Now, I have found that my unconscious mind continues to bring the subject of our conversation back into my conscious awareness, and I am getting back to you--to respond to some of your comments and questions about how we can skillfully use our unconscious mind… for our own good.

Now, every day, my office is filled with clients that are quite successful in many ways, and I find that they all share a few things in common.

Each one came to me wanting a better life for themselves, in every context of their life... and without robbing Peter to pay Paul! As you might imagine, my clients, and I’m sure yours as well, want to bring this about…with more ease and enjoyment than what they had previously known was possible.

They desire to change something or dramatically improve something…and they come to me because doing so was simply eluding them, to one degree or the other. Perhaps what they desired, what they hungered for, was even considered by them to be “impossible.”

Earlier today, my writing was interrupted by a phone call from a successful attorney. We had an impromptu coaching session, focusing on how he could better use his unconscious resources. During this conversation, he revealed to me some hopes and dreams he had, that would require him to significantly increase his income. And as he was talking, he unconsciously and clearly communicated part of his belief system to me, when he said, “If I could even raise my income by 10% this year, that would be really nice.”

Now, what is going on here? A very successful attorney has reached the upper limits of his belief system… in a specific context. He had been operating from a belief system that seriously undercut his ability to go beyond his current income level.

Now, to go beyond the limits he had been operating from would require that he adjust what is happening on the inside, primarily on the unconscious levels of his mind. It just so happens that this can be easily done in a multitude of ways, using some basic tools from NLP â„¢ or Human Performance Engineering. â„¢

The Conscious Mind

Vs.

The Unconscious Mind

Now, what we call the mind, is quite interesting, is it not? What is the mind? We cannot touch our mind, or see it, as we can our brain. It is a word that we use to encapsulate something that is vital to our successful living. So, we have a mind, and I suppose one of the useful things for us to do with our minds, is to mind what is truly important in our lives.

And in minding what is important in our lives, we do so on levels that I will describe as “conscious” levels and “unconscious” levels…or “less than conscious” levels, or perhaps “other than conscious” levels. The two ways that we use our mind, consciously and less than conscious, are both necessary and useful levels to operate from.

It’s not that we have two separate minds, by the way…we simply use our mind on both conscious and unconscious levels.

Defining
“Conscious Mind…”

And “Unconscious Mind”:

Moving along, and so that we are on the same page, so to speak, let me define how I am using the various terms concerning how our mind operates.

The conscious level is that level we operate from whenever we are consciously aware of something. The unconscious level encompasses everything else…

Meaning, everything that you are not consciously aware of at this very moment.

For instance, right now, you are aware of a few things on a conscious level and you are also aware of an unknown number of things on the unconscious level. I am, as well. For instance, right now, I am consciously aware of the feeling of the chair I am sitting in, as well as of the pleasant sound of the airplane flying over my office. I’m also consciously aware this moment of the sounds of others from outside my office.

As I began to think about these things, a few other things came into my conscious awareness. Such as the feel of my fingers as they move across the keyboard . As well as my desire to pop in a music C.D.

All of the things in the preceding paragraph were in the realm of my unconscious awareness…before they moved into the realm of my conscious awareness. This is the way it works as we paying attention to things consciously, and less than consciously, as we move through “time and space,” in a manner that we call life.

While thinking about this, it is helpful to recognize that the basic beliefs and values that drive most human beings emotionally and behaviorally, are learned on less than conscious levels. This being true…

What Is The Most Effective Way

To Change Behavioral Patterns?

Simply put, it is easier to effect change and create new emotional, mental and behavioral patterns…when done on less than conscious levels.

When I work with clients on this level, I am able to bring about both remedial change and generative change. An example of remedial change would be to turn a smoker into a non-smoker, which is quite easy to do. Now, without minimizing the value of such a change, the point is that with remedial change, perhaps comparatively speaking, little else is greatly effected from that point on. A smoker can become a non-smoker, and that can be a remedial change or a generative change. If the new non-smoker uses that change upon which to build other changes, he has experienced a generative change. If he or she becomes a non-smoker and stops there, so to speak, the change would be remedial. A useful change, but stopping short of what could be.

Generative change is that which generates additional change and improvement beyond the initial change. Take for instance, changing a belief such as, “changing this behavior is really difficult and will take a long time” to the belief of “I have not yet learned how to change this behavior easily and quickly.” This new belief sets you up in a powerfully effective way to generate yet another useful belief, such as, “I am more than capable of changing this behavior. Now, if there is perhaps a deficit of skill, these beliefs further propel you to acquire the needed skills to effect the behavior change you desire.

So, with generative change, the new behaviors and patterns continue to evolve and mature over time. And, they generate new improvements and become a solid foundation and environment for future change.

So you can see, to coach my clients into the realm of their hopes and dreams, it is necessary that I teach them how to skillfully use their brain and their unconscious mind to seamlessly bring about change and improvement…

Because…

“Your Unconscious Mind Skillfully Directed

Can And Will Transform The ‘Impossible’

Into

The Possible

And The Possible

Into

The Probable

And The Probable

Into

Your Desired Outcome

Period.”

The fact is, that when I work effectively from the realm of the unconscious to bring about change and improvement in a client, I can do so in a seamless and enjoyable fashion. How this is done, will be partially illuminated as we go along here. And I say partially, because, some things will be detailed in other writings, and some things have to be experienced to be better felt and understood.

Take someone who desires, to one degree or the other, to improve their life in a specific context, or better yet, in all contexts…

Or perhaps now, even you, desire to enhance your health…by lightening up, so to speak…or to get so much closer to a loved one, to even master a skill in a given domain, or to create a reservoir of financial abundance.

Your Powerful And Capable

Unconscious Mind

Simply put, it doesn’t matter what your desired outcome is, your unconscious can bring it about in a more powerfully effective manner than your conscious mind can.

Knowing this, I want to keep my conscious mind… out of the way of my unconscious mind! And therein lies the difficulty for so many, including myself at times. I say that, because, it seems that most human beings want to consciously understand and track almost everything!

How We Can Unintentionally Delay Our Hopes And Dreams!

And in their grasping for conscious understanding and certainty, they make having what they desire much more difficult. In so doing they often dramatically delay reaching and enjoying their hopes and dreams.

Can you see how so many, even though well-intentioned, unnecessarily turn what could be a seamless and enjoyable process into an ordeal?! Because…

The Conscious Mind

Period.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The conscious mind is powerful and resourceful in it’s own right. And it is also useful to understand that when we try to do on conscious levels what we are designed to do on unconscious levels, it is not a pretty picture.

The resulting experience, quite literally, becomes much like the centipede who trips all over itself as it tries to consciously move each and every leg in it’s efforts to get to it’s desired destination. Too many legs to try to consciously keep up with and to orchestrate!

What Is The Primary Purpose Of Your Conscious Mind?

Now, in terms of the function and role of the conscious mind vs. the unconscious mind, a primary function of the conscious mind is to…

Give direction to the unconscious mind…by choosing the beliefs, values and self-identity that you want to operate from. And to choose the outcomes you desire in each context of your life.

Now, the following is important to get…

My unconscious is quite ably “minding” almost everything for me, and doing so in ways that we cannot really fathom. Through my unconscious processes, I can track anything and everything, so to speak, without having to consciously pay attention what I am tracking.

I do not have to think about breathing, I just breathe. Meaning, I don’t have to consciously think about breathing…because I think about it and carry out the rhythmic process of breathing unconsciously. I do not have to think about digesting my food after a delicious meal. Do you?

Think about this…if I were to try to type on my keyboard, doing so with conscious awareness of each thought and movement, it would be quite awkward and slow…and boring! Now, that is an understatement. Try doing something you do really well, doing it primarily on the conscious level. Your performance will be awkward, slow and quite ineffective, as compared to doing it unconsciously.

Do you think someone who is operating from “the zone” is operating from their conscious resources…or their unconscious resources?

Your Unconscious Mind Is Responsible For Genius Level Performance

When I am coaching somebody, or when I am on stage speaking, I do not know what I am going to say until I hear myself say it. Why? Because I get out of the way of my unconscious and let it do what it does superbly, which is to offer up to me what is useful for that specific moment in time…as it relates to the outcome I am going for.
Yes, I keep my chosen outcomes in mind consciously, as well as unconsciously. On the conscious level, I craft what I have come to call “well formed outcomes.” Then, on less than conscious levels, I use all of my resources, to find the useful ways to reach my desired outcomes--to find the behaviors, the words, intonations, the body language, and so on, that support the outcomes I am going for.

Most Human Beings Misuse Their Conscious Mind...
And Under Use Their Unconscious Mind

Now, many, in what is commonly called “goal setting,” over use their conscious processes… and under use, by far, their unconscious resources. For instance, they choose a goal, design plans, tactics and strategies on conscious levels and then enter into and maintain states that are less than flexible, rigidly following where their conscious mind leads them…

How People Often Screw Themselves…

All the while they ignore the communication that is happening within themselves on unconscious levels.

And in doing so, they effectively screw themselves!

Now, this person might consider himself or herself to be quite successful in a given context, or even in several! All the time ignoring what their unconscious is trying to communicate to them.

My question is, successful compared to what? Compared to the experiences and outcomes that would be theirs if they learned how to dance with their unconscious? My experience is that in so doing, they are less successful than they could be, and I’m being polite here.

Why not go inside now and ask yourself how it would feel when you learn how to master the dance between your conscious and unconscious processes. And ask yourself what that would be worth. Or not.

Now, there is so much more to say about really using your unconscious mind on a masterful level. And I will say more in other writings. Knowing that the first step is in opening our eyes to the different, but collaborative, roles and functions of the conscious and the unconscious. Because in the opening of our eyes we will see what is there to see, and perhaps really go for it, in terms of mastering the unconscious.