You’ve probably heard more than once from gurus in various fields that there is a conscious and an unconscious mind. They determine what we do, why we do it, and how easily and quickly we are able to change.
Simplifying things a bit, we can say that the conscious mind is responsible for perceiving experiences from the outside world. When one is confronted with new ideas or events, the conscious mind is able to accept or reject one or the other. When ideas come to you from the outside world, the conscious mind acts as a filter, filtering out only those ideas and events for which you are emotionally invested. It is also where your dreams and life goals are formed.
Day after day, you’re constantly choosing what your mind will perceive and work on, but you’re probably not aware of these choices-as most people are. This is the reason why the people and circumstances you choose for yourself are so important. Getting through a negative environment can be very difficult, whereas a positive environment enriches your life and emotional well-being.
When we are bombarded with negative signals, we choose negative thoughts and ideas, which are then deposited in our subconscious. As a result, we become a negative person with negative ideas and opinions. The same is true with positive signals. This is because the subconscious mind accepts what you give it. It doesn’t evaluate or calculate, it just accepts.
The subconscious mind is the “emotional mind” or the “feeling mind. The ancient Greeks called it the “heart of the heart. As we said before, it is the emotions that activate the Law of Attraction and attract to us what we focus on. If we are worried about an unpleasant event, our subconscious mind, which does not understand negativity, leads us in the direction where that negative event happens. If, however, we form a positive idea of how events should unfold or how to neutralize unfavorable circumstances in our lives, then the subconscious mind implements exactly that positive result. Worrying and focusing on what you don’t want takes just as much energy and time, if not more, than focusing on what you do want. It works.
You are always attracting exactly the kind of energy that you are in harmony with, and if that energy is negative, it is the negative you will receive.
What’s reassuring when you understand how the subconscious mind works is that we can monitor our own consciousness and-most importantly-learn to attract more positive results. When we repeat certain thoughts, they become reality in our lives.
One way to change negative beliefs about yourself is to change your mental habits. Mental habits are internal dialogues that you have over and over again. Examples of negative mental habits are, “I’m not an executive by nature, so I won’t be able to create my own business,” – or, “I have a wide bone, so I won’t become graceful,” – or, “My parents have always lived from paycheck to paycheck too, so what can I expect of myself?” And there are positive mental habits: “I love myself the way I am,” – or, “I expect miracles every day, so something good happens to me all the time,” – or, “The universe loves me!” Do you have habits that validate one or another of your beliefs about yourself? Do these habits benefit you or reinforce beliefs about yourself that you would rather change?
Results speak louder than words. By choosing and affirming a new habit, you are ultimately changing your own beliefs about yourself and in parallel creating new results that reinforce those beliefs.
Curiously enough, many people believe that our beliefs are caused by strong traumatic experiences. But that is not really the case. Most people have created their beliefs about what they can and cannot do based on rather minor events. The fact is that as children, we sometimes exaggerate little things. As an adult, have you visited the house where you lived as a child? Weren’t you surprised at how small the house really was, whereas in your memories it seemed much larger? Now think back to an incident on the playground or in class when you were embarrassed or felt like a complete idiot. And even if the event was really nothing at all, it could have been very traumatic for you as a child.
The words of a parent or loved one can also affect your potential and your ability to change. Maybe a family member or friend keeps telling you that you need to stop daydreaming and focus on reality. Whether these words can limit you is up to you.
Everyone must remember: what we become is not determined by what we are born with. For the same reason, we cannot hold others responsible for our successes and failures.