Your mind has no limits. It adopts the limits you accept, both consciously and unconsciously. Self-discovery is key to tapping into your unlimited potential. By understanding how your mind works, you will be able to achieve everything you desire.
What Is the Conscious, Subconscious, and Unconscious Mind?
Sigmund Freud popularized the importance of the unconscious mind in 1915 when he theorised that the human mind consisted of 3 levels of consciousness:
- The Conscious: Having an awareness of something, which then triggers a need to react. The information is stored in either the subconscious or unconscious part of your mind, depending on the significance of the event.
- The Subconscious: Forms part of the consciousness and is sometimes referred to as the pre-conscious. This is where you store the information you are not currently aware of or not able to process at that moment, but it can be recalled later on.
- The Unconscious: Ensures you are kept alive and respond the way you are programmed to, for example, breathing and regulating your body temperature. Your unconscious mind also manages and stores all your memories according to the emotions experienced during the event or your perceptions thereof, for example, your childhood memories.
Carl Jung expanded on what Freud considered the unconscious, claiming that the unconscious is more than just a storehouse of repressed and oppressed experiences. We have a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious:
- Personal unconscious: A collection of all the experiences that have happened to you, some you may remember and others might be deeply repressed.
- Collective unconscious: The collection of all human experiences since the dawn of existence, the deeper aspect of the unconscious mind that is the same for all mankind.
The integration of your conscious and unconscious mind is crucial to discovering your true self and your purpose in life. The integration process will also unveil the actions and steps you need to take to achieve your desires.
Understanding The Unconscious Mind
The unconscious mind has been called the body’s mind, or the mind of the body. It manages and runs your body, controlling your breathing, heart function, digestion and so much more. When you move a body part, you do it unconsciously. You might be aware of the movement, but you aren’t consciously instructing your muscles to contract or relax.
Because your unconscious mind stores all your memories, you can choose how to deal with them. A memory, good or bad, is your internal representation of an event. It is not a comprehensive, detailed snapshot of what really happened, it is instead your processed version of what happened. This explains why we can all have different experiences and tell different stories about the same event.
It affects your thoughts, feelings and behaviour
97% of all your perceptions and behaviours are decided before you consciously think about it. Your internal representations determine how you feel. How you feel determines your behaviour. Your behaviour affects what you accomplish in life. Until you integrate your negative internal representations, you won’t be able to live the life that you want and deserve.
Unlocking The Power Of Your Unconscious Mind
All memories with unprocessed negative emotions will at some point adversely affect you physically, emotionally or mentally. For example, you might be dealing with anxiety and stress, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), itchy skin, insomnia or lack focus.
Right now, your repressed emotions are held at bay because these past experiences and memories were deemed too intense or dangerous to handle. And while they remain deeply hidden, they are harming your body, even though the event happened in the past.
Unprocessed emotion is key to unlocking and releasing the trapped energy inside it. It is also an indicator that you still need to learn something from that memory. This is why you can’t and shouldn’t run away from negative thoughts. You need to learn from them and integrate them into your higher state of consciousness and discover what lies buried underneath them.
If you fail to process your unresolved memories and emotions, they’ll end up becoming a stumbling block your journey to self-discovery, impeding personal and professional growth.
How can you access and use your unconscious mind to discover yourself?
Integrating your conscious mind with your unconscious mind is paramount to success, harmony and balance. When there is a conflict between the conscious and the unconscious, vast amounts of energy and resources are wasted. This energy could be put to much better use.
Your conscious mind must become aware of and be part of the process of any learning or information in the unconscious mind. This can be achieved through:
- Active Imagination Processes: By consciously learning to engage with the archetypal imagery that lies within your unconscious, you can learn to integrate unconscious aspects with consciousness, expanding your sense of Self and reducing inner conflict.
- Meditation: Through meditation, you can face and conquer fears and unfulfilled desires that lie within your unconscious mind. You will gain a deeper understanding of yourself as you journey through your inner world.
- Hypnotherapy: Aids in the exploration of the deeper layers of your unconscious that are usually inaccessible in a normal state of consciousness
- NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming helps you reframe, make sense of and understand your unconsciousness as well as past experiences.
Fully unlocking and accepting your unconscious, will help you discover yourself and learn to love yourself, which is a crucial factor in living a happy and fulfilled life.
When working with Integrative Coaching, you’ll learn and understand your conscious and unconscious mind, empowering you to take back control of your destiny. This is a crucial component of your integrative coaching process, allowing you to direct your mind and to live a more enjoyable and productive life.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”, Warren Munitz.
Get in touch with Integrative Coaching now and arrange a consultation. It could change your life.
