Sometimes the only thing we change in a situation is the way we think about it, and sometimes that is enough to change everything. Discover the best subconscious mind training techniques you can use to control how you think.
What is the subconscious mind?
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung referred to the subconscious as a storehouse of all the experiences, knowledge, and emotions not held in our conscious, active brain.
The famous Sigmund Freud viewed the ‘subconscious’ as a combination of the ‘preconscious,’ information easily accessible to the conscious, and the ‘unconscious.’
The subconscious is best described as an iceberg.
The tip, that approximately 10% that sticks out of the water, that’s your conscious mind. It’s your decision-making center, it’s your active willpower, and it’s where you think logically and critically.
That other 90% that lies beneath the water? That’s your subconscious. It’s the part of your mind that informs the decisions you make with the biases, heuristics, memories, emotions, and beliefs in its storage.
Think of your subconscious mind as your internal programming, which informs everything you do.
Why seek to control it?
Some people, quite incorrectly, believe that we are not responsible for our subconscious mind, and so cannot control it. This is simply not true.
Take the recognized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for example. Alongside altering how you act, making up the behavior part, CBT aims to impact how you make decisions by changing the thought processes in your subconscious brain.
Although CBT is a well-known therapeutic treatment for various conditions, such as depression, eating disorders, and other mental health issues, subconscious mind tricks to improve your life aren’t limited to the realms of a diagnosis.
Improving how your think has many other benefits including:
- Making you more effective in work
- Increasing your career success
- Improving your happiness levels
- Helping you focus
- Putting you on the right track to meeting your life goals.
How to control your subconscious mind?
If you’re looking to reprogram how you think, these five tips are the best place to start.
1. Stop and Breath
The first step to gaining control over your subconscious may seem a little counteractive, but in fact, it’s this inactivity that sets you on the right path.
Our subconscious works to aid our decision-making, using heuristics, experiences, knowledge, and emotions it draws conclusions, sometimes incorrectly, and this is especially true if you are stressed.
That’s why to reset how you think; it’s essential first to stop and take a deep breath or five, to clear your body and mind for what comes next. This will help you reach more logical, clearer decisions, based on actual knowledge, not unreliable biases.
2. Meditation
Now that you’ve slowed down your thought processes, it is time to regain focus. Meditation is the perfect tool to meet that objective.
It helps you visualize and focus on what you want, bring your mind and body together and enables you to get to your goal.
At first, it may seem difficult to set time aside each day just to meditate, but over time it will become a habit, and a good one at that.
3. Mantras
Once you’ve practiced your meditation, making sure you’re in the right frame of mind, then it’s time to add in mantras. These are affirmations that help redirect your thought processes from the negative to the positive.
As you do, over time, these will become deeply ingrained into your subconscious and will form the basis for any future decisions.
Our top three to try are:
- The Serenity Prayer. A mantra of Christian origin that helps you find peace with your situation and gain the strength to overcome it:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
- The simple, self-assurance mantra, perfect for everyday use:
I am enough.
- The love-giving mantra for when you’re struggling with self-love and loving others:
Breathing in, I send myself love. Breathing out, I send love to someone else who needs it.
4. Yoga
Gentle, or even not so gentle exercise, releases feel-good chemicals into your body, these are known as endorphins and have been known to reduce stress levels, improve your sleep patterns, and aid in control of anxiety.
Yoga, alongside other types of exercise, can help you physically affect how your subconscious mind makes decisions by creating the best psychological environment possible. Healthy body = healthy mind.
5. Take time to yourself
The common factor in all the above is you, which is why it is absolutely essential to take time for yourself and a little self-care.
Environmental influences such as stress have an incremental effect on your mental health, and especially on your decision-making skills, which draw from your subconscious mind.
That’s why in order to be the best version of you, you need to take time to yourself––meditate, change your environment, go for a run, or do some yoga. Keep your body and mind in shape, and your subconscious will follow.
