“But what if our emotions and past conditioning are so powerful in the moment that we can’t change how we feel and act? That’s all right. As long as we stay mindful enough, we give our unconscious processes new information, and we will be more successful in the future. With repeated effort, we will become less reactive, maybe without even realizing it. Even if we lose mindfulness completely in the heat of the moment, we can still use it afterward to reflect on what happened, our reactions, and their impact on ourself and others. By recalling the events vividly, examining them honestly and nonjudgmentally, it will begin the process of reprogramming, which in turn makes it easier to stay mindful in the future. This is quite different from what usually happens. Because it’s always painful to revisit a situation that made us uncomfortable, we typically like to put it out of our minds, or if we can’t, we try to justify what we did and place the blame elsewhere. This keeps vital new information from reaching our unconscious mental processes.”