What is the Subconscious Mind?

How can I change the thoughts in that part of my mind?

When we talk about the mind, we often refer to both the conscious and the subconscious mind. Your conscious mind is your short term, everyday waking awareness. Consciousness is awareness of our thinking, feeling and actions. The term subconscious is defined as “existing or operating in the mind beneath or beyond consciousness.” This part of our mind is the seat of our imagination, memories, beliefs, emotions, dreams, values and behaviours, and it controls functions without conscious awareness, such as breathing and our automatic nervous system. Often called the “heart of the mind”.

Our thinking affects our feelings, which in turn affect our behaviours. Have you ever tried to change a habit only to find your subconscious mind resists your conscious efforts? There is a law of the mind at work here: if your conscious and subconscious mind are in conflict, your subconscious invariably wins.

People try to consciously change their habits through will power or self-discipline. Yet the reason for most people’s unhappiness and lack of success is that they are heavily influenced by this child-like, emotional, subconscious mind. There is a statistic that 80 percent of the things we believe about ourselves were formed before the age of eight. This was before we had the ability to discern and rationalize. Therefore much of what we believe is outdated, unwanted and not necessarily true or factual. Sadly the bottom line belief for many people is “I am not good enough.”

If you really want to change, then you need to address these old, outdated, unwanted thoughts at this level. There are a number of methods you can use to directly affect the subconscious mind such as Hypnosis, meditation, visualisation or affirmations. Hypnosis, for example, is a powerful tool in therapy because in this natural, relaxed state you are able to access the subconscious plus you are more open and responsive to new, positive suggestions.

Your suggestions or affirmations should always be phrased in a positive way such as “I feel comfortable”, rather than “I will not feel uncomfortable”. The subconscious does not recognize negatives and will literally hear “feel uncomfortable”. When your conscious mind and subconscious mind are in alignment you are happier, more congruent and are able to accomplish more in your life.