Did you know you have two minds – a conscious mind and a subconscious mind? We all know what the conscious mind is, but what is the subconscious mind? Beneath your critical thought processes and conscious awareness lies a commanding and awe-inspiring data bank of everything you’ve ever thought, felt, observed or experienced. Learn how to reprogram you subconscious mind by using these simple techniques.
Your subconscious mind is a million times more powerful than your conscious mind. This is good news because you can use this remarkable computer to your advantage.
Table of Contents
Understanding The Subconscious Mind
Understanding your subconscious mind is so vital because it’s running your life, at least 95 percent of the time. This means the majority of your waking life is run by subconscious programming you’re not aware of. On the other hand, your conscious mind is working only five percent of the time.
What significance does this information hold for your life? Well, for starters, it means your subconscious database, stemming from childhood, is either unconsciously supporting you or sabotaging you. Overwriting negative programs playing below your awareness can change your life, putting you more in control of the outcomes you desire.
Affiliate Links ✔️
Conscious Mind Vs Subconscious Mind
The subconscious mind (SC) is like an extensive computer containing massive amounts of information and memories. It is way more powerful than the conscious mind, programming you to think and behave in certain ways because of childhood conditioning.
Visualize your SC mind as a car, and your conscious mind as the driver behind the wheel. While the car itself is a powerful vehicle, the person in the driver’s seat has control. Children from birth to age seven are in a theta brainwave state where they’re like little tape recorders, downloading and absorbing every single piece of information coming their way, locking it forever into memory.
This information could be messages, impressions, and observations coming from their parents, siblings, school teachers, friends, and other stimulus in their environment. Remember when a tape recorder is playing, it’s recording everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Children take everything literally because of their immaturity, and the fact that they’re so impressionable.
For instance, sarcasm, joking, and teasing are all taken literally, not accounting for nuances, and the intention or motivation behind a hurtful statement or action. All these experiences are stored subconsciously, dictating how the future will unfold.
Your Subconscious Mind Creates Your Reality
Programs formed in childhood are constantly replaying. It’s like they’re on a never-ending playback loop. This is why the answer to the question: “Is a five-year-old running my life?” is “Yes.” Unconsciously, the child you were has a lot to do with how your life is unfolding.
Theta, the brainwave of childhood, is below consciousness, and is the imaginative mind. This is why young children have such keen imaginations, and why childhood memories are so pervasive throughout our lives. Interestingly, Theta is essentially hypnosis.
During the first seven years of life, the subconscious mind is operating in this hypnotic frequency, downloading behavioral programs through observation and interaction with others. At this crucial time in a child’s development, the conscious mind is not a player, so these unconscious recordings cannot be critically analyzed, reviewed, or processed. The child innocently accepts them as truth.
Theta Brainwave Frequency
Because children are predominantly in Theta, a hypnotic state, programming is cemented into the subconscious. After age seven, a child can add additional programming to the SC mind through habit and repetition, but it takes awhile.
Remember learning your multiplication tables in elementary school? This is how habits are developed, through repetition or memorization. Your conscious mind functions differently. Desires, dreams, and aspirations live in this part of the mind.
The conscious mind represents your personhood, individuality, and creativity. The problem lies in the fact that the conscious mind is only operating 5 percent of the time, explaining why unconscious self-sabotage is common due to the SC mind being in control.
Two Different Operating Systems
The subconscious mind can either be your ally or your enemy. It’s not rational, and is like a garden, in that it accepts everything you put into it, both the positive and the negative.
It doesn’t have preferences, but is neutral. Plant the right kinds of seeds, and your garden will be fruitful. The opposite is also true. The conscious and subconscious minds, although separate from each other, can collaborate.
This train of thought can be dubious, leading to the assumption that changing the conscious mind will alter the workings of the SC mind. This isn’t true, however, as the conscious mind doesn’t learn in the same way the SC mind does.
The Conscious Mind
The two minds differ, not only in how they learn, but how they function. The conscious mind is the creative mind, while the SC mind is the habit mind, having a limited capacity for creativity. Although, creativity resides in the conscious mind, this creativity is filtered through the subconscious.
Consciously, you have the ability to learn by reading an informative book, listening to a presentation, or watching a video. While these stimuli can change what’s happening in the conscious mind, it’s not enough to change your life.
The crowning glory of the conscious mind is its ability to think. It’s also great at paying attention to what’s happening at the moment. There’s a caveat though. When the conscious mind is thinking, it can no longer pay attention because it’s trying to work through and resolve the problem it’s thinking about. This is the point where subconscious programming automatically kicks in.
As an example, let’s say you’re driving to a location you’ve driven to a hundred times. As you’re driving, you consciously start thinking about solutions to a problem that’s been bothering you. Obviously, you don’t need to pull the car over just so you can think, rather you keep on driving, because your SC mind is in control. This ability to drive and think simultaneously is due to the habitual nature of the subconscious.
The Subconscious Mind
Another distinguishing factor between the two minds has to do with change. The conscious mind can easily change compared to the SC mind, which resists change. This resistance is because its main objective is to maintain the programs it has recorded.
This is why habits are so difficult to break, but it’s also why you can still ride a bike after not riding one for ten years, and why you have never forgotten how to swim. I bet you can also recite verbatim your favorite childhood nursery rhyme. This is the power of your SC mind.
Wrap your mind around this thought. Studies have shown that 95 percent of our lives are occupied by thinking. Remember what happens when you’re thinking? That’s right, your SC mind takes over. This means all your unconscious childhood programming, recorded while in Theta, is controlling your life.
Your dreams and desires are only working five percent of the time. This is why people sabotage themselves and have no idea why. Thank goodness for the SC mind or we’d have to relearn everything we’ve already learned. Can you imagine? It would be nothing short of exhausting.
How To Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind
The first step is to be aware of and recognize the truth that your conscious mind is not in control. Once you have acknowledged this fact, you can begin the hard work of manipulating the programs repeatedly playing in your SC mind.
A child who has been repeatedly told they’re worthless, and that they won’t amount to anything, will carry this destructive belief within them throughout their lives. Even though they aren’t consciously aware of it, these thought patterns are alive and well in their SC mind, exerting their effects in a myriad of ways.
Maybe they can’t break an addiction, or stick to an exercise program, or lose weight, or stop sabotaging their relationships. The list goes on and on. These negative beliefs show up in a number of ways.
Below are 3 ways to reprogram the subconscious mind:
1. Repetition
Replacing harmful beliefs and behaviors with positive programming is the key to change. When this happens, you can learn from the information you take in, effectively implementing and benefiting from it. The knowledge you gain from reading self-help books or watching motivational seminars can then be applied because your SC programming, having been rewritten, can no longer negatively impact you.
Reprogramming can be a long process because you have to repeat new patterns and behaviors over time. Awareness is the first step, but it must be followed by action. Knowing you have limiting beliefs that are controlling your life is not enough, nor is the desire to change sufficient. You have to put in the hard work, which will be worth it in the long run.
2. Hypnosis
Hypnosis is effective at changing adverse programming because of its ability to directly rewrite programs within the SC mind. Once the damaging belief, behavior, or program is rewritten, the new desirable behavior must be repeated consistently, in order for it to take hold in the SC mind. The old, limiting beliefs or behaviors can then be replaced with productive ones.
Through repetition, new behaviors become habitual. This is exactly how you get your SC mind to work in your favor. We want healthy programming to drive our behavior, rather than being tossed to and fro by unconscious control.
3. Energy Psychology
The power behind energy psychology, similar to hypnosis, is the ability to change existing SC programs quickly, by communicating directly with the SC mind. This is done by replicating the Theta state the brain was in during childhood. By utilizing this modality, past experiences can be replaced with new beliefs. It’s kind of the same idea as recording over an existing tape recording. Your life can then operate from this new belief system.
PSYCH-K is an energy psychology technique that changes old programming that has led to dysfunctional thinking and behavior, keeping a person from reaching their full potential. When negative programming is replaced, you’ll notice all kinds of positive changes in your relationships, self-esteem, physical and emotional health, job success, and abundance. Challenges will be easier to deal with when your old programming is rewritten.
Learn more about PSYCH-K here
The Biology Of Belief
Bruce Lipton’s Biology of Belief is a fantastic book if you want to learn more about the conscious and SC minds. It will change the way you think about how you think. Learn the defining characteristics of your two separate minds, and how to handle these differences when trying to overcome bad habits and limiting beliefs.
Knowledge is power, and this book will give you the understanding you need to conquer the things that aren’t working in your life. Both empowering and inspiring, you’ll love the clever analogies that make the unfamiliar concepts easy to comprehend.
Check the book out here and the audiobook here.
Another amazing book is Joseph Murphy’s The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind. Learn how to harness the incredible power of your SC mind by using the techniques outlined in this remarkable book.
Take your health to the next level, create abundance in your work life and finances, boost your self-confidence and self-esteem, while enhancing the quality of your relationships. You’ll even learn how to overcome phobias and compulsions. This information is paramount if you want to change the course of your life.
Key Points
Each of us has two separate minds that are unique in their function and in their ability to learn. I hope you realize just how powerful your subconscious mind is, and its enormous impact on your life.
Reprogramming the tapes playing behind the scenes is possible, which is why awareness surrounding this subject is so critical to changing the blueprint that has been dictating your life up until now!
How have your negative belief patterns, established in childhood, affected your life? Let me know in the comments:)
References:
(1) Brucelipton.com: Is there a way to change subconscious patterns?
(2) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: The Unconscious Mind
(3) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Bruce Lipton, PhD: The Jump From Cell Culture to Consciousness
(4) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: The inevitable contrast: Conscious vs. unconscious processes in action control
(5) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Unconscious Psychological Treatments for Physiological Survival Circuits
(6) Changing Your Beliefs: WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PSYCH-K? A QUICK VIEW
(7) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: What is hypnosis and how might it work?
(8) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Brain states and hypnosis research
(9) Stanford Medicine: Study identifies brain areas altered during hypnotic trances
(10) Research Gate: The predicting brain: Unconscious repetition, conscious reflection and therapeutic change
(11) Scientific American: What is the function of the various brainwaves?
(12) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Traveling Theta Waves in the Human Hippocampus
Disclaimer: This article is strictly for informational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice. Please be diligent and always do your own research in regard to any material I present on this site. I claim no responsibility for any distress, whether it be physical or emotional, that may occur as a result of the information you obtain from my blog.
My subconscious is very strong when I’m driving. It feels like second nature. By following the same route to work and back, many times my subconscious overpowers my conscious mind when I’m thinking. I can take my usual route and daydream at the same time. It is very interesting. The act of repetition is really strong. That is why in martial arts you are to practice the same moves everyday.
Isn’t it awesome that we can drive and think at the same time?! It’s pretty amazing. I can see why you would want to practice your martial art moves everyday. Repetition is powerful! Thanks for commenting.
This is a very interesting article and is something that a past girlfriend and I used to discuss. She had a belief that if a person could do something differently for 45 days straight that the new habit would be formed subconsciously. It could be anything like changing your style of clothing to modifying the way you greet people.
Do you subscribe to that thinking? If not, then how long, in your opinion, should it take to overwrite the SC mindset to facilitate correcting a bad habit?
My take away is that simply reading a book can’t be effective. I have to consciously employ the concepts in the book for long enough or for enough times to change the way my SC mind is wanting me to do it.
Does this mean consistency is key? If I am trying to form a new habit, but the old way wins from time to time, am I losing the battle or am I just winning at a slower rate given that I keep trying?
Hi John,
Thanks for your questions. Consistent repetition is essential for changing long-standing habits, but it doesn’t happen quickly. This is where energy psychology techniques come in because they expedite the process significantly.
When changing behaviors, it will always be one step forward, two steps back. That’s just how the process works. It’s doesn’t mean your losing the battle if you’re continually trying.
Very interesting read. Thank you for this article. It sure does make you think!
I’m amazed at the the percentages, it’s no wonder we can’t break those bad habits or why it can be so hard to create new habits. I’ve read about the conscious mind and the unconscious mind before although I enjoyed this post. Sure does explain a lot.
It is so very true that our mind tends to wander when we drive – mine does anyway. Then wondering how I made it home because I can’t remember getting there. Thankfully that subconscious mind takes over to get me there safely.
I’m quite intrigued with Psych-K, very interesting video. I’ll have to read more about this.
Thanks for a great read.
Christine
Thank you Christine,
I agree, the percentages are amazing. The subconscious mind is working 95% of the time. I’m glad it allows us to drive home safely. Psych-K is pretty fascinating. Learn more about it!