Success and happiness don’t happen by chance. They are the result of opportunity, choice, and action. These critical steps are continuously informed by an innate and powerful human resource: the subconscious mind.
Your mind is similar to a hard drive, one with a vast capacity to capture a broad perspective of your life. Most of this data is filtered before it reaches your conscious mind––from the mundane din of everyday noises and non-essential happenings to the barrage of spiritual beings and messages that surround us on a continual basis.
However, just because the information isn’t made available to our conscious awareness doesn’t mean that it’s lost. Far from it, in fact.
In this post, I’ll discuss the subconscious mind and ways that you are able to train it for success.
What is the Subconscious Mind and How Does it Work?
What we call the subconscious mind is also referred to as the unconscious mind by psychologists and even referred to as the superconscious in some contexts. As with so much of the brain and mind, there are contradictory or confusing terms and definitions, and in some ways just a lack of true information. It’s important to note that the terms subconscious, unconscious, superconscious, like inner child, id, and ego, are all labels for concepts. They do not represent a physical object or little person inside of us. In the same way that the map is not the road, these terms give us concepts so we can ponder and discuss them.
Whichever term we use, we are referring to the part of the mind that observes and gathers and stores vast amounts of data and then filters it to provide our conscious awareness with what it deems to be that which will aid in our survival or satisfy our present curiosity or focus. Just think about how many times we completely missed part of a conversation, where we placed our keys, or some detail of an event we attended. While our conscious awareness has no clue, our subconscious mind has absorbed it. The interesting, and often disturbing, part is that the subconscious mind takes in the information in a haphazard and random manner, mostly as images, feelings, and concepts, rather than words. I this sense, it can work in our favor, or can set in motion knee-jerk reactions, unwanted habits, blocks, and self-sabotage.
While it stores a broader perception of reality and holds the solution to many of our problems, it is up to us to unlock that treasure chest of wisdom, to be still and listen, to be open to receiving an alternative perspective, and perhaps even rearrange the stored bits of information in a way that better serves us..
Your potential is far grander than you imagine, and the ability to change your current circumstances and to achieve seemingly wild goals, are powers within reach. By tapping into the guidance of your subconscious mind, you’re able to resolve blocks that hold you back and chart a course directly to success.
Accessing the power of your subconscious mind as a pathway to achieving goals has become a popular topic of research by psychologists, coaches, and practitioners specializing in areas from sports performance to dysfunctional behavior and emotional distress.
Taken as a whole, their research has produced one common thread: your subconscious is a powerful tool for catalyzing change in your life. By leveraging it effectively, you can:
- Lose weight and improve your physical health
- Overcome addictions, self-sabotage, and inner conflict
- Break through blocks and fire up your inspired creativity
- Clarify your direction in life and easily achieve your desired goals
Harnessing Your Subconscious Mind for Success
It’s important to understand that the subconscious does not discriminate. It will not judge or censor. As an unseen observer, it watches and listens to the information presented, regardless of whether these thoughts are positive or negative. In return, it manifests success, abundance, and wellness as easily as failure, sickness, and strife.
Think of your subconscious as a garden. It is fertile ground for the sown seeds as well as the accidental weeds, and the best results require intentional cultivation.
Studies of sports performance have shown that the inner visualization of an activity is just as important, and often more important, than physically practicing the activity when it comes to skill improvement. The same holds true for anything we do in life. Envisioning yourself actually doing a particular activity anchors the traits you aspire to attain or that you admire in others.
The first bit of advice I would offer you is the same I offer my clients: fill your life with self-affirming information, people, and activities that build you up. Your happiness and success are literally dependant on your state of mind!
Rapid Change Using the Power of the Subconscious Mind
With that in mind, I invite you to try an exercise that can be accomplished during meditation or any quiet moment when you can relax and focus.
- Begin by imagining a future version of you who is standing in front of you and has already achieved the goals, gained the desired knowledge and skills, or removed the unwanted behaviors that you’re currently striving for.
- Examine that future person very carefully. How do they look and move? Observe their energy and anything else significant.
- Now imagine slipping out of your body and stepping into that future body. Describe what it’s like to be inside that body with their perspectives, character, and their wellbeing.
- Step out of that future body and back into your own present body. Describe what it’s like to be back in your present body, noticing differences like lighter, heavier, darker, smaller, larger, sturdier, older, positive, confident, painful, etc.
- Step in and out of that future version of yourself several times, each time describing the sensations and perspectives you observe.
- When you begin to notice little difference between the two bodies, or you find yourself not wanting to step back out of the future body, the technique is completed. Alternatively, you may want to bring desirable traits from the future version back into your present body.
- Finish with self-affirming reinforcements that enable you to remain in this frame of mind, perspective, or sense of being as you progress into the future. You have started down the path to success, so motivate yourself with statements and mental images of what your end goal looks like. And remember that any time you slip out of that desired sense of being, simply recall that future version and imagine stepping into it once again.
By following this simple protocol, you can begin to reinforce the desired change in your subconscious.
Through commitment to this practice, you will notice differences almost immediately. As the subconscious mind continues to instill the desired changes and improvements, your health, happiness, and opportunities will begin to unfold before you.
Expand Your Options with the Help of Your Subconscious Mind
If you liked the exercise above, here is another exercise that will help you expand your options and live a more fulfilling life.
Do you find yourself pulling in, limiting your experiences, and narrowing your choices? Do you block and restrain yourself? Perhaps you feel others wouldn’t approve, you aren’t brave or smart enough, or you simply don’t look beyond your own limited scope of perceptions. You might hear yourself thinking:
- “This is how it is done.”
- “This is what my mom would do.”
- “I have no choice, but to…”
- “I don’t see any other way.”
- “I’ll just do what all my friends (or colleagues) are doing.”
Did you know that stretching your experiences leads to greater personal growth and spiritual expansion? Greater wisdom comes from a broad and varied life, rather than a limited, repetitive one.
What choices are you facing? How are you blocking out options that could be available to you?
What would it feel like if you allowed for the expansion or at least looked and considered a wider array of opportunities fearlessly!
Try this quick exercise in brainstorming:
- Have a notebook of paper and a pen next to you.
- Close your eyes and center yourself. Quiet your mind.
- Focus on the topic of your concern, such as where to live, career choices, what car to buy, what to do about your relationship….etc….but only choose one topic at a time!
- Imagine energy flooding into your body, expanding your auric field big, big, big!
- Feel yourself straighten; imagine yourself powerful, capable, fearless. This is a good time to imagine being a superhero!
- Now, ask your higher Self to travel through time and space to gather up all the options and opportunities out there concerning your topic at hand
- Just keep your mind clear for about 3 minutes (you can set a timer), not focusing on anything your higher Self may be coming up with or latching onto any particular thought.
- Then, at the end of the three minutes, open your eyes and start writing every idea that comes to mind in your notebook.
Don’t worry whether what you are writing seems rational, practical, sensible, or acceptable. Just let the ideas flow and write, write, write. Some items on your list may sound crazy, outlandish, scary. It doesn’t matter. Those ideas are simply pushing back at the barriers you have held in place.
Somewhere, among all the crazy ideas you listed, will be fresh and imaginative options that just may be the answers you are looking for!
Ending Thoughts on the Secrets of the Subconscious Mind
If you take the time to figure out how to activate your subconscious mind, you can train and reprogram it to serve you in removing blocks, expanding your awareness of possibilities, and achieving your goals. You can start living the life you love by unlocking the power of your subconscious mind.
Do you have questions or comments about unlocking the full power of your subconscious mind? If so, please share them below!
