About Being Conscious Of Your Unconscious

Becoming Conscious of Your Unconscious

It was only in the 20th Century that Sigmund Freud asserted that we have an unconscious mind.

Since then, many techniques have been created to figure out this 'storehouse' of our memories, dreams, and emotions. But what is the unconscious mind? And how can we utilise it to become more whole, or healthy?

There are some things in life you feel you have no control over. Whether its the way you feel when you wake up in the morning, that cup of coffee you seem to need to have, or perhaps the way you think about yourself when you look in the mirror-Your unconscious mind runs all of these behaviours and beliefs. Anything that is repeated several times becomes an unconscious habit.

We are still learning and discovering more about the unconscious mind, but what we do know is that it is very subserviant. It acts in your best interests, and is always trying to fulfil a need.

You may be thinking, how is smoking in my best interests?!? Surely my unconscious mind causes me to smoke, as I can't control my cravings! And you'd be right, your unconscious mind does run your habits. But they were created first and foremost for a reason. Unconsciously you may have wanted to relieve stress, boredom, or cope with a social situation of some sort.

Let's think of your unconscious mind as being like SatNav in a car, and your conscious mind as being the driver. Lets go one step further and say that the car is super-sophisticated and when you program in your Sat Nav, the car will drive itself and get you to where you want to be. Sounds like a good car! But then whats the use of the driver? I hear you say. Well, the driver has the autonomy to program the car, to send it directly where he or she wants to be. And the Sat Nav wilfully responds.

So we can say this is a perfect metaphor for how your conscious and unconscious mind works. You are in the driving seat, you have the power to direct your unconscious mind. Unfortunately most people do not know how they can do this, or even that it is possible! However, since the discovery of the unconscious many have attempted to retrain the unconscious mind to get you where you want to be. Indeed, Empowerment gurus such as Anthony Robbins and Joseph Clough have proven how you can change every area of your life by re-training your unconscious mind.

Sounds too easy to be true? Well, the reason it is so powerful is because your unconscious mind does not know the difference between a real or an imagined situation. This is why dreams can affect us so profoundly and we can wake up in a cold sweat or feeling an emotion in our bodies that wasn't actually real.

As we move towards a whole understanding of science and ourselves, the unconscious mind appears to be a gateway towards accessing the incredible power of our unconscious mind. There have been many successful studies in hypnosis showing that trance can suppress pain, facilitate healing, and much more. The mystery of how and why it works is still as yet unknown.

What the discovery of the unconscious mind shows is that we have access to much more power than we previously thought. As we learn more about our own unconscious mind, we can start to work with it and familiarise ourselves with the way it works. Our unconscious mind is our faithful servant; it is the 'program' or software to how we run our lives.

Imagine what would happen if we got back in the driving seat, if we attempted to harness the power of our own unconscious?

Being in control of our minds allows the conscious and the unconscious to work in harmony with each other- the car is driving to the driver's intended destination.

As we strive to become whole, healthy and happy, perhaps we need only to listen to the subtle forces that guide our thinking in order to relinquish control.

Liverpool Hypnotherapy are based in Aigburth, South Liverpool and offer NLP, Hypnosis and TimeLine Therapy as well as a range of over 35 hypnosis titles available on CD or download.