You’re reading Mind Over Matter: How to Train Your Subconscious Mind Part 1, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Do you think it is possible to train your subconscious mind?
Changing your action without changing the program is futile – in the end.
Here’s a quick test to check this: How many of your (or your friends/family) new year’s resolutions are still going strong?
- Cheated on your low carb diet?
- Fell off the “no-worry-wagon”?
- Lost your temper and went crazy on someone?
- Fell back in love with the person who doesn’t love you back?
- Didn’t ask the boss for that promotion/raise/transfer?
- Just can’t seem to save that extra amount of money?
- Not finding the time to meditate as you promised yourself?
Don’t be too hard on yourself. You are safe, you are loved and you are on a journey with me as your guide for these precious moments. While you are reading this, remain as in-the-moment as you can be.
Now let’s get to work and break this thing open!
When looking inside your head, it is always important to work from a trusted model. Just as a mechanic would not dare to tinker around an engine without a trusted operating manual for the specific model car they are working on, neither should you mess with your Operating System without a trusted guide or structure to ensure you know where you are, where you are heading, what is missing, what is working and what you need to do to fill any gaps.
There are many, many models. Some well-known, some less known, some very good and some not that good. How do you distinguish a good model from a bad model? If you are present and in the moment and connected to whatever you would call your Source / Energy / Spirit, then it will be quite clear: you will feel it, or rather, if it’s not for you, it will feel “off”.
If you are not connected, then simply look at your results in following a specific model. Your reality is the best feedback-loop you can get. If you have terrible results, then you probably have a model that needs to be reviewed or changed.
The model I would like to use for the context of this discussion is by John Kehoe. The reason I like his model, is that it draws from many different disciplines: Zen, Shamanism, Kabbalah, Christianity, Jungian psychology, Neuro-science and his own experience with what he calls the Mysteries of Life. He has found significant success in using his model and has reached hundreds of thousands of people through his message.
For this article we are only going to focus on The Mind and Sub-Conscious. By now you are probably familiar with these two concepts, and you also probably know that they are connected.
The Mind operates in what is called the Known. The Sub-conscious operates in what is called the Unknown. This is also why the sub-conscious is sometimes referred to as the iceberg as it hides about 90% of its content.
Let’s look at the mind first. This is the part of your brain that looks at things logically. It uses reason and makes plans that you then execute – or not – more about that later. It translates your 5 senses into something practical for everyday use and it groups various pieces of information to assist you so you don’t get overloaded and so that you can feel in control when things get stressful.
It works in the “real world” and is easily verifiable through checking to see if something is true or not. Progress in the KNOWN via the Mind is predictable and mostly slow, but sure. This is where most of your practical knowledge comes into play. It is your Outer World.
The Mind is also passing on information to your Sub-Conscious. It only stops doing this when you sleep and your Sub-Conscious has some time to decompress and reconnect to the Unknown.
Now I don’t know about you, but getting your Mind to switch off is very difficult. In fact it is so difficult that some people dedicate their entire lives trying to accomplish this very thing, by tapping out of normal life and becoming monks.
Your Mind is always passing on bits and pieces of information to your Sub-conscious. It is also interpreting the things it passes on. So you don’t just see the new car you would love to have, you see a person driving one and you think: “There’s my future car, why can’t I have one, but he / she can? They probably earn a lot more money than I do, I wonder what they do, they probably love their job, man my job sucks, I really need to get a new one, but jobs are scarce right now, maybe I should just stay where I am, I can’t talk to my boss – he’ll never listen, I’ll probably be there for a lot longer… I don’t think I will own that car anytime soon, I better just forget about it.”
If you had a bit of a chuckle reading that then you can probably identify with this “running commentary” your mind feeds your Sub-conscious.
What’s not so funny, is the next part of the process:
Your Sub-conscious has no ability to discern what is true and what is false. It takes everything at face value. It does not operate in words and language as that is too limiting and slow. It operates on feelings and emotions. It takes what the Mind gives it, processes the feeling and connects that to the Unknown which is also connected to everything else. You might have heard the term “your vibration” before – this is exactly where it is located – the Unknown.
In the next article in this 2-part series, we’ll be looking at the how the Sub-conscious interprets what the Conscious mind feeds it. Have a close look at the running commentary in your head in the mean time – we are going to delve into that a bit further!
Ann x
You’ve read Mind Over Matter: How to Train Your Subconscious Mind Part 1, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Sig Nordal 