Thinking Subconsciously

"It's like knowing something before you know it."

--Emma Boland

As I was reading something  this past week I was reminded of how we sometimes use the word subconsciously.  If you had made plans to go somewhere, for example, and you delayed getting ready, or your clothes weren't quite right, or you forgot to pick up something you promised to bring, people would say that subconsciously you did not want to go.  I happened to be sitting with my 12 year old granddaughter at the time, and I was curious whether she and her friends use the word or whether she had any idea what it meant.  "It's like knowing something before you know it", she said. What a perfect answer.  Epistemology, by the way, is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, belief, as well as the nature and limitations of knowledge. Our conscious thinking or "knowing" goes on in the conscious mind.  As we have mentioned, there is an interchange of information between the conscious and subconscious minds, but you literally don't "know" the information stored in your subconscious because you cannot recall it at will.   

We have also discussed that we can seed our subconscious with what we want to experience in our lives by visualizing and feeling in out hearts that it has already happened. Unfortunately, no one ever teaches us how to direct the power of our mind and subconscious mind.  Every minute of every day we instruct our mind and subconscious mind to create what we don't want rather than what we want. We do this with our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, words and actions. If any of these are not lined up with what we want to achieve then our subconscious minds create the opposite of what we want.

Mental images and affirmations that something you desire is already part of your life plants the "idea" in your subconscious where it will simply follow your directions according to your thoughts, beliefs, actions and attitudes.  Here are examples of the kind of thinking that is so common yet throws up roadblocks between you and your goals or desires.

Never, ever say or think: "I can't afford that."

Never, ever say or think: "I feel awful."
Never, ever say or think: "He is such a [fill in the blank]" or "She is such a [fill in the blank]."
Never, ever say or think: "This is too hard." or "I will never be able to do this."
Never, ever say or think: "I am afraid to try that." or "I can't do that."
And my favorite, never, ever say or think: "I cannot remember."

Let's take just that last example and look at taking the expression "I am losing my memory." and turning it around in a manner that will create the opposite through a process called autosuggestion (The process by which a person induces self-acceptance of an opinion, belief, or plan of action.).  The following is a rather verbose example taken from The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy.  It is more elaborate and detailed than most examples I have seen or put into practice myself, but it suggests that with some thought a script can be prepared and used several times a day to focus your thinking.  To give you a feeling for how long you may expect to have to practice autosuggestion before seeing results, Dr. Murphy states that "At the end of three weeks, her memory was back to normal, and she was delighted."

"My memory from today on is improving in every department.  I shall always remember whatever I need to know at every moment of time and point of space.  The impressions received will be clearer and more definite.  I shall retain them automatically and with ease.  Whatever I wish to recall will immediately present itself in the correct form in my mind.  I am improving rapidly every day, and very soon my memory will be better than ever before."

You will recall that throughout this blog I have indicated that the exercise of positive thinking to bring about a change or solution requires turning around the present situation and stating it in a manner that would indicate that it has already come about or been solved.  That is exactly the way the above example is phrased.  It avoids using negative words such as don't and can't and places the precise thoughts of what you desire into your subconscious.