Your Subconscious Mind
Creates 95% of your life

Chapter 3: The Subconscious Mind

Whereas the conscious mind is that portion of your mind that you’re aware of, the portion of your mind that you are unaware of is called your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is on duty 24 hours a day, and it can handle an unlimited number of functions at the same time.  It’s like a computer running in the background of your mind, constantly controlling your involuntary functions, emotions and habits. Whether you are wide awake or sound asleep, your subconscious mind is continually artwork controlling all the vital functions of your body, without the help of your conscious mind. You don’t have to consciously think to breathe, to make your heart beat, to digest your food, to blink your eyes, and so on. Your subconscious mind handles all of that for you around the clock, whether you are asleep or awake. Your subconscious mind is constantly communicating with every cell in your body, receiving input from those cells, and sending instructions to them. The subconscious mind also handles all of the routine tasks that you had to learn through a painstaking process with your conscious mind. A classic example is the task of learning to drive a car. Think back to when you first learned to drive a car. At first, you had to think consciously about everything you did. I remember teaching my daughter to drive a few years ago. I had to say things like… “Now we’re going to turn right at the next street. I want you to take your foot off the gas… now turn your right blinker on…. put your foot on the brake…. start turning the steering wheel to the right… now straighten up the steering wheel… take your foot off the brake and put it back on the gas.” In other words, she had to consciously think and be consciously instructed on every move to make. But once she went through that conscious learning process, neuro pathways were formed in her brain, and gradually her subconscious mind took over so she didn’t have to consciously think about every movement or action. And today, she’s an excellent driver, and most of her driving is totally controlled by her subconscious mind. The same process applies to most of the things you have consciously learned to do… riding a bike, tying your shoes, swimming, you name it. These are all examples of things you had to learn how to do consciously, through a painstaking process, but once you went through that conscious process, the subconscious mind took over, and now you can do those things without consciously thinking about them. The reason your subconscious mind learned to do those things is because you did them repetitively through your conscious mind. Repetition is one of the keys for programming the subconscious mind. (Remember the importance of “repetition”, because we’ll come back to it later here.)

Here are some other characteristics of the subconscious mind. I mentioned in the previous chapter that the conscious mind is the logical part of your mind. Well, the subconscious mind is the “emotional” part of your mind. It is the source of all of our emotions, including love, hatred, happiness, sadness, jealousy, envy, anger and joy. Just like repetition, emotion is also one of the keys for reprogramming the subconscious mind. Another thing I mentioned in the previous chapter about the conscious mind is that the conscious mind has a limited memory. But that’s not the case with the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind has a virtually unlimited memory.  In fact, everything you have experienced in your life (from the moment you were born) is present in the memory bank of your subconscious mind… including every sight you have ever seen, every sound you have ever heard, and every emotion you have ever experienced. They are all stored in your subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind is where you hold deep-seeded beliefs about yourself, including whether you see yourself as talented or untalented, intelligent or unintelligent, successful or unsuccessful, deserving of love or undeserving of love, just to name a few. These deep-seeded beliefs about yourself are the result of all of your life’s experiences, including your childhood experiences. And this is important, because as adults, we often hold many negative self concepts and beliefs in our subconscious minds that were developed in our childhood years. Children often have cruel things said to them, and these things are easily implanted into the subconscious mind of a child, and often remain there for life. These cruel statements made to children may be said by classmates, siblings, or even parents and teachers.

Here are some examples:

• You’re fat You’re ugly
• You’re stupid
• You’re lazy
• You’ll never amount to anything
• You can’t do anything right

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. When statements like these are said to a child repeatedly and with emotion, these negative beliefs are easily programmed deeply into the child’s subconscious mind, and the subconscious mind accepts these negative statements as facts. And it’s not just childhood experiences that can negatively program your subconscious mind. Negative adult experiences can do the same thing. And regardless of when the negative programming occurs, the effects on your life can be dramatic.

Here’s why…

The beliefs about yourself that you hold deep in your subconscious mind have a tremendous effect on the reality you experience in your life. If you hold negative beliefs about yourself at the subconscious level, you will tend to experience negative realities in your life. If you hold positive beliefs about yourself, you will tend to experience positive realities in your life. That’s because your reality will ultimately match the subconscious image you have of yourself.  Let me repeat that statement, because it’s such a critical point.  Your reality will ultimately match the subconscious image you have of yourself. Here’s how it works. Earlier I said that your subconscious mind controls your involuntary functions. That applies not only to things like your breathing and heart rate, but also to your actions and behaviors. And it controls these actions and behaviors according to the subconscious beliefs you have about yourself. 

Let me give you a few examples:

• If you have a deep subconscious belief that you are stupid, your subconscious mind will cause you to do things that make you look stupid. 
• If you have a subconscious belief that you are destined to be poor or that you don’t deserve to be wealthy, your subconscious mind will cause you to mishandle money, or to be drawn toward circumstances that keep you poor, because that’s where your comfort level is. 
• If you subconsciously believe that you are unlovable, your subconscious mind will cause you to push people away or to sabotage your relationships.
• If you subconsciously believe you are unhealthy or that you will experience health problems, your subconscious mind will cause your immune system not to function properly, and you will get sick.

I could go on and on with examples, but I hope you’re beginning to get the picture. The subconscious self image you have of yourself determines your reality. So if you’re not happy with your reality today, you need to change your subconscious self-image. Once you transform these deep seeded negative subconscious beliefs into positive ones, your reality will change accordingly. That is the “hidden” power of the subconscious mind, and that’s what we’re going to be addressing in this book. William James, the father of American psychology said, “The greatest revolution in our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of the lives”. He’s right, except that it’s not a new concept. Consider what Solomon said some 3,000 years ago “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. The Bible also tells us that we are to be “Transformed by the renewing of our minds”. So this is not a new idea. This is a universal truth that has been around for thousands of years. The problem is, we often don’t do a good job of making this universal truth work for us.

My goal in writing this, is to help you put this universal truth to work for you so you can transform your life into the life you desire. And in the next chapter, I’m going to tell you how to do it.

Chapter 4:Reprogramming Your Subconscious Mind

By now, I hope you understand the importance of ridding your subconscious mind of negative beliefs and self images, and replacing them with positive beliefs and self-images. But how do you do that? There are actually a number of methods for reprogramming the subconscious mind, but the approach I’m going to share with you in this book is what I believe to be the simplest and most direct method of reprogramming your subconscious mind. In fact, this process is so simple, you may be tempted to think it won’t work. But I can tell you from personal experience… this works! And if you have any doubts that it will work, I have two words of advice for you… TRY IT. Try it for six months, and then compare your life at the end of that six month period to what your life is like right now. Once you do that, I’m confident you’ll be a believer in the process.

This approach involves developing a series of positive affirmations (utilizing your “conscious” mind), writing those affirmations down on paper, and then going through a deliberate process to imbed those affirmations in your subconscious mind. As your new affirmations are accepted by your subconscious mind, they replace the old negative beliefs previously held by your subconscious mind. And as this happens, your reality will begin to change to match the new self-image held by the subconscious mind. Remember, your reality will ultimately match the subconscious image you have of yourself.

Now, let’s take a look at the process…

The first thing you want to do is sit down with a pencil and a pad of paper, and start designing the life you want. The way you do that is by writing down series of affirmations that describe you and your life “exactly as you want it to be”. You can include all aspects of your life… your finances, your health, your relationships, your charitable giving, your spirituality, the home you live in, the car you drive, your lifestyle, being a loving and giving person, how much you travel, where you travel, your career, and on and on. In other words, design your life exactly as you want it to be. How many affirmations should you write down? There’s no magic number, but I’m going to suggest that you start with about a dozen. I recommend this number because it’s a large enough number to enable you to address several aspects of your life… but it’s also a small enough number that you can pretty easily commit the affirmations to memory, which will prove helpful, as you will see. I don’t want to try to create your affirmations for you, because they need to come from you. But sometimes people have trouble getting started with this process. So let me give you some example affirmations to get your creative juices flowing.

Some examples might be:

• I own a successful business.
• I travel extensively to wonderful destinations.
• I live in my dream home.- I own a beautiful houseboat.
• I am blessed with a wonderful family.
• I have a happy and successful marriage.
• I am a loving wife (husband).
• I am a loving mother (father).
• Money flows naturally to me in abundance.
• I have more than enough money.
• I give generously to worthwhile charities.
• I am blessed with excellent health.
• My immune system keeps me in a state of constant wellness.
• I enjoy exercise.
• I easily maintain my perfect weight.
• I enjoy eating healthy foods.
• I have an abundance of friends.
• I am kind, loving and compassionate.
• I am a dedicated and loyal friend.
• I am filled with love and compassion for others.
• I am deeply loved by my family and friends.
• I bring happiness to others.

Those are just some examples. The key is to design the life that YOU want and to create the person that YOU want to be. But even though affirmations listed above are just examples, I want you to notice two important things about them.

First, they are all in the present tense. Always write your affirmations in the present tense, as if you have already achieved them. The subconscious mind only lives in the present tense, so your affirmations MUST be phrased in the present tense. If your goal is to write a book, you might say “I am a bestselling author”, rather than “I will write a book next year.” Second, they are all “positive”. Negative words should not be included in your affirmations. Some psychologists believe that the subconscious mind doesn’t see or hear negative words like “not”. So if you say “I am not afraid”, your subconscious mind may hear that as “I am afraid”. So instead, say something positive like “I am confident and courageous.”

Don’t worry if it takes some time to come up with your list. It’s okay to spend several days writing and refining your list of affirmations. The process of coming up with your affirmations is a powerful process in its own right, because it requires you to decide what you really want your life to look like. It’s also okay to revise your list from time to time. In fact, that’s probably a good sign that the process is working, because it means you are gaining greater clarity on exactly what you want in life. If you find that one of your affirmations no longer rings true for you, simply remove it or revise it. And add new ones whenever you want to.

Now, once you have developed your list of affirmations, what do you do with it? This is where it gets really exciting, because now you begin the process of imbedding these affirmations in your subconscious mind.

And here’s how you do it…

Twice a day, simply relax, clear your mind, and focus on the affirmations on your list. Visualize yourself as already having these traits and already having achieved these goals. See yourself in action doing those activities and being that person. It’s up to you to decide when you spend time with your list, but it’s often been said that first thing in the morning and just before you go to sleep at night are two excellent times, because the subconscious seems to be particularly receptive to new suggestions during those times. Regardless of when you do it, it’s important to put yourself in a very relaxed state when you review your affirmations, because relaxation opens the door to the subconscious mind. When you quiet your mind and relax, the thoughts and images you focus on sink down into the subconscious mind.

So here’s what you want to do…

Twice a day, find a comfortable, quiet spot. It can be sitting down or lying down, whichever you prefer.  (It can even be in bed late at night and first thing in the morning.)  Until you have your affirmations memorized, it may make more sense to be sitting up, because you’ll probably need to read your affirmations, and that’s easier to do when sitting. But eventually, you’ll commit your affirmations to memory, and reading won’t be necessary. Once you get in a comfortable position, take a few deep breaths. Really focus on slow, deep exhales. With each exhale, consciously relax every muscle in your body. Allow your body to go a bit limp. After you take that last deep breath, spend a few seconds to really focus on relaxing the muscles in your body. Once you feel totally relaxed, simply begin reciting your affirmations. You can say them out loud, or you can simply say them silently in your mind. You can read them with your eyes open, or you can close your eyes and recite them from memory. As you recite each affirmation, you also want to visualize each affirmation as being already true. Create a visual image in your mind of yourself as already having these traits and having achieved these goals. This visualization is critical to the success of the process. Your subconscious mind doesn’t know real from imagined. It will accept as real the things you visualize, so let your imagination really run free as you visualize your affirmations. You should also elaborate on the wording of each affirmation, and add as much detail as needed to really “feel” it. You want the affirmation to elicit an emotional response. It’s not enough to say it… you want to feel it! The subconscious is the emotional part of your mind, so you must use emotion when programming your subconscious mind.

For example, if your written affirmation is “I live in my dream home”, feel free to add more detail as you recite it, and say something like, “I live in my dream home overlooking the ocean.  It brings me great happiness to sit on my balcony and watch the waves crash in on the shore and to smell the ocean air.” And as you say these words, create a mental picture. See yourself sitting on the balcony of your dream home overlooking the ocean and watching the waves roll in, and smelling the ocean air.

Let’s look at another example…

Suppose you have a written affirmation that says “I successfully run a marathon”. You might add some detail as you recite it, and say something like “I feel exhilarated as I cross the finish line of the marathon. My friends and family are there cheering me on for this accomplishment.” And as you recite the words, visualize yourself crossing the finish line with your hands raised in the air, and your friends and family standing there cheering for you.  Feel the excitement and the sense of accomplishment. By adding the visualization, detail and emotion to your affirmation, you supercharge your affirmation. This dramatically increases the speed and effectiveness with which the affirmation is imbedded in your subconscious mind. After you have finished going through your affirmations, simply take a deep breath, open your eyes, and go about your business. (Or if it’s bedtime, you can simply drift off to sleep after you complete your review of your affirmations.) There is no set amount of time to spend each time you do this process. Sometimes you’ll do it very quickly, in just a couple of minutes, and other times you’ll get deeply involved in the process and spend several minutes or maybe half hour on it. It’s up to you. Do what feels right to you each time. Get in the habit of doing this a couple of times a day. Make it a part of your daily routine, just like brushing your teeth and eating your meals. It just simply becomes something you do each day.  This is important because of the principle of repetition.  When programming the subconscious mind, it is necessary to repeat the conditioning often until the new belief is totally accepted by the subconscious mind. It is critical that you stick with the process until your affirmations are totally accepted by the subconscious mind.  That’s because the subconscious mind cannot hold two competing beliefs at the same time. 

For example, your subconscious mind will either believe that you are intelligent or that you are unintelligent. It will not accept both. So if your past programming has implanted the belief that you are unintelligent, that’s what your subconscious mind will believe until you override that belief and implant your subconscious mind with the belief that you are intelligent. Once the subconscious mind accepts the new belief, it will begin acting according to the new belief. Once you start the process of reprogramming your subconscious mind, some inexplicable changes will begin to take place in your life. These changes sometimes occur quickly and dramatically, but often they occur slowly and gradually. In fact, sometimes they occur so naturally and gradually that you won’t even notice them as they occur. But rest assured that the changes are occurring.

Here are the kinds of changes you can expect to see… you will gain more confidence… you will begin to believe that you are capable of accomplishing your goals… you will begin to see yourself as already being the person you wish to become… you will begin to take the action steps necessary to accomplish your goals. Keep a positive attitude, even if results don’t seem to be occurring as quickly as you want them to. Also, it’s important to “expect” the changes to occur in your life.  Expectation is a self fulfilling prophecy when you give commands to your subconscious mind. When the subconscious mind expects something, it makes that thing happen. As your subconscious mind accepts these new beliefs, it’s also important to take “conscious” steps toward your goals as well. For instance, earlier I used the example that one of your affirmations might be “I successfully run a marathon.” In this example, as you embed this affirmation into your subconscious mind, you would also want to consciously take the necessary steps to prepare for a marathon. You would start researching marathon races in your area and decide which one you want to run in. You would put together a training plan and a timetable to move you toward this goal. In this way, your subconscious mind and conscious mind work together to move you toward your goals.

So as you follow this process of imbedding these new beliefs in your subconscious mind, continually ask yourself what steps you can be taking on a conscious basis to move yourself in the direction of your goals. As you do this, you will find a renewed confidence that you can achieve and accomplish every single one of your affirmations. Commit to this process for six months, and then take a look at the changes that have occurred in your life. Once you do this, I think you’ll understand the power of this process.

You can also download You tube audio by typing "Affirmations" and listen audio with a music once or twice in a day. It will be easier and more efficient to proceed because background music helps your subconscious mind get emotional and absorb all information. When you get emotional your subconscious mind opens and becomes highly suggestible for any suggestions.

So, keep in mind this secret and utilize it to your advantage.

I hope you now have a better understanding of what your subconscious mind is, and what a powerful weapon it can be when it comes to transforming your life. My challenge to you is, begin right now to put your subconscious mind to work for you, to reprogram it to achieve the life you truly deserve.