The language of our subconscious mind is feelings (e.g. pain, pleasure, hot, cold), emotions (e.g. anger, sadness, joy, happy,) and images (pictures).
Since our conscious and subconscious minds speak different languages, our thoughts have to be translated into pictures before they enter our subconscious.
For example, let’s look at Julie who is irritated by her “clumsy” son, Jimmy. “Don’t bump into the coffee table!” she shouts at her son. “I mustn’t bump into the table.” thinks Jimmy.
When Jimmy’s thought is translated into a picture for the subconscious mind, part of the message is lost.
The verb “mustn’t” is an abstraction which doesn’t lend itself for easy translation into a picture.
(In order to get a picture of not bumping into the coffee table, your subconscious mind will give you a picture of bumping into the coffee table before it can cross out the bump into not bump).
As a result, the subconscious receives the message “. . . bump into the table.” Unwittingly, Julie’s suggestion results in the opposite behavior!
To avoid programming our subconscious with the wrong instructions, we should always focus on the behavior we want, not on what we don’t want.
Thus, “Hit the ball!” easily translates into a picture. However, this is not the case for, “Don’t miss the ball!”.
Our subconscious cannot distinguish between thoughts that are created by external events (reality) or imaginary events. So, if I merely imagine in my mind that I’m filled with confidence, my subconscious will accept that as true.
And when repeated often enough, my behavior will change. That is, I will become the person I imagined myself to be. On the other hand, we must avoid imagining negative events because our subconscious will accept them as true.
Our subconscious interprets our thoughts literally. It doesn’t have the power to reason and analyze. For instance, if I’m ambitious and wish to set goals, I may repeat to myself, “In a year, I will earn more money!”
One year later, I may find that I’m indeed earning more money, but only five dollars more! What went wrong? The problem is I didn’t specify how much more I wanted to earn.
My subconscious followed my instructions exactly, and stopped performing as soon as I achieved the target of earning “more” money, even if it was just five dollars.
So remember when you are asking someone else or even your subconscious mind for something always frame it in a positive way. For example i want to earn $100,000 a year in 2009. Then your subconscious mind has a goal to work with.
Of course you will have to make the necessary steps to achieve your goal. You can sit there as much as you like and say i want to earn $100,000 a in 2009, you can say it over and over but is it really going to happen???
Not if you are just sitting on your couch watching T.V. You need to take actions. So what will you need to do in order to be able to earn $100,000 a year? Will you need to get a new job? Will you need to study?
If you are earning $40,000 a year currently, ask yourself is it realistic to earn $100,000 in a year, or will you have to set yourself a more realistic goal until you have the skills necessary to actually earn $100,000 a year.
Also your subconscious mind needs to be congruent with your conscious mind in order to achieve your goals. For example if you say i want to earn $100,000 a year in 2009, you are telling your conscious mind that it what you want, but listen to your subconscious mind.
What is it saying when it hears this. Is it saying you will never earn that much money? Is it saying you don’t deserve that much money? Is it telling you the tools you will need to have in order to have that much money?
If you have those blocks there is something you can do in order to release those thoughts. You can do something called a belief change. I will talk about that in a later blog.
The lesson? When setting goals, be specific!
Let’s start using our thought-chisels to become the person we are meant to be.
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Sharon White
If you would like to learn more and work with me one on one I would love to work with you. I am passionate about people having a voice, being heard and creating the change you want in your life.
You can contact me at sharon@globalhealingexchange.com to see how I can help you. Sharon is the founder of Global Healing Exchange. You can work with her on her Emotional Freedom Program here.
