Our Two Minds
It is often said that two heads are better than one. Interesting then, to discover that we all, (except the severely brain injured) possess two minds: the conscious mind, and the subconscious. The conscious mind, being smaller in capacity (usage) at approx. 10% and the subconscious mind, larger at approx. 90%.
Only the conscious mind can become unconscious, making it easy for us to identify that part of us that isn’t `there’ when we’re deep in sleep or under the influence of anesthetics. The conscious mind takes the subconscious mind for granted; simply because the subconscious is designed to reproduce whatever it has been programmed or learned to do, automatically and instantly.
The subconscious mind is never unconscious. Even when we’re deep in sleep it’s there, regulating and monitoring our bodily functions, moving us around so we don’t cramp, providing us with dreams, waking the conscious mind to whatever degree necessary to allow relieving oneself or to take care of an outside disturbance.
The subconscious mind holds our memory (recorded past and fluctuating present), as well as our imagined future. It is where our imagination, emotions, dreams, and body responses (idio-motor motor) come from. Therefore, without realizing it (consciously), our subconscious is performing or involved in 90%, more or less, of every experience we have. For example, “I” might decide (say to myself) that I need a certain piece of information in a book on a shelf. At that point my conscious capacity has ended. My subconscious now takes over to search its records of where the desired information is located. It lifts my body from my chair, moves my feet, reaches out, selects a book, and finds the appropriate page. Fully 90% of that experience is carried out automatically, by the subconscious, fulfilling the request of the conscious mind.
The conscious mind has the
unique ability of being able to
become unconscious in various
degrees, allowing natural
hypnotic phenomena such as
daydreams and deja-vue.
The experience of having just driven the car from point A to B but left wondering “How’d I get here?” is a common natural hypnotic phenomena. Or when athletes talk of being in the `zone’ – they don’t consciously think about what they are doing, they just do it, and it is at these times that their performances is at its best. When driving a car’ in the zone’, you just seem to arrive at the destination, with little `conscious’ memory of the journey. The subconscious mind was driving the car for you. How?
Your conscious mind knows, in the way of `knowing without knowing’, that your subconscious mind is perfectly trained to drive. After all, it already has the experience of doing 90% of your driving for you. You conscious mind realizes that the subconscious mind knows the way (usually a well traveled route). Compare this experience to those times when you were juggling a road map to find a new address in a strange town. Your conscious mind was quite active in that process. With the subconscious mind doing the driving, the conscious mind can take a break and think about something else that it would rather be doing. Meanwhile, the subconscious takes you to point `B’. Having arrived, it now needs fresh instructions, so it pulls the conscious awareness back into the here and now, which is when you wonder, “How’d I get here?” Now, new conscious instruction are given, such as park, get out, pick up the mail before going in the house, etc. Your subconscious then puts the car away, mobilizes you, gets the mail, and places you inside your home, to then again await new instructions. All those automatic functions we consciously take for granted simply because we’re so used to them happening, seemingly without thinking. The two minds have learned to `learn’ together, becoming two minds functioning as one.
Of huge significance is
the degree to which we can
utilize this knowledge about
how the two minds learn
and work together.
The conscious mind can learn, through awareness, more about the abilities of the subconscious mind. In so doing, it can become more willing to step aside, in varying degrees, trusting that the subconscious knows how to do whatever it has been trained to do. As an example, the next time you walk across a room, try consciously telling each foot and leg what to do, as well as what arms to swing with which leg. More important is the understanding that the subconscious can be retrained in its response or function whenever desired. Using this awareness, we can strengthen these functioning abilities, enabling anything we set our minds on to come about more easily and quickly
The conscious mind can also learn that if any area of the subconscious is performing inappropriately, that area can be changed. With guidance, we can deal with inappropriate responses at the place of origin – the subconscious. The subconscious is, amongst other things, a powerful servant for us to call upon. We can help this servant to become more efficient and useful. To illustrate this conscious / subconscious relationship, consider this: negative output from subconscious past memory causes conscious self-doubt. This output renders the subconscious mind unsettled or feeling bad in some way.
Positive output from recorded memory results in subconscious mind settlement. This relaxed, comfortable state of mind allows for a smoother, more effortless flow of action, either physical or mental. These feelings, whether negative or positive, effect directly our self-esteem, which effects directly our self-image, which effects directly our self-health – physical, mental, and spiritual. When recorded past memory has comfortably come to rest by taking care of anything that needed alteration there, or settling any unfinished business, then the subconscious is free to invoke positive images, thoughts, or feeling with regards to past, present or future events.
Future imaginings are based on historical data. If a certain situation always resulted in a sense of failure, then any future projection of a similar situation will invariably have a perceived negative outcome. Freeing the subconscious mind of a negative attachment that had once formed a part of the memory, allows for a future projection without the negative luggage that used to go with each journey. Anticipated events now free of negative projections, produce positive influences thereby making it infinitely easier for the conscious mind to select only positive future experiences and to bypass, or reject negative future experiences.