that we lose ourselves in how others wanted us to be. Level 3 imprinting reflects how traumatized our parents were and how they displaced their Safety and Security issues on us as a way (in their minds) of protecting us. In so doing, we inadvertently took on their lessons with the belief that those lessons were our own. We heal imprinting at this level by affirming our authentic expression so the imprint locked in these patterns can be redeployed in a way that acknowledges our truth. 

Level 3 Indicators: Disassociated and unacknowledged pain. When people do not honor our Level 3 imprinting, it feels intolerable because everything in our life revolves around others agreeing with who and where we are.