The Conscious & Subconscious Mind

It is impossible for me to explain how visualization actually works without first mentioning how the human mind works. 

"The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions." - E. Stanley Jones. 

The human mind is made up of 2 parts; the conscious and subconscious. Each is gifted with separate and unique attributes. 

The conscious mind is what we use to carry out reason or logic; it is our objective or thinking mind. If I asked you what your name was, you would find the answer in your conscious mind. If I asked you what day of the week it was, again you would use your conscious mind to find the answer. When you decide to move your arm and pick up this book, it is your conscious mind that decides to do so. You could say that the conscious mind is voluntary or, the mind you use when you are awake. It communicates to the outside world through thought, pictures, speech and physical movement. 

The conscious mind has no memory, it can only hold one thought at a time, and that thought can either be negative or positive, it cannot be a mixture of the two. It is able to identify information received, filter it and decide whether or not it is real, imaginable, right or wrong. 

While both our conscious and subconscious minds are just as important as each other, it is our conscious mind that we use during visualization. 

We consciously imprint positive images or scenarios into the subconscious mind.

 Our subconscious mind, or subjective mind, is where emotions, memories and beliefs are stored. It is the mind that controls involuntary actions such as breathing, digestion and heartbeat. It accepts orders from the conscious mind and obeys them, every time. The subconscious mind cannot distinguish between what is imagined and what is actual reality; therefore it accepts what the conscious mind thinks about or focuses on in a literal sense. If you consciously imprint positive images or scenarios into the subconscious mind, and focus on them with intent and emotion, the subconscious mind will accept that as truth and begin working with the universe to bring about what it is you are thinking about. The same goes for negative thoughts. The subconscious cannot reason or analyse, nor can it rationalize, and as a result it accepts exactly what it is shown. So if I say to myself, "Louise, you're such an idiot, you always make such stupid mistakes", my subconscious isn't going to come back and say, "now now Louise, of course you're not an idiot, you are an intelligent, confident person." Instead, what it will say is, "ok Louise, you're an idiot." And what do you think will happen? It will create more situations where things go wrong, it will create more circumstances where I think I'm a complete idiot, because that is exactly what the conscious mind is telling it to do! 

If you want to change any negative circumstances in your life, you simply must change the messages and images you are giving your subconscious mind. If you are thinking in a negative manner, you will attract negative circumstances. If you are thinking about how rubbish your job is, how little money you have, how lonely you are, or how stupid you feel, then you are only going to attract more circumstances which continue to give you those things. I promise you, thinking in this way will not improve your life.

I love to apply the analogy that Joseph Murphy uses in his fabulous book, The Power of the Subconscious Mind. Think of your mind as a garden (subconscious mind). You are the gardener (conscious mind). You decide to plant some seeds (thoughts). You water the seeds every day, nurturing them until they blossom into a flower. What you must realize is that these seeds can either be positive or negative. If you plant negative seeds, water them every day, plant more negative seeds, project strong feelings of negative emotion towards the seeds, what kind of flower do you think you will end up with? I can't imagine the end result would be to your liking. If, on the other hand, you plant positive seeds, water them every day, project strong feelings of love and harmony towards them, you can be assured that your seeds will blossom into a magnificent flower, exactly as you intended. 

Garden = Subconscious Mind 

Gardener = Conscious Mind 

Seeds = Thoughts 

Your subconscious mind does not differentiate. It will manifest poor health, hardship, limitations and failure, just as easily as happiness, abundance, excellent health and success. Your subconscious accepts what thoughts your conscious imparts on it with feeling and emotion, whether these thoughts are positive or negative. 

The ability of an individual to direct his or her attention to positive thoughts and as a result, change their life for the better is truly an amazing gift, one which every human being has been blessed with.