by Mike Lally

Summary
The language of the subconscious mind is metaphor. Generally people prefer a good story far more than having to process a bucketful of facts.

We first listened to stories as a child. They can easily relax us and a story can be memorable and transformative. What metaphors do you perhaps unknowingly use? Taking the time to understand your own metaphors for your life can pay huge dividends.

They are powerful motivators. I invite you to spend a little time recalling the stories you loved as a child and then identify the metaphors that currently signify what you presently believe. Then ask yourself: Are they serving me?

Article
If it is accepted that we have a conscious mind – the part of the mind you are using right now, and an unconscious (subconscious) mind – everything that you are not aware of right now, then we are at liberty to consider how best to use these incredible instruments.

As you read the words on this page you are probably alert to many of the things that are going on around you. Perhaps the sound of your family and neighbors, or the colours of the room where you are presently situated quickly spring to mind.

Whatever you are paying attention to forms your conscious awareness.

It is generally recognised that the conscious mind is comparatively limited. It can hold and process only a small portion of the information it receives.

How else would we avoid becoming overwhelmed by the amazing amount of stuff competing for our attention? Consequently we filter the information and reduce it to such an extent that most of the data is discarded.

We delete, distort and generalise to such a degree that we process a mere fraction of the information consciously. This is the psychology of the mindset at play.

Being aware of this can make you wonder whether you can ever be one hundred percent right about anything!

If a mind mapping exercise was conducted on any of us it would indicate that we deliberately take action only on those things that make us feel comfortable. It makes you think, doesn’t it?

Notwithstanding this, being in a state of overwhelm is a constant threat to our well-being in our busy lives.

Now the unconscious contains vast stores of memories, experiences and emotions, most of which are seldom in use and rarely available in a given moment.

If conscious processing is difficult, fragile and limited, wouldn’t it be better to tap into the vast resources of the unconscious?

Given that the conscious mind can change from moment to moment as it immediately processes what you are aware of it can struggle to recall many experiences, memories and what has been learned from the past that may be helpful.

So, our mindsets are limited.

This is frequently observed in real-time. For example, people who have to give a speech often become anxious and, with fingers crossed, hope they do not forget their lines.

Rather than trusting their unconscious mind they steadfastly attempt to rely on their conscious efforts to memorize. This is much too hard!

It’s far better to realise we all have an innate, hard-wired ability to use words and most of this is unconsciously stored and can be made available once we learn how to trust our minds.

Trusting your unconscious mind is a form of robust mind control. If the unconscious is a huge repository of all the information you have ever learned and experienced, surely forging a relationship with your own unconscious would pay enormous dividends?

We all strive to create meaning in our lives. We also intuitively believe in the myths, rituals and stories we heard and enjoyed as children. Most of these seem to be “secretly” stored somewhere in the unconscious mind.

Occasionally we enjoy an insight that springs from our dusty database we call our mind when we are in a relaxed or detached state. It we learn how to tap into and bring into awareness our insights and intuitions we could ramp up our ability to succeed in any endeavour.

What if you has such a flexible mindset always available? Imagine your results! Strangely enough you do.

We want to accept that the job we are doing is the best available; we are driven to believe that our lives make sense, and we hope things turn out well. We are curious and have an inbuilt need to learn.

We purposely look at our lives and kind of decide it all makes perfect sense and fits together sensibly. Of course, this is where faith plays a significant role.

So, how do we explore and begin to use the gifts we have unknowingly assembled?

The language of the subconscious mind is metaphor. Generally people prefer a good story far more than having to process a bucketful of facts. We first listened to stories as a child. They can easily relax us and a story can be memorable and transformative.

What metaphors do you perhaps unknowingly use? Taking the time to understand your own metaphors for your life can pay huge dividends. They are powerful motivators.

I invite you to spend a little time recalling the stories you loved as a child and then identify the metaphors that currently signify what you presently believe.

Then ask yourself: Are they serving me? Perhaps it’s time to change your mindset.

If there is such a thing as the psychology of success it probably springs from knowing which of your stories are best and let them guide you confidently through life.

Of course, being happy to create a few new stories, ones that have a payoff is even better.