The Subconscious Mind. What do you know about it so far? What have you heard or read? Data storage and a programme that mostly runs our Lives, without our Conscious Awareness being involved, is the most common understanding of it.
We can start changing our undesirable circumstances by making conscious attempts to reveal its workings.
Let's look at why it's worthwhile to implement practical ways to cleanse it as well as harness its transformational power; recounting recommended practices, tailored Flow-inducing habits, and how this work influences your concept of Self.
Once you get more clarity on these, you will comprehend better how you can influence your Subconscious to your liking, for more desirable outcomes in your Life.
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How do we work with it?
Levels of your Mind. Making the un-/subconscious conscious.
Some use the term Subconscious and Unconscious interchangeably (apparently even Freud did that), many make a differentiation that the Unconscious encapsulates the deeper recesses of the Mind that are hardest to access, such as repressed thoughts often with intense emotions attached, as well as most functionalities of the Autonomic Nervous System; while the Subconscious houses automated behaviours that run under the surface of your Conscious. Their parting line is somewhat blurred in observation.
The Analytical Mind, sitting between the Conscious and Subconscious, acts as a filter as to what to retrieve and let through into your Conscious Awareness from the immense amount of data the Subconscious is gathering daily through the senses.
I'm applying mostly the more differentiated approach in my work.
I find it helps to more accurately gauge and define the accessibility of your patterns and beliefs.
Which means that we then have a better understanding of the effort and patience needed, to bring something into light (conscious); whether it's something that you can more readily access (subconscious) or we come across a behavioural expression throughout the work together, that suggests a deeper (unconscious) pattern to be at work.
One of the main qualities of Coaching is the ability to uncover these blind spots.
When we come across such deeply anchored limits, we prepare for unearthing the consequential network of patterns with utmost care.
Meaning that, when a past event caused you to generate a limiting belief that then started to create certain thought processes which now express in certain behaviours; the root causes can go way back into a time when you not simply acquired a belief triggered by an event, but which event may have bared you emotionally. Due to that amount of vulnerability, the pattern may be attached to very vivid emotions – long buried within, now finding their ways to the surface gradually or all at once. To face that and work through it, will usually require loads of Self-compassion and Awareness.
In case you wonder about the different modalities which address this type of work for different scenarios:
Therapy would be for stages when someone feels trapped in those patterns and is not yet ready to move on and focus on the future, but finds the most valuable to work through unveiling the past;
while Coaching is for a stage in the Journey when you have sufficient emotional-mental stability – not having overwhelmingly debilitating, incapacitating past wounds to take care of – to handle the process: revealing limiting beliefs, focusing on solutions, ready to take action for positive Change.
In every case, the recommendation should be based on what serves your best interests.
The choice is ultimately yours.
Why bother uncovering deeply anchored limits?
Greater Awareness: greater ability to make better choices.
In essence: to reclaim more and more of our Freedom in HOW we live our Lives. To regain Awareness of our power of Choice – and exercise it.
Because the more harmful and limiting beliefs you leave untouched, the more you allow them to distort your behaviour in negative ways, the more you act from fear, anger, guilt... (those trapped emotions attached to the pattern, mentioned above) in a sort of instinctive survival mode. This way more unexpected reactions can sabotage your interactions and decisions.
It certainly takes Courage to face your internal world that you may not have ever seen so clearly. But the first impact can soon turn into relief and a sense of powerful clarity. As if you clear away layers of fog around your vision. Lightheartedness as a quality can return more fully into your everydays. Preparing the ground for Flow experiences.
Before outlining many of the tools that help you capture those patterns and beliefs that are harmful and bring them into your Conscious Awareness – so that you can start working with them (change, optimise or learn to release them) –; for the most favourable results it can be crucial to get to know the nature and mechanisms of your Mind.
As the Subconscious is more readily available than the Unconscious, let's address especially the former in our conversation here today.
The nature of the Subconscious
Learning its operating mechanisms we can learn the ways with which to master it.
It wants to keep you alive and safe.
It looks for the familiar and resists the unfamiliar.
It seeks pleasure and avoids pain.
It operates through words that create vivid images.
Its language is that of emotions, images, memories, sensory data.
It works in present tense.
It takes commands literally.
The Conscious commands, the Subconscious obeys.
It tends to not change through applying sheer force or willpower.
It works via the language of understanding.
It has hardwired programming, containing deeply rooted beliefs.
It calibrates actions to thoughts to be consistent with what it knows from the Past.
It therefore tends to keep you in the Past, in the Known.
Its job is to ensure that you respond exactly the way you are programmed.
It cannot hold conflicting beliefs.
It makes sure that your behaviour fits a pattern consistent with your emotionalized thoughts.
It makes everything you say and do fit a pattern consistent with your Self-concept.
It learns by repetition. In combination with conviction.
Its hardwired programming can make it challenging, to change habits.
Practice recognizing your signs
Learning to increase your Self/Awareness.
The so called "comfort zone" can also be understood as an imaginary borderline of the Subconscious on a map of your Being.
When an event, a circumstance activates a trigger in you that generates a sense of fear or discomfort, anger, it usually tends to be a reliable sign that you ran into something that clashes with your Subconscious' current "operations manual".
It can be also a protective mechanism of your Core Values.
Such a situation can occur when you either unexpectedly experience something new or intentionally try out something yet unknown or you are facing a situation that activates a negative pattern because of similarity with a past experience.
Aim to observe yourself and others with an open Mind, without blaming or shaming.
Having clarity gives you a solid foundation for choosing better.
It allows you to exercise your power of Choice and decide to change, eliminate or replace a pattern that you see as destructive, something that seems to hold you back, something that doesn't contribute to your Life Vision. It also helps to make a distinction when it's not a limiting belief, but your reaction signals a situation that calls for maintaining your boundaries. Healthy boundaries are anchored in your chosen Core Values.
Clarity and the invested effort can naturally result in you trusting yourself more.
This way you can intentionally expand your comfort zone with more ease.
Knowing yourself better will aid the process of choosing your optimal habits and routines.
Habits we share
Habits based on our common human set-up. Subconscious-forming practices.
Let's take into account now some of the major tools to influence the Subconscious optimally.
Due to our shared human machinery, these work for most of us similarly.
Good news we can consciously reprogramme it by choosing circumstances when it's most suggestible.
Instead of going into details on all of the practices, rather putting them into context, the aim today is to have a good list of habits on your radar, that you can start experimenting with.
Brainwaves
When is the Subconscious most suggestible?
In the state akin to sleep (as you are dozing off, but you still have some level of conscious Awareness) as well as while you are sleeping, your Conscious Mind isn't active; therefore the information goes straight into your Subconscious in these times.
Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwaves are all accommodating Subconscious Programming.
Simple examples for how they show up: Alpha while meditating, Theta while showering, Delta in deep sleep.
Low Beta is a healthy level of alertness (eustress), while high Beta is the type of stress that is useful when you are in an extreme situation, someone's or your own safety is at risk; however this state can't be maintained on the long-term without negative consequences.
High Beta is the brainwave pattern that seems to cause so many of our 21st century issues – like chronic conditions attributed to lasting stress. Most often we can absolutely change this around by conscious choices. I highly recommend checking out Dr. Joe Dispenza's work for a deeper understanding on this.
With practice you can learn to balance your state in various situations and get back to your center; your conscious habit choices help us with inducing corresponding optimal brainwaves. The benefits are indicated in a greater resilience as well as a sense of increasing Inner Peace.
Subconscious Programming
All information is influencing your Subconscious.
Choose to optimise the information what you can influence.
That includes also the people you surround yourself with and how you relate to them.
Practising accepting people as they are usually helps with a more neutral standpoint.
This is especially powerful when you encounter opinions that seem extremely negativity-focused or are simply very different from yours.
Your choice what and who you invest your precious time and energy into.
Discern all information sources you are consuming on a daily basis.
What are your news sources? How much are you scrolling through your social media page? What can you unsubscribe from? What do you choose to subscribe to instead?
How much learning and novelty do you integrate into your days?
How do you hold space for someone while honouring your own personal space?
Taking the standpoint of learning from everyone and everything, exercising a Growth Mindset, is also a game changer.
While guarding your Mind from unnecessary clutter and distraction.
Depending also on what type of learning fits you most, auditory, visual or kinaesthetic, you can choose from the following practices. Some are very frequently mentioned, so you have probably heard of them or are even using them.
These are basically forms of auto suggestion.
Since we are the sole interpreters of our own reality, it matters how we perceive the world.
Through these practices we aim to create positive association to things through auto suggestion.
Audio: affirmations, sleep meditation, guided meditation, Self-talk
Visual: kaleidoscope and affirmations combination, vision boards
Written: journaling, Definite Chief Aim card
Kinaesthetic learning can actually mean to hone concrete activities to form them into habits. As in, learning by doing.
Environment: can be a combination of audio, visual and other sensory data
This includes what books and Mentors you have in your surroundings.
How much Inspiration do you include into your day? What are those things and who are those people who truly inspire you? Are you cultivating Inspiration from within?
Conscious language
The things you say internally and externally, influence your Mind at all times.
The way you talk to yourself is both a tool to influence your Subconscious as well a method that reveals to you your current map of Values and beliefs.
Disempowering versus empowering.
It is important that you observe if you keep your talking to others consistent with your optimal Self-talk. Watch your expressions that you habitually use, but which are contrary to your true internal thinking and your Values.
Also, remember when you use affirmations: just any words won't typically work very well.
The words and expressions you are using are supposed to change your state.
Changing your mental and emotional state is where transformation can happen.
To achieve that, you will learn which expressions resonate with you most. Notice the shift within as you verbalise your goals, your Vision; try out different variations until you feel, they have a certain energy to them that can shift your state any time you repeat the statement.
The more accurately they express what you expect to happen and the more aligned the feeling they generate, the more accurate the results.
You basically ignite your feeling of being inspired from within.
Another useful Brain function
Focus expands its subject or what you focus on expands.
You've probably heard this expression. This focusing mechanism actually has a part of the Brain at its service: the Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves at your brainstem that filters out unnecessary information.
It filters based on your beliefs (it seeks information that validate your beliefs) which is one of the reasons your perception of the world is truly unique to you.
This function can be your ally as well as a limiting factor.
Awareness again is key, to distinguish that; utilising it for a powerful focus on what you want to achieve and to recognize in your path all the contributing elements to that, but not let it narrow your view, not to become narrow-minded.
The power of Imagination
Imagination is your ally in the change process just like conscious language usage.
Creative visualization and visioning are both tools that are recommended for Subconscious work.
The distinction may best be captured by saying: the former is building based on things it consciously knows, while the latter allows your entire Mind to participate in the process and possibly even touch upon a spiritual connection. Depending on whether you are a spiritual person or not, you'll choose what you want to take from this.
As an example: if you have a fear of something, let's say public speaking; you practice the best outcome in your Mind, imagine the audience, make the image as vivid as possible, with the spotlights making the stage warmer, taking a sip of water before you go on stage and so on...
Such mental rehearsal helps to dissolve fear and build Confidence for whatever it is you want to improve upon.
Like there's that fascinating case study (Ohio University) that you can gain actual muscle mass by imagining to exercise. It wasn't as much as the result through real exercise, lifting weights and all, but still... it proves the point of how powerful our Mind is.
Imagination, like Einstein said, is beyond simple knowledge. Remember famous pioneers. Or take into account that we are all pioneers in our own Lives.
Just like when you envision for your Life a future that has not yet come to pass – you need not only be inspired, but have tremendous imaginative power as well.
Especially for those Big Dreams aka #moonshots
Imagination keeps us fuelled as we go through the ebb and flow of the Journey.
Meditation, Mindfulness and Gratitude practice
Probably the most potent modalities so far.
These tools can achieve immediate positive shift in your mental-emotional state.
Regular Meditation practice is proven to change your Brain: it thickens the Corpus Callosum, the largest white matter structure between your two Brain-halves and is responsible for their smooth communication.
That means that you not only get access to your Autonomic Nervous System through a meditative Alpha state, influence your Subconscious, transcend egoic views, conscious limitations and reset your energy while you are in it, but your Brain performance will be enhanced and the speed of processing increased on top of all other positive impact.
Alone this segment deserves many books worth of details (and there are many on the subject), so just now I simply sum up in:
you practice to change your state, your brainwaves change, your Body changes, your Mind changes along with your way of thinking, your concept of Self, and your reality.
The bits of adjustments every day, whenever you catch a disempowering thought and replace it with an empowering one; every time you invest time and energy into your optimal habits – every minute adds up.
The compound effect is one of the most effective and Life-changing concepts you can master. No wonder that atomic habits are so much raved about by successful people.
You are essentially learning to collaborate with conscious parts of your Mind to influence the subconscious parts of it with every decision you make: you are progressively upgrading your operating system.
Your tailored Flow-inducing habits
Acting from the ideal state.
While the previous practices are hugely impactful, we amplify their efficacy further
by embedding them into the concept and practice of Flow.
In this perception – which we apply in the work together –, Flow is not only a performance accelerator, but a state of Mind, a way of living.
Why Flow is so instrumental for us in this endeavour?
Because once you are in this also called optimal state, your thinking and the related actions come more effortlessly. There is an increased synergy of your various levels of human operation.
It is a state that has a transcendent quality, therefore a quintessential tool to shape our Subconscious Mind.
Among the main reasons is that the frontal lobe, that generates our sense of Self, goes mostly offline and we function at an optimum emotionally, physically, mentally.
Here are a list of Flow markers that you can use to qualify your experiences:
exceptional focus – energy is reallocated from frontal lobe
immediate, clear and unambiguous feedback
fatigue, boredom, doubts, lack of clarity and distractions get auto-excluded out of Consciousness
fear of failure subsides
focus is on the task, rather than Self
"the inner critic" is offline as well
creativity peaks
productivity goes up 500-700%
learning ability is amplified
the five most potent neurotransmitters are produced at the same time (Serotonin, Dopamine, Endorphins, Oxytocin, Anandamide)
the experience is intrinsically rewarding
there's a challenge/skill ratio balance
action and Awareness merge
there is a natural sense of control, Confidence and ease
time distorts and the Brain processes more sensory data (less filters active)
becoming autotelic is the ultimate reward
How you identify and tailor your Flow habits?
The first revelations come with observation.
Observe in your day-to-day when, at which activities, through which environments do you experience any or multiple simultaneously of the above markers.
Ordinary tasks are not to be underestimated. With practice, you can develop a blissful, empowered state even doing something simple like... the dishes.
So many things influence how we feel, how we perform, how we perceive things.
Optimising our internal & external environments will provide fertile ground for Flow experience.
Considering this holistic context, in the work together we identify how and which of the social, creative, environmental & psychological Flow state triggers work best for you.
These will then be integrated into the habits and practices that facilitate your desired results, your inspiring Leadership practices and ultimately, your Life Vision.
Your concept of Self
Ever evolving your way of thinking. Self-actualize.
Conscious living, conscious choices, conscious Leadership, Self-actualization.
We achieve these by increasing our Awareness – a continuous practice.
The more you know yourself, the better your choices can be.
Awareness of what you truly want, what your Core Values are, how your Vision of your Life really looks like, the quality you envision for the experiences you want to have, the contributions you intend to make as a Leader.
Your concept of Self is the foundation of how you realise your goals; it reflects your current level of Consciousness and the way you relate to yourself and the world around you.
Becoming your own best friend is one of the surest and greatest ways to stop yourself from creating further Self-imposed limitations and advance with your Inner Work.
When you see yourself from a high degree of Self-confidence, it's easier for you to see the various pathways, including the ones of least effort and highest yield, which lead to realising your Vision.
You start seeing things "in harmony and in contribution to your Vision", as Joseph Rodrigues tends to say.
You know one of those foundational questions that can inspire a whole load of thoughts which can be different to this same question as you evolve through Life: "What does Success look like for you?" The images and feelings you tie to succeeding with the Life Vision you see in your Mind's eye.
All those pioneers we mentioned before, who may inspire us all: they saw something that wasn't there before, they faced external and possibly many internal doubts, but they found ways, to realise their Vision. Like you.
All this information you are reading, changes the way you see reality and results in deep transformation in your Life when you choose to apply those methods and tools.
Just like my writing to you all here helps reconfirm and integrate information, it imprints further my own ideal concept of Self.
Just like when you are mentoring others in your own Leadership practice. When you are teaching what you have earned.
"Know thyself", I believe, is possibly one of the cornerstones to be a truly great Leader.
By constantly aspiring to be the best human we can be. And act accordingly.
You can only gain
Conscious choices to aid your Success.
Uncovering blind spots that otherwise sabotage your thinking, actions, results,
releasing biases and disempowering beliefs,
transforming beliefs to be empowering,
non-complacency,
Awareness of the implications, the negative impact on your Life when you don't do anything,
increasing your Awareness,
navigate our emotions and reactions better,
gaining further resourcefulness, congruence, coherence,
handling complexity better,
increased resilience,
fast tracking results as well as amplifying their quality,
having maximum yield out of time and energy investment,
more creativity,
an active Growth Mindset
and anything more that you believe now you can gain.
We are basically confronting our conditioning and become free of it, transform it.
Vigilance. Patience. Perseverance. Fuelled by a deeply inspiring Life Vision, you can keep transforming your Life to the better.
The great things in all this practising is that the more you understand your internal world, recognize your own mechanisms better, this also contributes to your finetuned perception of others. You can much better understand them too. You can become a much better, more effective, empowering and inspiring Leader.
You inspire through the quality Life you are creating, through the quality with which you show up and which you continuously increase through this work: achieving an upgraded Self-image from which you think, feel, act and behave.
It is not the easiest task, but we we can keep in Mind the highly empowering notion:
enjoy the Journey as well as the Destination.
The Coaching work together
For a greater quality Life and Leadership.
My work mostly focuses on experienced Leaders, business owners, who are currently focusing their Leadership practices to become more inspiring and empowering for their teams, business partners; to expand their Value-footprint by finding better ways for better outcomes; Leaders like you, who are willing to look at their Life holistically, finetune their Life Vision to reflect primary Values, hone their Character, to learn to become more conscious in their choices and discernment, apply Flow-inducing habits, and overcome behaviours that are currently not optimal for them neither their surroundings, through that damaging their Life quality.
When you feel ready to invest into the Coaching work part of your Journey, explore the options I currently provide through the main page:
Feel free to utilise the Self-assessment section on the website.
In the meantime: stay inspired and enjoy the Journey,
Tamara
Feel free to give feedback
Note: The highlighted words in bold or italic, and capitalizing words serve not only to enhance the essence of the message, but based on my understanding and learning, these measures support speed reading and aid the readability for those with dyslexia.
Feel free to give me feedback on the article and how applicable you find the tools.
What piqued your interest most? What was new? What was known? What did you want to further elaborate on?
Also, if you find the below listed recommended resources useful or wanted to add more to the list.
I'd be glad to receive your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, questions.
Recommended resources
Only some of the most relevant works.
Books
Dr. Joe Dispenza: Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
Dr. Joe Dispenza: Becoming Supernatural
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Tim Ferriss: The 4-Hour Workweek [lifestyle design]
Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich
Dr. Joseph Murphy: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Charles Duhigg: The Power of Habit
Greg McKeown: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Shad Helmstetter: What To Say When You Talk To Your Self
Emmet Fox: The Seven Day Mental Diet
Content
Marisa Peer hypnotherapist (Rapid Transformational Therapy™)
Joseph Rodrigues (You Tube channel) on Subconscious, living in Flow and Entrepreneurship
Relevant video/mind map example: How to program your subconscious mind for success
Concept: Robert Dilts' Logical Levels of Change
Articles (links)
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