Why does our conscious mind question the power of the unconscious mind?

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Why does our conscious mind second-guess the power of the unconscious mind?

Why do so many people think that we are always aware of the facts and make our judgments based on them? Who does the power of the unconscious mind feel so scary and, to some, fake news that has not truth?

According to studies, this misconception may stem from the fact that our conscious mind registers our actions just before we act. This leads us to believe that we acted guided by our conscious mind, of our own will. In reality, however, 95% of our actions are driven by reasons completely different from the ones we are aware of. We think we make our decisions based on conscious reasoning, while in reality our actions were already set into motion propelled by the power of our unconscious mind.

The power of suggestion

Many studies have shown that free will is nothing but a powerful illusion. This does not mean that pursuing the freedom of the mind is a waste of time. Since time immemorial, sellers and advertisers have been able to trigger us to “buy, buy, buy…” by using metaphors and suggestion to reach our subconscious and unconscious mind.

Children’s brains are particularly susceptible to suggestion. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the materials we feed the minds of our children. This applies to our parenting methods as well as the toy ads that our kids are exposed to alongside Disney films.

Besides marketing organisations, people in political and religious position of power are nimble manipulators capable of triggering our minds. How about taking a leaf out of their book and practicing steering your own mind, consciously and towards the better?

Why are your conscious mind and willpower not enough?

A conscious mind and willpower are no comparison to the power of the subconscious mind. Read a hypnotherapist’s tips for reaching your goals.

Creative problem solving is a method that uses both your conscious and the subconscious mental resources. And intuition. And, of course, Kahneman & Tversky’s Type 1 and 2 thinking, which I discussed in more depth in the above articles. People tend to confuse the terminology, so I recommend that you read the above articles with some thought. The purpose of the different information search and processing methods is to work in constant interaction with each other. This helps us maximise our options and ability to evaluate them with our critical, conscious mind.

If you don’t believe in the power of the unconscious mind, you also don’t make use of your full potential

If you don’t believe that the power of the subconscious and the unconscious is greater than what you know in your conscious mind, you miss out on the vast potential within you. As mentioned in my other articles, 95% of what you do, think and choose comes from outside your conscious mind.

If you want to learn to truly steer yourself towards in a better direction in life, don’t run on just 5% of your capacity. You may be familiar with the classic 80/20 prioritisation rule. In this situation, the ratio of effort and outcomes is even more dramatic: 95/5. What are you going to focus on in your self-development in the future?

If you think that unconscious mind is just a repository of pleasant or unpleasant memories and discount the thought and action schemas they have shaped you are deliberately turning a blind eye to the root causes of many of your problems.

It’s OK to be scared to see what lurks beneath the surface

As a child, like me, you probably learnt to be afraid of the bogeyman under the bed. My sister made sure I was terrified. But I grew up and I learnt to let go on the bogeymen under my bed as well as the monsters of my subconscious.

Nowadays, if my unconscious and subconscious mind want to serve me some odd-looking ogres, I greet them with a smile: Hi there, what’s up! Is there something you are trying to tell me about me today? Why now and not earlier, why today? What do I need you for or can I just let you go?

Learning to harness your unconscious mind also means learning to slow down. Silencing your mind.

It really is important that you tackle the biggest questions in your life with the full backing of your conscious, unconscious and subconscious mind. That is, unless you prefer staying indefinitely on the treadmill of indecision. Unfortunately, that’s what many of those in an unsatisfying relationship have learnt to do.

If you are focusing your conscious mind on a job at hand or an exciting movie on the screen that spoon-feeds your mind with audio-visual impulses instead of the impulses sent by your own brain, there is no room for resolving the biggest and most valuable questions in life.

Concentrating on your own mind requires quietude. Lie on a sofa, in bed or a hammock. Take a gentle stroll along a safe path where you don’t have to watch your step to avoid tripping over rocks and roots. Let your mind hover on the verges of a trance.

Slowing down and quiet moments, do you think it's a waste of time?

I used to loath silence and having to calm down. I felt I was missing out on all the exciting things going on in the world. I loved a quick pace of life, and I still do! But I have since learnt that by learning to slow down and tapping into the power of the unconscious, I can be even faster and more productive if I want.

Back in the day, when I thought I didn’t need any of that, I seriously had not time nor inspiration for just “meditating”.

I really thought it was a load of nonsense. And trying to do it was a nuisance.

I now wish I hadn’t been so black and white in my thinking and so stubborn. But I didn’t know any better. That was how I’d been conditioned from early childhood, through my school and university years and my international business career. I took part in plenty of useful, sometimes quite thorough-going training along the way. I learnt to hone business strategies and manage innovation – which, by the way, are often the fruit of the unconscious. And yet, I never came across training on how to optimally utilise the unconscious mind. It was simply assumed that we knew it all intuitively. Which we do, to some extent.

We all have our conscious and unconscious mind at work every day. However, it is not all the same how we operate between the two resources. I used to be ignorant about what their difference was or their purpose in the big scheme of things. I didn’t know any of the techniques that help you connect with your intuitive pool of ideas with more ease. All I knew about this area was some superficial theories, and stubborn and too busy with work and family life that I was, I let myself carry on thinking all wrong.

And boy was I wrong.

However, stubbornness is one of my qualities, and it has also served me well and helped me persevere with things I’m interested in. For example, when seriously pursuing studies in psychology and hypnotherapy, my stubbornness has helped me dig deeper and deeper and given me the strength to accept all the things that this excavation of the mind brought to the surface.

Talk about ringside seats for your own life.

And opportunities for myself.

Nowadays, I am able to share those rewards with my coaching clients, who in turn have wanted to learn how to dive into their problems and to resolve them for good in a sustainable and human manner with the help of intuition.

All the things I used to be completely oblivious of have since given me the most in my current, happy life.

At least that 95%…!

How are you going to find joy and happiness in your life right now?

And how will you make sure that your business or your employer makes the most of its opportunities by utilising the full innovation potential of its staff?

Give your comments and contact me, see you again soon!

With Love,
Your coach Kati
Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP Trainer
[email protected]