The subconscious mind is a powerful force. You’ve probably heard the statistic that 95 percent of our brain’s activity is unconscious. This means that the majority of our decisions, actions and emotional responses are driven by ingrained habits that we’ve developed unconsciously over time. Some of these patterns are helpful (we don’t have to apply much conscious thought to stopping at a red light) but others can be disempowering (when faced with a new work opportunity, you might immediately tell yourself you’re not good enough). Learning to harness the power of your subconscious mind can transform your automatic responses, helping you create more fruitful and empowering outcomes. Here’s how you can start training your subconscious to work for you.
Understanding the subconscious mind
The subconscious mind is responsible for automatic reactions and behaviours that occur without conscious thought. These reactions are based on past experiences, deeply ingrained beliefs, and emotional patterns.
With 95% of our brain activity being unconscious, it’s clear that our automatic instincts are largely guiding our lives:
How we instinctively present ourselves to others…
How we instinctively respond to criticism…
How we instinctively react to failure or setbacks…
Some of these instinctive reactions which determine your outcomes might be helping you and some might be holding you back.
The impact of subconscious programming
Unfortunately our subconscious mind does not automatically filter out the instinctive reactions that disempower us – it simply acts on the information we feed it through our thoughts and beliefs. As Napoleon Hill stated, “The subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. It will translate into reality a thought driven by fear, just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by courage”.
It’s up to us at a conscious level to make sure we’re feeding our subconscious mind empowering beliefs that will programme in the instinctive reactions that will help us achieve the outcomes we want.
Techniques to train your subconscious mind
One of the most effective ways to reprogramme your subconscious mind is through daily affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself regularly. They help to replace negative thought patterns with positive ones. For example, if you struggle with self-doubt, an affirmation like “I am confident and capable” can gradually shift your mindset. For affirmations to work, choose personal words that really resonate with you and say them out loud – with congruence and conviction – several times a day. Also, develop the daily practice of writing down evidence (big or small) that your affirmations are true.
Visualisation involves creating a vivid mental image of your desired outcomes. This technique helps to align your subconscious mind with your conscious goals. Spend a few minutes every day visualising your success in great detail. Imagine the sights, sounds, and feelings associated with achieving your goals. Visualisation helps to reinforce the belief that your goals are attainable, thereby motivating your subconscious to work towards them.
Self-hypnosis is another powerful way to reprogramme your subconscious mind. It involves entering a state of deep relaxation and making positive suggestions to yourself. You can download a relaxation audio from my website or find one on YouTube. Or you can contact me to make you a personalised hypnosis recording to guide you through the process and feed you the positive suggestions you personally want to ingrain. Regular practice can help to embed new, positive beliefs into your subconscious, and eliminate old, limiting ones.
We all tend to default to talking about what went wrong in a situation or reliving our failures in our memories. Make a conscious choice to talk more about what went right, sharing your successes with others (and inviting them to do the same); and spend time writing down your progress and achievements. Reflecting on your progress and successes reinforces positive change and trains your subconscious mind to look out for more of the good stuff in your life.
Surround yourself with positivity. The people, media, and environments you expose yourself to can greatly influence your subconscious mind. Engage with content that inspires and uplifts you. Spend time with people who support and encourage your growth. We tend to soak up what we surround ourselves with, so spend as much time as possible in a positive environment.
Consistency is Key
Reprogramming your subconscious mind is not a one-off event but an ongoing, continuous process. Consistency and patience are crucial. Regularly practising these techniques over time will gradually shift your subconscious programming, getting it on board with supporting the outcomes you want for yourself. If you want a more rapid transformation in your subconscious beliefs and patterns, feel free to get in touch for a one-to-one hypnotherapy session.
Sarah Cookson
Clinical hypnotherapist
Personal development and team building