The Subconscious Mind: An Owners Manual Part 1

The subconscious mind – we all have one. But do we really know what it is, what it does or how to use it effectively?

Introduction

In the over 30 years I have worked as a clinical hypnotherapist, coach and counselor, I’ve come to understand and appreciate the role of the subconscious in our lives. It’s an amazing, but often hidden part of our mental make-up. I have created this blog series to help you learn more about your own mind and how to work with it effectively and elegantly.

The subconscious mind is a natural and powerful inner resource.

The more we know about our subconscious mind and the more we can consciously access it, the better our lives will be.

In this blog series, you are going to learn about the role of the subconscious as a record keeper and data organizer, the computer like aspects of the subconscious and it’s programming in terms of our beliefs, patterns, thoughts and feelings.

I will also cover the role of the subconscious in keeping the body healthy, in sleep and in the mind/body connection. I will show you how to work with the subconscious to change limiting and stressful patterns and habits, attitudes and beliefs. You will learn how to effectively communicate with the subconscious. You can understand the basic working principles and functions of the subconscious mind and understand the relationship between the conscious and subconscious minds and how they interact. Then you can consciously access your subconscious, its information and its functions and utilize it to enhance your daily life.

The key is to make friends with your subconscious and then to form an alliance with it.

The subconscious as record keeper

Your subconscious is processing and organizing all the data of your life 24/7/365. Every thought, every word, every deed, waking and sleeping, is stored in the data banks of your subconscious mind. Your subconscious is, in a sense, recording your life as you are living it.

The subconscious organizes all this data according to its programs, patterns, messages and templates. These come from your past – the experiences and people who have influenced you.

Carved within the templates of your subconscious mind are deep reserves of memory, association, feelings and perceptions.

The subconconscious never sleeps

Your subconscious has survival programs running to keep your heart beating and all your physical systems functioning harmoniously. It is responsible for creativity, imagination, intuition, sleeping and dreaming. Every night when you go to sleep, your subconscious goes through its checklist of all your major systems. It oversees all the physical repairs.

While you sleep, the subconscious provides you with the dreams you need for emotional health and balance. Each night when you sleep, you are healing and renewing your body and mind, courtesy of your subconscious.

By tapping into the power of the subconscious, you can accelerate healing and boost longevity. Your subconscious can help you to be healthy and strong. You can work with it to change habits and patterns that are unhealthy, destructive or have outlived their usefulness. You can replace them with habits and patterns that are supportive, happy and healthy.

The subconscious in computer mode

Your conscious mind is linear. Your subconscious is non-linear. It knows everything, all the time, all at once.

Imagine trying to hold all the data of your life in your conscious awareness at all times. You could not do it; trying would make you crazy. However, your subconscious is beautifully designed to do exactly that and more.

Though your subconscious is very computer-like in its function, it is more conscious than you are and it cares about you. It is aware and understands everything that you tell it and everything that you ask of it. It knows how to do things for you that you consciously do not know how to do.

You have no secrets from your subconscious. But your subconscious may have secrets from you.

It is where suppressed urges, desires, fears, doubts and limitations are located. It is where old, worn choices and beliefs are still active. Your subconscious holds all the information about you – your self- image, your world view, your beliefs and attitudes.

It is important to understand the old messages, scripts and stories that you tell yourself that still have impact, so you can reprogramme the ones that no longer serve you, and re-write the scripts and stories that hold you back from what you want.

Interactive levels of the mind

Although your subconscious is very aware and conscious, like a computer, it is not designed to make decisions. It must do what it has been programmed by you to do. It must give you the messages it has been programmed to give you even if those messages are negative.

Your conscious mind is the reasoning part of your mind – it is the decision maker. It uses logic and reason to think things out and solve problems. Once a decision is made, your conscious mind feeds information to your subconscious – which assesses the information and fits it into the correct files, templates, scripts, tapes and patterns and uses it to strengthen what is already there. Though your subconscious wants to help you carry out your decision, it may have conflicting data which is more powerful. Your conscious and subconscious work together to make these choices work for you.

Though your subconscious wants to help you carry out your decision, it may have conflicting data which is more powerful. Therefore some decisions can get rejected by the subconscious.

Everyone has experienced making a decision to change a habit they don’t like and later sabotaging it , even though they don’t want to.

In this respect, your subconscious mind can either be your greatest obstacle by stopping from succeeding or it can be your most powerful ally in helping you create the changes you desire.

When you want to create or manifest something in your life, the subconscious filters what you seek through its templates. It is at the subconscious level that manifestation can get skewed.

Your subconscious can be programmed.

There are proven ways to process and change the old programs, messages, templates and patterns. I have found hypnosis to be a powerful way to create changes in the subconscious. It can be given more expansive, realistic, positive, adult messages and it will be as faithful to the new messages as the old ones.

By tapping into the power of the subconscious, you can accelerate healing and boost longevity. You can work with it to change patterns that are unhealthy, destructive or have outlived their usefulness. Your subconscious can help you to be healthy, happy and strong.

Now that you are beginning to understand scope of how the subconscious works and its role as a record keeper and data organizer, In part 2, I will show you how to change the negative programs in the subconscious to create greater success and harmony, so that your your conscious and subconscious mind are working together to create what you desire.