The Subconscious Mind and Habits

What is your subconscious mind and how it can hold you back?

So, what exactly is our subconscious mind. Well this is the part of our brain that operates under the radar of our conscious awareness. Most of us are aware that we have habits that operate in our life, some useful, some not so useful. These habits can function without our awareness. An example might be the skill of riding a bicycle. When we first start to learn to ride a bike we need to concentrate fully on the task at hand, which allows us to learn and master the skill. Once we became competent enough to balance, pedal and steer together, eventually we find ourselves cycling along, sometimes even able to chat with friends as we do so, without being consciously aware of each of these skills being used, unless we focus on them with purpose. This is because the muscle memory and habits have been repeatedly embedded into our subconscious, so that we no longer need to concentrate so heavily on the multiskilled task being performed.

It is estimated that we use our subconscious mind to operate up to 95% of all tasks we complete in a day. This is a vast amount of decision control we allocate to a level of thought beyond that of our conscious awareness. This is ok for many basic tasks, and in-fact we should be extremely grateful that our brains are capable of such incredible feats. How-ever it is important to consider that the patterns we have established from our childhood, for which we are no-longer consciously aware, control our eating habits, and our social interactions. If these habits are not behaviours that serve in our own best interests, then we can be sabotaging ourselves without even knowing it.

You might be sitting watching the tv for example, and without realising it you are biting your fingernails. Another example is the smoker that might find themselves lighting up a cigarette after a meal and hadn’t realised they have done so, so embedded is the habit in their life. Another classic habit that can cause distress due to unwanted weight gain is comfort eating, whereby an individual often reaches for their favourite high calorie treat that they use as a crutch to comfort them when feeling stressed or upset. These subconscious patterns can form to help us in our daily lives, but they can also cause us frustration misery over time.

So how can we talk to our subconscious mind?

We must align our conscious thoughts with our subconscious thoughts, but before we do that, we must first decide on a conscious level what we want our subconscious thoughts to be. Once we know the behaviour that we want to change we can then look to focus on the behaviours and lifestyle we do want to see. In this way we now need to appeal to our subconscious and adapt our behavioural patterns.

 One of the most effective ways in which we can do this is through Hypnosis.  The use of Hypnotherapy techniques has been used for thousands of years, going as far back as ancient Egypt. Hypnosis creates a trance like state that is perfectly ordinary. In fact, we go into trance many times a day, and is most like the experience of daydreaming. It relaxes the body and mind, allowing the conscious & subconscious minds to be in state that facilitates and allows communication between the two. Once the subconscious mind has been reached and the conscious mind is in agreement you can adapt unwanted behavioural patterns and free yourself, allowing you to lead the life that best serves you and to be free of limiting thoughts that previously held you back.