The power of subconscious mind makes you the person you are. It controls all your biological processes, your instincts, and your drives. It contains the programs that control your habitual thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
As researchers learn more about the brain, the power of subconscious mind, also called the nonconscious or unconscious mind. is becoming more evident. Experts claim that your life reads like a printout of your nonconscious belief programs. Even though it is consciousness that we are aware of, it is the nonconscious mind operating below our level of awareness that really runs the show.
People over six years old operate on 'auto-pilot' from unconscious levels of mind at least 95% of the time. Younger children rarely use conscious processes at all even though it may seem like they do. Their brain wave patterns are primarily associated with hypnosis and pre-sleep, making them very suggestible to programming based on what they are taught and what they observe. Unless consciously noticed and changed, these programs control our beliefs and most of our actions for the rest of our lives.
Much of what is known about the workings of the nonconscious, or unconscious mind have been learned in recent years. Research shows that it makes up over 90% of the brain and it is on the job 24/7. It never rests or sleeps. It has two main concerns: keeping you safe and seeking pleasure. All your instincts, automatic body processes, and learned behaviors come under the power of subconscious mind. The region above the brain stem controls many of these processes.
Research suggests that the power of your subconscious mind is faster and more unlimited than the power of the conscious mind. Based on sensory input studies, it is estimated that the brain receives 11 bits of information per second from the outside world, mostly through the retinas in the eyes. Much of this information is filtered by the non-conscious mind so you may not be aware of most of it. Otherwise, you would be overwhelmed by stimuli that is not relevant to you. A smaller percentage is received by the conscious mind.
The power of your subconscious is not usually under the control of the conscious mind. Once thoughts and behaviors become automated, this bio-super computer operates without conscious awareness and has different jobs. These parts of your brain may work together or they can be at odds with each other.
In addition to controlling the vital functions, instincts, and drives of the body, the subconscious mind is responsible for:
Incoming information from the outside world and the conscious mind is filtered through region in the brain associated with stored patterns of past experiences and programmed beliefs. One important filtering region is the amygdala.
The amygdala, sometimes called the gatekeeper, is always on the look out for external threats. It alerts you to potential danger by making you feel fear. Without the amygdala, we would take life-threatening risks because we would not be warned of danger. Fright is part of your innate physical reaction to stress.
This vigilance is also the reason that humans prioritize the negative. It is why we have trouble forgetting bad things, and why what we fear strongly enough becomes reality.
The nonconscious mind is so astute that it knows when something is going to happen a half-second before your conscious mind makes you aware of it.
Your subconscious mind runs programs much like a computer. It does what it has been taught and holds beliefs you have about yourself and the world to be true. It does not think about them, question them, or make moral judgments. It cannot argue right or wrong. It has no logic. It takes the information you give it, and once received, accepts it as truth.
Your uncensored thoughts, words, and actions are a window into your programmed beliefs. Like an obedient servant, your subconscious mind filters out irrelevant sensory input and directs your thoughts and actions according to its programming as a means of keeping you safe and happy. This holds true even if you realize that something you think or do is not for your good or the good of others. You have a story and you are sticking to it.
The subconscious mind "reasons" from the specific to the general. It creates your reality from what you think about and focus on. For example, if you believe people of another race, religion, or nationality are bad, you will find an abundance of evidence to confirm that belief and discount evidence to the contrary. If you believe yourself to be kind, it will make you aware of opportunities to practice kindness. When you drive a gray car, you notice more gray cars than when you drove a red one. They seem to be everywhere!
Through the power of subconscious mind, your beliefs are projected into the quantum field as electromagnetic thought waves. Thought is energy, just like everything else. As the Law of Attraction says, the energy of your thoughts and beliefs draws to you circumstances and people matching their vibrational qualities. And so it is true that like attracts like. If you want to change what you are attracting, you have start by using conscious power retrain your brain and use techniques to change your programming.
Your unconscious mind has an enormous capacity for storing memories. Over the years, you have retained knowledge of facts, ideas about how the world works, and memories of past events. Memories of events that occurred with a negative emotional charge attached are retained quickly so you don't repeat that mistake again. It's about safety. You remember not to touch a hot stove or to avoid Mom when she's stressed. Likewise, you also remember things that give you pleasure so you repeat those ideas and behaviors.
Something to keep in mind: Every time you call up a memory, it changes just a little when it goes back into storage. Sometimes you even create false memories. Memories are also recorded and filtered through our perceptions. That's it is so common for witnesses to tell different versions of the same story even when they are being truthful.
Memories can go into storage for years without being recalled. They are presumed forgotten. I remember having a dream in which I smelled a distinct odor I had not smelled for over 20 years. I was impressed because the scent was exactly the same as it was back then, even though I had forgotten about it and cannot recollect it now.
Learned material, patterns and habits are stored in long-term memory and acted upon by the subconscious. The more you practice a thought pattern, skill, or behavior, the more ingrained its neural networks become and the more automatic the behavior.
Behaviors are memorized learned patterns. When you yell at someone before you can stop yourself, you default to learned patterns of behavior. The same is true when your mouth waters at the sight of your favorite ice cream.
You learn how to walk and eat and talk with your conscious mind. Once behaviors are automatic, they come under the power of subconscious mind, unless you choose to control them consciously. When you daydream while driving a familiar route, your unconscious mind is doing the driving. Isn't it amazing how you stay on the road heading in the right direction with no recollection of how you got there?
Because the process of learning is linked with safety and survival, your subconscious rewards it with a dose of pleasurable chemicals so you repeat the behavior. Indulging in life's pleasures, especially when related to survival, such as eating and sex, are also rewarded biochemically. This is often a double-edged sword. You are trying to change undesirable programming by installing new habit programs, but your nonconscious mind rewards you with a hit of feel good chemicals for repeating the old behavior, even if it isn't good for you.
To an extent, emotional responses are also learned. They are under the power of subconscious mind whether you react with tears, laughter, anger or fear. It takes you through a whole range of emotions and feelings based on your thoughts and what is triggering you in the moment.
As part of the unconscious mind, the amygdala is in charge of processing emotionally charged experiences and where and how to store them as memories.
Our bodies are self-healing entities. In reality, your brain continually directs body processes responsible for repair and regeneration so long as you keep stress at bay. Wounds are healed, cells are renewed, infections are resolved without a thought.
Much to the bane of pharmaceutical researchers, the power of subconscious mind to spontaneously heal an illness or injury has been proven over and over in clinical studies, even with seemingly incurable conditions.
Of the three levels of mind, learning to use subconscious mind power techniques such as visualization, affirmations, and hypnosis shows great promise in promoting physical and mental healing, manifesting, and transforming our lives.
How the powerful subconscious mind interacts with the outside world and with the body to influence every aspect of our lives illustrates the innate connection of mind, body, and spirit.
Power of Subconscious Mind page updated 01/2021