By way of introduction I need to explain that I have been involved in this area since 1981. I have always kept up with the latest research and now there is a huge interest in the new “brain and mind” research which completely validates what I have been teaching. See some of the links on the right hand side to follow some research articles.

What is Your Subconscious Mind?

The circle in the diagram below represents the mind. The shaded area shows the 12% as representing the conscious mind – the remaining 88% is the subconscious mind. Between the conscious and the subconscious mind there is a “filter” (dotted line) which is the Reticular Activating System.

This filter is very useful and in fact it keeps us sane by protecting our minds from superfluous, unnecessary information. We can certainly use it to our advantage. We already use it naturally and we can also learn to use it deliberately.

The deeper mind, the subconscious mind, deals with our memory, all our habits, all our personality, and our self-image. What a fabulous mind!  Normally it is used automatically, or naturally, for memory and habits. What we must learn to do is to use it deliberately, so that we use more of our natural power.

Natural Programming of the Subconscious

When I was eight years old classrooms consisted of desks and chairs that were bolted to the floor. The teacher generally spoke from a desk at the front of the room near a huge blackboard. One day I was called on to draw an elephant on the blackboard (it must have been nature study or perhaps geography). I heard quite a bit of muffled laughter behind me and I don’t blame them for laughing, because it was probably the funniest elephant anyone had ever seen. I was really embarrassed when the teacher smiled. “Even the teacher laughing at me as well” I thought. Thank goodness it was break time, but the kids in the playground didn’t let up. “You can’t draw, you can’t draw” with an accusing finger levelled at me. At that time I told myself “I can’t draw”, and “I hate drawing” and “I’ll never draw again!

Does it sound at all familiar? Have you ever had a humiliating, embarrassing situation like that? It’s a classic case of self-esteem being damaged (by my classmates and the teacher laughing at my drawing) followed by my damaging self-talk (I can’t draw – I hate drawing – I’ll never draw again). All this, done in an atmosphere of great embarrassment and emotion, so that  my self-image  (I can’t draw) was indelibly imprinted on my subconscious mind. So strong was this, and done with such emotion that when I was 15 years old doing a social studies project, my subconscious mind overruled my conscious mind by saying “What are you trying to do? – you know you can’t draw! Put that pen down!” I remember it vividly even to the extent of going to find a picture of a seal that I could trace.

True for some of you I am sure – that some time in the past you had something similar happen, whereby your self-esteem was punctured and this was reinforced by your own self-talk. It’s the way things can happen, but the good news is that you can reprogram something like that. Remember, self-image is caused by self-esteem, and self-esteem commences with, firstly self-talk, by telling yourself (for example) “Hey I can’t draw”.  Self-talk either boosts or lowers your self-esteem.  It’s how you think about yourself that goes into your subconscious mind and then bounces it back to you: “Hey you can’t draw”. That then becomes your self-image. Your subconscious mind takes over from that moment onwards and it lets you know that you can’t draw. Every time you take up a pen that’s exactly what comes from your subconscious mind up into your conscious mind. However, as I said before, that can be reprogrammed by using Alpha techniques. Alpha is the scientific name given to the level of energy in your brain when you are in a state of light relaxation.

The conscious mind is the “doing”, “action state”, where we spend most of the time. If you have never before done conscious relaxation and “gone into Alpha” when reading you are probably in the Beta state – the state where you are only using your conscious mind. It is a state in which we can think of many things and do many things at once. However, to work with the subconscious mind you think of only one thing at a time – this is the Alpha state.

Real learning takes place when the conscious mind directs the subconscious mind to receive information and store it in a part of the brain from which it can be easily accessed and recalled. You can learn how to activate the subconscious mind and have it directed by the conscious mind…. deliberately

The Limbic System

We have another part of the brain system that is very important and it’s called the Limbic System. The Limbic System is a little “mini brain”, just above the top of the spine, at the base of the skull. This “mini brain” has been found to control at least three things.

Firstly it controls emotions, secondly it controls sexuality and the third thing it controls is pleasure centres. Recent research has linked emotions and memory together. Rappaport was the original researcher who wrote in his book “not only is emotion involved in memory but it is the very basis on which memory is organised”. It is generally accepted that people achieve greater success if they have fun doing whatever it is they’re doing (that’s using positive emotion).

Today the entire accelerated learning movement uses emotion as a key aspect for accelerated learning.  Remember my personal experience of “I can’t draw”? The action of being embarrassed and being made fun of was enough emotion to have the action “I can’t draw” being retained in my subconscious mind which then became my memory. For me the subconscious mind overrode my conscious mind acting out what had now become my habits – “you know you can’t draw”!

The job of the subconscious mind is to keep you where you are now – with all the habits that you’ve got now – whether they support you or not.The job of the conscious mind is to put into the subconscious what you want.

Benefits of Deliberately Using Your Subconscious Mind

A good point is to consider what has been accomplished by people who have already done my CALM Life Skills Seminar. Stories detailing Successes are available to read here. The areas in which they have applied the techniques are as follows:

How do you use the Subconscious Mind Deliberately?

Here is Sandy’s Four Step System which is Easy to do!
Below are the four steps of the system that can change habits – they are written in a way that can be easily understood. (Note that the word “goal” is often interchangeable with “new habit”). You will then find the steps explained in detail.

First Step
Learn to relax and focus in 30 seconds – this means that you are then in the Alpha Brain-Wave State which in turn means that the reticular activating filter is open and you are deliberately dealing with the subconscious mind.

Second Step
State your new habit (goal that you want) in Positive, Personal and Present Tense language whilst you are in the focused Alpha State.

Third Step
Visualise the end result of achieving your new habit (goal). Having written down your goal and the reasons you want that goal, you then start to visualise that you have achieved the reasons for that goal. Here you use as many as possible of the 7 ways of visualisation – see, feel, smell, taste, hear, imagine and talk to yourself whilst you are in the Alpha State.

Fourth Step
Emotionalise the new habit with your Emotional Anchor whilst you are in the Alpha State.  The visualisation process triggers positive emotion (feeling good) then you add your Emotional Anchor. The system teaches you to build your Anchor. Read More.