Harnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Written by David B. Bohl - 33 Comments
Categories: psychology

subconscious

More and more people are becoming aware that they have two distinct minds–the conscious and the subconscious. We are generally more aware of the conscious mind, because we spend most of our waking hours there, while we spend our sleeping hours in the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is like the tip of the iceberg that you see above the water, while the subconscious is below the surface.

We think, reason, decide, compute, and reason with our conscious mind. That would make it seem indispensable and far superior to whatever the subconscious mind does. And until recently, the vast powers of the subconscious mind remained fairly untapped. As science continues to explore its depths, we continue to learn more about its capacity as the quiet dynamo behind the conscious mind.

Imagine that the subconscious mind as the puppeteer pulling the strings of the conscious mind. It’s like an enormous warehouse storing all the experiences, impressions, ideas, lessons, and beliefs you’ve ever had. It’s like your computer’s hard drive, that is, if you save your data! And back it up. So when the conscious mind needs to make a decision, for example, it pulls up data from its storehouse or hard drive to help make an informed choice. Now all this is pretty much done unconsciously.

That’s where you can start to harness the power of your subconscious mind. By using it consciously and deliberately, to guide and influence you to make the best choices. And you do that by communicating with it. You ask it questions, offer up problems for it to solve, set up goals for it to achieve–so it can get to work to mine its reservoir to create answers, solutions, and actions. When you have a specific outcome you want to achieve–such as finding the ideal home for your family, or overcoming a health challenge–what you need to do is to tell your subconscious mind exactly what you want in full detail.

Then, leave the how to your subconscious. For not only is it a storehouse of all your life experience, it is also connected to an unlimited, infinite source through its connection to the universal mind, just as your computer is connected to millions of computers through the Internet. Initially, you program your subconscious mind through the conscious mind much as we put data on our hard drive. We read books, take courses, experience certain events–and all this gets recorded onto our subconscious mind. However, and this is a big however, a lot of things get programmed into the subconscious accidentally. For example, experiences we didn’t plan on, and thoughts we didn’t choose to entertain, and beliefs we formed based on misperceptions.

So if you are not getting the kinds of results you want in your life, it’s often in the faulty programming of your subconscious mind. The good news is that since you programmed it, whether accidentally or on purpose, you can re-program it at any time, so you can get the results you want. Although scientists have not come up with a way to simply “delete” unwanted thoughts as easily as you can delete files from your computer, you can override unwanted programming with more desired thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.

How you do that is by putting your undivided attention on what you want to accomplish. Think about your goals, visualize your goals, imagine them already achieved. When you hear any background noise in your mind with the old programming, let your new thoughts get louder and louder, until the negative messages get quieter and quieter. Adopt the attitude that you will not fail, that you will succeed, that there is no other option. And if temporary setbacks crop up, keep moving forward to your goals. Setbacks are just the result of your residual old thoughts. As they get quieter and the supportive thoughts get stronger, you will start to see concrete evidence in your results. When you harness the power of your subconscious mind, you are using your mind’s capabilities wisely and powerfully.

This article was written by David B. Bohl – Husband, Father, Friend, Lifestyle Coach, Author, Entrepreneur, and creator of Slow Down FAST.

  • http://financialphilosopher.typepad.com/thefinancialphilosopher/ Kent @ The Financial Philosopher

    Ultimately, success should be measured by the degree to which we are able to discover and become the “true self.” This process of self-discovery and aligning our knowledge with our actions may come as a result of winning the battle of “mind vs. brain.”

    Interestingly, this idea of mind over matter is nothing new: Rene Descartes, who famously said, “I think therefore I am,” changed the course of philosophy and science with his ideas of “dualism” more than 600 years ago…

    “The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.” ~ Rene Descartes

    Great post…

  • http://financialphilosopher.typepad.com/thefinancialphilosopher/ Kent @ The Financial Philosopher

    Correction on my previous comment: Descartes actually shared his thoughts on dualism approximately 400 years ago — not 600. On the same subject, I highly recommend his “Meditations on First Philosophy” for those of you who are interested in more of his thoughts on “mind vs. brain.”

    Cheers…

  • http://www.mybrainbridge.com Reed

    If most people would learn to tap into their subconscious mind, they could achieve great things with proper use. It’s sad that so many people go through life with negative use of the subconscious mind through negative autosuggestion.

  • http://www.lifemadegreat.com LifeMadeGreat | Juliet

    Hi

    I like the way you have captured and presented this topic.

    We so much need to reprogramme our unbenificial ways of thinking and turnaround our negative beliefs. For so long we have continously fed ourselves concepts that just don’t serve us and to turn them around requires contsant work. Like you say, the constant focus on the positive.

    And affirmations help too. We talk alot about these on our website and have developed a (free) application for using them. (sorry for the advert, but it’s just so useful and beneficial for all)

    I think it is also important to really get into the FEELING of where you want to be in life. Emotions such as joy and excitement and freedom etc.

    Thanks for a good topic.

    Cheers
    Juliet

  • http://www.freedomeducation.ca Stephen Martile

    Wow! Very nice article and one of my favorite topics.

    The subconscious mind is also known as the emotional mind. Therefore, one of the more important “tools” in the toolbox for subconscious programming is to add ‘emotion’ to your thoughts.

    Do you want to super charge your subconscious mind for accelerated results?

    Then add feeling, passion, excitement, wonder and joy to all of your thoughts. This will add the jet fuel needed to reinforce yourself as a deliberate creator.

  • http://www.varsityblah.com/about Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah)

    “We are what we think; as we desire so do we become! By our thoughts, desires, and habits, we either ascend to the full divine dignity of our nature, or we descend to suffer and learn.”- J. Todd Ferrier

  • http://www.healthmoneysuccess.com Vincent

    Hi David,

    The power of our subconscious mind is tremendously powerful. If we can tap into it and use it to our advantage, the benefit we can get from it would be magnificent.

    Cheers
    Vincent
    Personal Development Blogger

  • http://www.slowdownfast.com/blog/using-your-subconscious-to-succeed/ Using Your Subconscious to Succeed | Slow Down Fast Personal Coaching and Lifestyle Design ~ David B. Bohl

    [...] my article Harnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind at Pick the [...]

  • http://themasterssecretkey.com Secret Key Candace

    Great… At night it great to make a list of all the things you are grateful for before you go to sleep. This way when you lay down you are focused on positivity. Changing your mindset is necessary to achieve a positive attitude and unleash the true power of our subconscious mind.

  • http://be4success.net Neil

    David, great post. You’re right, when we focus our attention on our goals and don’t allow ourselves to become distracted they we can achieve our dreams. Thanks for sharing this post with us.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/2008/11/20/useful-reading-20-nov-2008/ Useful Reading 20 Nov 2008

    [...] harnessing the power of your subconscious mind Good points about how to “program” your subconscious mind to get what you want [...]

  • Pol

    Wow!
    Another article brimming with positivity and practical advice and stimulating ideas. What a contrast to the work environment I am about to enter this morning.

    I believe we can become more conscious of our subconscious mind during meditation but am rather uninitiated about a lot of the details. How about “meditation and the subconsious mind” an article heading on this blog from one of you guys who knows a lot about this topic?

  • http://www.pmm.nl Ron C. de Weijze

    Don’t blame it on the supposedly miswired unconscious too soon! Preoccupation and selective attention may simply block incoming information to reaching the central processor. Simply sensing what we sense and knowing what we know can ‘rewire’ us. Positive feedback will follow when we know what we sense, and others agree with that.

  • http://abetterperson.com/abetterperson/2008/11/how-to-make-affirmations-work/ How to Make Affirmations Work | A Better Person

    [...] Harnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind [...]

  • Omar

    Nice article. It’s a challenge wiring the mind to positivity. It can definitely be done. When I meditate I notice I feel calmer and more positive. With meditation is a battle of emptying negative feelings and images.

  • http://abetterperson.com/abetterperson/2009/02/how-positive-thinking-can-work-for-you/ How Positive Thinking Can Work For You | A Better Person

    [...] Harnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind (pickthebrain.com) [...]

  • http://www.more-confident.com/speak-i-can-instead-of-i-cant/ Speak “I can” instead of “I can’t” | Building Self Confidence | Confidence Tips | Build Self Esteem

    [...] noticed we are never really quiet inside our own minds? Try it out. When we sit in a corner, away from others for a break, we keep on thinking. We [...]

  • http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com Roseanna Leaton

    I just wanted to add that there are a lot of NLP techniques which can be used to repair that faulty wiring within our inner minds.

    And of course NLP is underpinned by the use of hypnosis which allows access to the subconscious. If you find your logical mind wanting to do one thing, and your emotional mind wanting to do another hypnosis provides an environment where both parts of the mind can communicate more easily.

    Hypnosis creates an REM state, same as the state you access each night as you dream, the function of which is the resolution of unconsciosu conflicts. Hypnosis is therefor an invaluable tool in conscious-subconscious interaction and alignment.

    Roseanna

  • http://scootertronics.com michael

    Yes every night only think of my great day and being grateful for it and now I get to rest and how great my day will be in the morning and yes I have planned it and my goals are my last thoughts, just knowing I am at home with my family gives me the joy to keep going when it gets rough like 2009 and sleep with positive thought of morning

    michael

  • shashank

    Have any of you read ‘the power of sunconsious mind’ by Joseph Murphy.?
    Its a really great book!
    And it did wonders in my life!
    The subconscious mind a really powerful.

  • http://www.mypromdresses.co.uk/ prom gowns

    Im glad to know this blog.

  • http://quicknotherapy.com Lyn Murphy

    The Power of the subconsciuos mind is a well kept secret. The ability to get to our deepest selves and really understand our deepest drives and motivations is possible for anyone willing to learn. I have found hypnotherapy to be a great shortcut to this process and have seen amazing results with clients in a very short amont of time. Often what they find to be their deepest truth is not what they expected at all or would have ever figured out in conscious thought. We are truly amazing creatures!

  • http://www.MindMaster.tv Mike Jon

    An excellent site on how to harness the power of your subconscious is http://www.MindMaster.tv The face book fan page is http://www.facebook.com/mindmaster.tv

  • http://exclusiveradioshow.podomatic.com day

    Here is some more advice on personal and spiritual growth. http://exclusiveradioshow.podomatic.com/entry/2010-12-27T12_34_07-08_00 on the page provided there is a download link on the bottom. please leave your comments on the page or at my facebook@daecapc

  • Avi Pagla07

    WE Can Shelve thousands of Books into our minds,we can make objects move,we can shoot energy balls…The possibilities are endless.

  • http://www.callcenterbestpractices.com/multitasking-the-grand-illusion/ Multitasking – The Grand Illusion! | CallCenterBestPractices.com

    [...] [...]

  • http://www.HypnosisForBetterLife.com/hypnosis-for-phobia/nlp-and-hypnosis/ NLP and Hypnosis | Learn Hypnosis – Covert Hypnosis Course on How to Hypnotize Someone, Self Hypnosis Techniques, Free Hypnosis Videos | HypnosisForBetterLife.com

    [...] [...]

  • http://docresults.com/blog/2010/12/are-you-really-in-control-or/ Are You Really In Control or…? | Houston Vetter – DocResults Blog

    [...] #split {}#single {}#splitalign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#singlealign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}.linkboxtext {line-height: 1.4em;}.linkboxcontainer {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;background-color:#eeeeee;border-color:#000000;border-width:0px; border-style:solid;}.linkboxdisplay {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;}.linkboxdisplay td {text-align: center;}.linkboxdisplay a:link {text-decoration: none;}.linkboxdisplay a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} function opensplitdropdown() { document.getElementById('splittablelinks').style.display = ''; document.getElementById('splitmouse').style.display = 'none'; var titleincell = document.getElementById('titleincell').value; if (titleincell == 'yes') {document.getElementById('splittitletext').style.display = 'none';} } function closesplitdropdown() { document.getElementById('splittablelinks').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('splitmouse').style.display = ''; var titleincell = document.getElementById('titleincell').value; if (titleincell == 'yes') {document.getElementById('splittitletext').style.display = '';} } LOA BS (A hackneyed blog entry about the Law of AttractionThe Matrix Has YouQuantum DiariesWhat you see is what you get – part 2Day 177: THE POVERTY OF NEUROSCIENCEInternal Martial Arts and Neuro-Linguistic ProgrammingSubconscious thinking and how it influences our actionsLaw of Attraction – Increase Your Mind Power over MoneyHarnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind [...]

  • http://www.meditationmusics.net/audio/accelerating-learning-relaxing-music-plus-subliminal-affirmations.html Accelerating Learning (Relaxing music plus subliminal affirmations) on Meditation Music

    [...] and Relaxation Music Reviews Create the optimal environment for learning with specially composed music proven to aid concentrati…_.jpg" /> Create the optimal environment for learning with specially composed music proven to aid [...]

  • Guest

    Well not a really informed article, scientifically. Very strong and positive, helpful quite helpful indeed. This article kinda answered a question that my psychology prof’s prof could not, so thank you for that.

  • http://www.adaliaconfidenceandsuccessblog.com/2011/12/13/harness-the-power-of-your-subconscious-mind-to-achieve-your-goals/ Achieve Any Goal with the Power of Your Subconscious Mind | CONFIDENCE IS AN INSIDE JOB ™…

    [...] to harness the power of your subconscious [...]

  • http://www.trancesecrets.com/subconscious-mind/ The Hidden Files: Power Of The Subconscious Mind

    [...] that our mind can only absorb what is beneficial for us and in line with our values and beliefs. Looking back at the movie, Street Fighter, there was a scene wherein we see a creature is strapped i…machine. The idea behind it is to have the human view so much violence that he becomes a destructive [...]

  • Smishra Skm

    “thick books” keep it aside and knot down the golden words, in fact any word or sentence which makes you do something is better than thousand words.