|
|
|
Your Subconscious Mind: Friend or Foe? By speaker and author, Colette Carlson, MA Science continues to show us how powerful our minds are. In fact, you may have heard for years how we only use about 10% of our brain - that's our conscious mind. The bigger and more powerful part of our brain - the one that controls about 90% of the real estate -- is the subconscious. Our subconscious mind is an amazing machine that records everything that has ever happened to us. It's a total workaholic - never stops recording input and stores it up for the future for us to access when we need it. It records our beliefs, our thoughts and prior experiences. On a practical level, these stored memories are why we can ride a bike without even thinking about it. It's really there to protect us, but too often, being a workaholic, it protects us too well. For example, how many of you as a kid ever dove off a high diving board? How many of you have ever seen a kid dive off a high diving board? Okay, how many of you have ever been a kid? Good! Then you can relate to this: When I was about 10 years old, I got up my nerve to dive off the high diving board at our city pool. I was shaking at the top, but there were all kinds of boys behind me, egging me on, and so I took the plunge. What do you think happened? Yea, the biggest belly flop in my life. When I got out of the pool, not only was my face beet red from humiliation and embarrassment, but my stomach was stinging for days. Remember, "workaholic subconscious" was recording the entire event, so the following week when I'm back at the pool and just thinking about the high dive, what do you think my body started to do? Yea, my heart started to pound - my body chemistry was changing because my subconscious was flooding it with the same sensations, images, feelings, and emotions from the day before. And I hadn't even gotten out of the locker room yet! So, do you think I tried it again? No, I was totally chicken -- I wasn't going to risk and possibly re-create all that emotional and physical pain, so I never dove off that high dive again. Can
you
see how even though the subconscious's pure intent is to be your friend
and
protect you, to stop you from sticking your hand on the hot stove
again, this friend can become your foe by preventing you from taking
healthy risks? This is one of the reasons why too many of us don't listen to or speak our TRUTH. Because then we get to avoid all the uncomfortable feelings that come from speaking up and going after what we say we want. We don't have to feel out of control or vulnerable. We don't have to risk losing someone's approval, possibly hurting another or looking like an idiot. We don't have to risk getting rejected, possibly failing or having to deal with any conflict or confrontation. In other words we don't have to take risks or change. It makes us feel safe. But it's a false sense of security because it keeps us playing small. Growth doesn't happen when we're in the comfort zone. I'm here to tell you it's worth taking the risk to be real! We just have to keep our thoughts, focus and feelings on what we want. Why? When we're focused on the desired result, we'll find the motivation and momentum necessary to overcome our fears and move forward. You can start today by limiting any thoughts that are contrary to your overall goals. No self-sabotage for you, my friend. Only self-affirmation. Soon this will become second nature to you. You can do it! It's time to think, speak and live your truth!Articles may be reproduced with permission from Colette Carlson Communications. |
 
       
|
