Reprogram Subconscious Mind To Get What you Want
Takeaway:
In this post I will talk about the power of the subconscious mind, what is the importance of reprogramming your subconscious mind and how to help make the subconscious believe in what you want. This is relevant to you if you keep getting in your own way of succeeding, find you continue to struggle with your thoughts and feel stuck in life.
Table of Contents:
Conscious Mind Beliefs and Behaviors
Most of us are very aware of our conscious mind. While we are awake and have thoughts, we understand that we have a mind which also helps give us an identity. Think of the internal dialogue that is always going on in your head. It is conversation within that helps position us in our world and experiences. This inner self-talk is an internal dialogue that we all have. Sometimes it is helpful, other times, it can be very detrimental to our own well-being.
The way we speak to ourselves is like a running stream of life. The on-going dialogue can consist of new ideas, reflections of past events or memories, a focus future fear, everyday decision making needs and so forth. Basically our mind is constantly operating to help us navigate the daily activities of life. When we are awake we are alert to our surroundings and continuously making decisions and choices with our conscious mind.
However, what you may not realize is that our conscious mind has much less influence on our daily lives and the outcomes we experience than our subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is thousands of times more powerful than the conscious mind which are preoccupied by.
Most of what we do every minute of every day is unconscious, " says University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Paul Whelan. "Life would be chaos if everything were on the forefront of our consciousness."
In fact most of our decision making is based on beliefs and programming that we acquired through past experiences, observations, events and behaviors that are embedded at this deeper level of the mind that our conscious mind seems to not even notice.
Our conscious mind often will think one thing, but it is our powerful subconscious mind that will likely take control of the emotions that prompt us to make the decisions we make, or instill the fears that prevent us from making certain decisions. Our subconscious mind is running the show.
Perhaps at some point in your life you made a decision or comment that you regretted after. When you did, have you ever slapped your forehead thinking, what's wrong with me? Why did I make that choice? Well, next time you do, notice that you were probably making the choice from emotions and not logic thinking. Emotions are more powerful and emotions often come from the subconscious mind.
Interestingly, the beliefs that we aspire to live up to and better ourselves to reach from our conscious mind can have substantial differences from our subconscious mind.
Take a person who has an addiction, often their conscious mind understands what they are doing is bad for them and their understanding of the implication is clear. However, if their subconscious mind is holding on to deep, life long beliefs that tells them they are not worthy or it is impossible to change, then the powerful subconscious mind will often win the battle.
What does it mean to do something subconsciously
The subconscious mind is often referred to as the unconscious mind. However, the processing of the unconscious mind is not readily available (example, childhood or repressed memories, habits of behaviors)
"The unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior" (Wilson, 2002).
To do something at the subconscious mind level often means that you respond automatically without being aware in the moment that you made that choice. An obvious and clear example is breathing. The functions of on-going habitual breathing is not a conscious activity.
If taking a breath had to actually require conscious activity, you would most likely not get much accomplished! Another example is walking, when you were learning how to walk, your conscious mind was hard at work trying to figure out the first step of how to walk without falling.
The reason why it’s simple, is that 95 percent of your life comes from the subconscious program. So by definition your life is a printout of your subconscious programs.
As the mind and brain was able to lock in that mechanisms for walking, the conscious mind was no longer needed to pay attention to all the operational components and thoughts that are required when learning to walk.
The subconscious mind took control and now walking is just a physical activity that you do without thought, giving your conscious mind the space to focus on other things while you walk.
Once you learn something through habits and repetition, then you are influencing the learning and locking in the programming into the subconscious mind. You do not need to keep this information in your head so to speak. This deep level of the mind beyond our awareness is always listening, learning and programming in your experiences, thoughts and reactions.
How your subconscious mind is constantly at work
When we're awake, our five senses absorb information. This information is stored as memories, much like the way computers keep information stored in its hard drive. However, there's no need, nor is it possible, to remember everything actively. In fact, we often forget about 90 - 90% of our daily tasks.
We understand though that this image still exists in your mind, and may even trigger memories in your mind at any moment. Studies in Psychology suggest that the experience we have influences the way people perceive ourselves, particularly when it is early.
In fact, a very large portion of our subconscious mind programming happens within the first decade of life. A time when our mind is more present and suggestible to what we observe and experience from the environment around us.
The brains ability to imagine and develop coping mechanisms for our survival in the early formative years will influence how our identity is shaped as it stores in powerful programming for our future. The subconscious mind will respond to what we present and process into it.
The issue is that the power that the subconscious mind functions at the brains deep level of thoughts outside of our awareness. Because of that we can overlook that it is very often our own thinking that holds us back from success, that sabotages our efforts, that holds on to fear and anxiety and limits our future.
What we think is not necessarily what we believe and it is for this reason positive affirmations are not always effective. (More on affirmations explained below!)
There are a multitude of behavioral impulses generated at any given time derived from our evolved motives and preferences, cultural norms and values, past experiences in similar situations, and from what other people are currently doing in that same situation. These impulses have afforded us unconsciously operating motives, preferences and associated approach and avoidance behavioral tendencies, as well as mimicry and other behavior priming effects triggered by the mere perception of others’ behavior. There certainly seems to be no shortage of suggestions from our unconscious as to what to do in any given situation. John A. Bargh and Ezequiel Morsella
How to Make your Subconscious Mind Believe Something
It's important to not underestimate the power of the subconscious mind and the brains processing ability. This powerful master-of-the-mind will control the majority of your life because that is it's evolutionary job. It will develop your identity as it shapes how you see yourself and perceive the world around you.
Consistent, Persistent, Repetitious self-talk (positive or negative thoughts)
A person's internal dialogue is a dominant contributor to the programming of the subconscious mind. What we think about, say to ourselves and imagine in our mind gives significant weight to the subconscious mind programming.
How aware are you of your thoughts? What images do you play over and over again in your mind? Do you think powerful positive thoughts of yourself? Thoughts of abundance and being healthy? Do you see positive and successful images of yourself? Or do you focus on thoughts of lack, struggle and not being good enough? Here's a clue, where you are at in life and what you are experiencing around you will point to your subconscious thinking.
Establish a system of being motivational to yourself and having a positive vision of who you are and where you are going in life.
2. Fear and negative self-talk
In the process of making your subconscious mind work for you, you should first remove thoughts that have negative emotions or keep you in bad habits. You need to lose the negative self-talk if you want to control your subconscious mind and see a difference in your life .
Sometimes your feelings of fear can be true especially if it is very traumatic or you are reacting to a fearful situation.
That is not the same issue. It is the ruminating, habitual, constant negativity that you need to lose. This negative self-image can also be called negative self-respect and affects a great deal of mental anguish.
Eliminate the negative self-images and counter the negative thoughts NOW in order to master control in your mind and move toward a more successful vision of who you want to be.
3. Power of Hypnosis
Hypnosis has come a long way from being weird stage-show entertainment. In fact, "hypnosis is emerging as a powerful medical treatment for pain, anxiety, PTSD and a range of other conditions" So why is this relevant in this discussion? Because it is one of the quicker ways of making your subconscious mind believe something.
The subconscious mind is most suggestible to programming when it is is in the Alpha brain wave level of thoughts. This level is the deeply relaxed, sleepy state that hypnosis operates and functions in. Making positive changes within the subconscious mind through the method of hypnosis is a power tool that helps achieve the desire of what you are able to vision for your outcome.
4. Rapid Transformational Therapy
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) is an incredibly powerful tool that helps you make deep changes at the subconscious mind level. This method was developed by Marissa Peers and utilizes a combination of Hypnosis, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Neurolinguistics Programming (NLP).
By communicating directly with your subconscious mind, RTT enables you to uncover the age-appropriate meaning and interpretation attached to past events. RTT rewires into your unconscious healthier and more beneficial ideas and patterns. We know that habits of action are caused by habits of thought. By changing the thinking behind your actions, you are free to change your behavior.
5. Listening to Affirmations While Sleeping
Affirmations have the power to change habits and beliefs. If you focus on what you want and choose the word that suggest positive self images, you are on your way of making your subconscious mind work for you. However saying these affirmations to yourself over and over again is difficult to sustain.
The reason listening to positive messages, or affirmations, while you sleep is a better way of doing it is because when you sleep you are operating at a lower brain wave frequency. Your body is in a relaxed state and your conscious thinking is not getting in the way of allowing the suggestibility from the affirmations to absorb into the subconscious.
6. Brain Entrainment and Binaural Beats
When two sounds are played that are close to each other in pitch, we hear an oscillation that is the difference between those two frequencies. These oscillations have been proven in lab research to synchronize and entrain our brains into the corresponding brainwave state — delta, theta, alpha, or gamma. When you couple listening positive affirmations with binaural beats, there is higher level of affecting the messages into your subconscious mind. The brain is affected by both the oscillating frequencies and the suggestible messages of the word in the affirmations. This tool is a wonderful way of relaxing into your own success.
7. Power Naps
Power naps are short burst of sleep that is ideal for reenergizing, increasing performance, and raising alertness. Because a power nap is only about 20-30 minutes long, you are able to take advantage of the lighter stages of sleep without feeling the grogginess that comes after when you wake back up.
Fun fact, NASA states that the perfect power name duration is 26 minutes. The perfect time to influence your subconscious mind with positive affirmative words of success, better physical health or improved future states of mind.
Subconscious Minds Affirmations
Discovering and uncovering the limiting thoughts and ideas that we are holding in our subconscious mind is the key to not only knowing ourselves better, but into becoming who we want to be as it gives us control of our thinking.
How and what we think about shapes our inner and outer world and although it may feel like we can not control our thoughts, we can. Installing positive ideas of the oneself and concepts of what you want and could be, is a powerful process towards your success.
Example of subconscious affirmations that resonate with people will vary from person to person.
ere are a few examples you could consider:
I am enough
I am worthy
I am able to concentrate
My life is full of abundance!
Are you ready now to make deep subconscious level changes and change your life?
Now that you have a general understanding of the how the subconscious mind operates from this article and why it manages not only your every day automatic actions, but directs how you respond and experience life (negative or positive). How will you go about changing your own subconscious programming?
Understanding your subconscious mind can help you break free from self-made barriers.
If you have tried thinking better, staying more positive, journaling, on-going therapy but find that you are still struggling, then making changes at this deep level of the mind could be the mental system change you need.
If you are looking for support in helping you identify, release and change negative subconscious thoughts that you feel you are plagued with, it is a good idea to seek help with a professional to guide you through the process.
It does not need to take years and can actually happen much quicker than you realize!
Understand that you do not need to wait until you have an emotional heart attack or crisis to make these deep level of the mind shifts. In fact, waiting can actually add another layer of unnecessary suffering and take you longer to where you want to be.
Jacqueline Connors, MA is a Psychotherapist and Transformative Mindset Coach who has worked in helping people make positive changes at the deep subconscious level. She is trained in Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) Neurolinguistics Programming (NLP), Hypnosis, Brain-Based Coaching and Eye Movement Therapy and Energy Psychology. Jacqueline has a unique blend of skill sets derived from psychology, business and neuroscience and an understanding of how to apply the best from each discipline into an effective coaching experience.
