John Overdurf & Julie Silverthorn list 17 differences between the conscious and unconscious minds on page 66 of their book Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication In Therapy and Training, published Metamorphous Press, Oregon in 1994. Here are just four of those differences (the bolding is mine):
- The conscious mind is logical. It likes things to make sense -- have a reason. The unconscious mind is intuitive and can make associations of information easily.
- The conscious mind is linear thinking. It thinks in terms of cause—effect. The unconscious mind makes associations and connections between many thoughts, ideas and feelings.
- Your conscious mind is only aware of the now. Your unconscious mind is unlimited in time and space. It holds all your memories and future constructs.
- Your conscious mind has limited focus. Your subconscious mind has unlimited focus.
The purpose of this blog (and the next) is to help you find ways to circumvent the conscious mind when repeating our mantra of "Thank you and goodbye" is simply not powerful enough.
"Know thy self, know thy enemy.
A thousand battles, a thousand victories."Sun Tzu
Acknowledging Your Conscious and Subconscious Minds
So, you may ask, if my subconscious mind is so all-fired wonderful, why do I get writer's block? Why is my mind such a complete blank?
You already know the answer. Your conscious mind gets in the way. Imagine the conscious and unconscious minds as two brothers: Cain and Abel or Jacob and Esau. Now think about what happened between them. (If you don't remember your bible studies, Cain slew Abel and Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright.)
Ticket to Ride
Your conscious mind represents the practical, hard working, down-to-earth brother. Your subconscious mind represents the arty brother for whom everything turns out terrific, yet seems so effortless. Your subconscious mind comes up with the idea of harvesting the grain to make bread. Your conscious mind is the one has to wield the scythe and do the baking. And because you cannot do every single thing that your subconscious mind thinks of, your conscious mind becomes the gatekeeper or internal editor and ideas can only get by if they have a ticket or their name is on the list. The others are sent to the back of the line.
Protect and Serve
Many times your conscious mind does its job too zealously for your own good. Like your local police department, it should protect and serve. But all too often for creative types, it just protects.
Still to Come
Circumventing the Conscious Mind.
Questions?
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