Have you ever heard the phrase -- my mind has a mind of its own? It's a reality -- we have two minds -- conscious and subconscious minds! As you might guess, the two minds may not always agree with each other. When that happens, life can be stressful and bad things can happen!
Our conscious mind works to think conceptually, abstractly, set goals, judge, try new things; it has short-term memory and limited processing capacity (illustrated by the inability to multi-task beyond 2-3 things at one time.
Our subconscious mind keeps us alive and safe. It monitors our body functions, heart rate. It is literal and is sensory based and holds our attitudes, values and beliefs. It has long-term memory with an immense processing capacity able to manage thousands of events to support our body's needs. Our subconscious mind is continuously being primed by all our senses.
The importance of understanding our two minds is when the two are not in synchrony. For example if we consciously decide to undertake a risky task or sport, our subconscious is cautious and unwilling to act, so there will be an internal struggle. In the 1996 movie 'Shine' we find a brilliant Australian piano prodigy struggling with his subconscious as his conscious mind strives to succeed as an acclaimed pianist. He has been subconsciously programmed by his father to avoid the spotlight because the notoriety will get him killed. Thus as he plays in a competition to win, his subconscious fights his conscious mind to fail. He makes it to the end of the piece and collapses. He has a mental breakdown. The conscious fight to keep from failing had taken its toll.
In an experiment conducted with college students, one group was 'tested' with a series of rude words. Another group was 'tested' with polite words. After their tests, participants were asked to meet with two testers. When they arrived at the appointment, they found the two testers having a conversation. Unbeknowst to the students, the conversation was a test to see which would interrupt the two testers first. All the students exposed to the rude words waited about 5 minutes before interrupting the testers. Surprisingly, 82% of the polite-word group did not interrupt the testers during the entire test period. Exposure to the different word-sets programmed the subconscious of the students. Further, the subconscious demonstrated influence on conscious actions.
The understanding that our subconscious plays such an important role in our conscious life reinforces our need to feed our minds with positive thoughts and images instead of negative ones. This understanding also reiterates the importance to help children read, see, hear, and be exposed to life enriching experiences. If not, our children will be at a disadvantage to live positive fulfilled lives.
These ideas are presented after reading "Biology of Belief" by Bruce H. Lipton (Hay House, 2005) and "Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson (Zondervan Press, 2011).
© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com
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