To fully understand the many functions of the subconscious    mind, lets take a quick look at some of the roles that the Subconscious Mind plays in our lives.

The subconscious mind will do whatever we ask it to do. It is an amazing servant to us. There are no limits to what our subconscious mind will do for us, in fact it is only limited by the restrictions we place upon it (and ourselves) through the beliefs we have created during our lives. If we have a belief that it’s not likely that we’ll ever be rich, our subconscious will do everything in its power to see that our belief comes true for us. The subconscious mind does not discriminate when it comes to thoughts and feelings; it responds to fearful thoughts as well as loving thoughts. The subconscious responds to every desire and imaginative thought we choose to entertain. So, achieving and maintaining some degree of awareness of our thoughts (since the subconscious hears every thought and responds accordingly) is certainly a skill worth having and honing.

Our subconscious mind is our friend and is always there for us and it never judges any of our thoughts, feelings or actions. Remember, our subconscious is the non-critical, non-analytical aspect of our mind—though we often judge ourselves with our conscience mind, according to the belief systems we have created for ourselves. As our good friend and ally, our subconscious mind is also extraordinarily protective of us. It will repress painful memories until we are ready and willing to heal them.

The Subconscious and Emotions:

The realm of the subconscious is where our heart lies. The spectrum of emotions from love through to fear are recorded and stored within the subconscious realm. Our subconscious memorizes all our feelings about every event we experience and encodes these memories in the cellular structure of our bodies. So, whenever a familiar event occurs, the feelings we have developed from earlier similar events are felt and then stored instantaneously in the cells of our body. Also, the thoughts and beliefs we have created regarding those “similar events” also show up instantly. Our subconscious brings our thoughts and feelings to us instantly and automatically as each event in our life occurs. Now, because the subconscious is the realm of the heart, it easily overrides the rational thoughts from our conscious mind whenever a conflict arises. Let’s take a look at exactly how our subconscious mind wins the majority of these battles with our conscious mind.

The Subconscious and Weight Management:

Suppose we have a friend called Jane, who makes a “conscious” decision to lose weight. But one day at the office, someone offers Jane a chocolate croissant. Now, let’s say Jane holds a belief in her conscious mind that chocolate croissants are fattening—though she absolutely LOVES croissants. Jane eyes the croissant longingly, but tells herself that croissants are definitely fattening and certainly cannot be found anywhere on her carefully constructed list of edibles for her diet. Not a problem. Because, you see, Jane has willpower. And fortitude. And she’s sticking to her diet. She’ll just pass on this one, no matter how good it looks. Besides, if she wants to lose weight, passing on the croissant is the rational, logical thing to do. And Jane’s conscious mind knows that this is what’s best for her. Right? But, as if the world has somehow conspired against her, the beautiful, wondrous aroma arising from the croissant reaches her nostrils; and, making matters worse, Barbara from accounting, a notorious pastry lover, is crossing the room eyeing Jane’s croissant! Without hesitation, Jane snatches the croissant and profusely thanks her thoughtful coworker. She eats the croissant and with each bite, Jane feels the accompanying sting of guilt from having cheated on her diet.

How did this happen? Pretty simple. The strength of Jane’s emotional desire to eat the chocolate treat was greater than her desire to lose weight. In order to stop eating pastries, Jane would have to strengthen her desire—at the subconscious level—to lose weight, so that her desire to lose weight would become stronger than her desire to eat chocolate croissants. The emotional strength of our love (or fear) held in our subconscious minds will almost ALWAYS override any rational thoughts coming from our conscious minds. When it comes to a battle of the minds, the subconscious mind will almost always win out.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post exploring The Subconscious In Action, and how it affects our Memories, Energy, Habits and the way we connect to our Higher Self.

This is an excerpt from Estelle’s new book,
“Unleash The Power Of Your Mind ~ Reach Your True Potential”
soon to be available at http://www.BalboaPress.com