Ths Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind is a very mysterious part of a person because it is just that: sub-conscious. We are not aware in our active thinking mind of what is going on below our awareness. This is one of the most perplexing parts of personal development. This area of our mind has a huge impact on our lives, but it is not obvious what is going on in there minute by minute.

The subconscious mind is active in the ventral palladium, much deeper than the conscious mind which operates in the prefrontal cortex. It primary function is to record everything that we see as memory. All of our experiences and beliefs about those experiences are stored in our subconscious mind. While we go about our day, our subconscious mind is receiving input and processing that input against our existing beliefs. From all of that input and analysis, it feeds thoughts back to us.

As an example, a few years ago, I was coming home from a function at 9:00 pm one evening. It was dark outside, and as I pulled into the driveway, I noticed the hedge in front of our house. Without any conscious effort on my part, I received a thought and mental image of someone jumping out of the hedge to attack me. I certainly did not choose to think that thought, but it was there just the same. Where did it come from? The thought was my subconscious mind interpreting for me, in my situation, a story about a girl I had seen years earlier that was attacked in her home.

My subconscious processed that 9:00 pm moment as:

Years ago met girl who was attacked; hence, attack is a possible reality.

I am a woman and do not currently believe that I could fend off an attacker…fear.

Dark evening, coming home alone…good recipe to replay this story and belief.

Sorry to have to use a damper of an example, but I thought it illustrated this point well. Change can become frustrating when we are fed thoughts by our subconscious that we would not consciously choose. Many times our subconscious will pick up on detail in our environment that we are not even aware of at the time. We later receive these as thoughts that seem to come from nowhere.

When I first heard about changing your thoughts to change your life, the speaker said that we could choose our thoughts. I remember thinking that I could not choose my thoughts; they are so random and out of nowhere sometimes. Yes, we can purposely think things, but there are some thoughts that come to us strictly from past experiences, sometimes from many years ago.

Where is the power to change your life? The power is in choice. Once a thought comes to us from our subconscious, we can choose to ruminate on it or we can choose to let it go. The more we dwell on these unwelcome thoughts, the stronger they become because our subconscious will log those as important thoughts. Before you know it, a fleeting thought can become a habitual thought which in turn becomes fear, anxiety, anger, jealously, greed or sadness. Those negative emotions will create a reality that is much less than desirable.

Be very careful about what you watch on TV and how much news you read. Everything is being absorbed by your subconscious and shaping your life.

Our best bet is to feed our subconscious as many positive thoughts, books, tapes, seminars, friends, family, love, joy and peace as we can muster.

Eventually, you’ll find that your subconscious will be sending you ‘best case scenario’ thoughts. Positive thinking will become your default habitual way of living, and that is a splendid thing!

Return from Subconscious Mind to Mind Power