The Subconscious Mind — What It Is and Why It Controls Your Life

Most people relate to their mind as if it is the voice in their head. The thoughts they can hear. The decisions they are consciously aware of making. That voice is real — but it is not in charge. It is the surface. Beneath it runs an entirely different system — older, faster, more powerful, and completely invisible to casual introspection. That system is the subconscious mind. And it is running your life.

The subconscious mind is not a mystical concept. It is a neurological reality. Research by cognitive scientists estimates that approximately 95 percent of brain activity occurs below the threshold of conscious awareness. Your subconscious governs your heartbeat, your breathing, your immune response, your motor skills, your emotional reactions, your habitual behaviors, and — most critically — your beliefs about who you are and what is possible for you. All of it is running automatically, beneath the level where your conscious mind can intervene.

The subconscious was formed early. From birth through approximately age seven, the brain operates predominantly in theta and delta brainwave states — the same states accessed in deep meditation and hypnosis. In these states, there is no critical faculty to evaluate incoming information. Everything gets absorbed directly. The beliefs your parents held about money, worth, safety, and possibility were installed in you as operating instructions before you had any framework to question them. The emotional atmosphere of your home became your nervous system's baseline. The stories told about who you are and what people like you can have became your self-concept. None of it was chosen. All of it is running.…