Unlocking your unconscious mind Eastern philosophies often make references to mind, body and spirit, which need to be as one. I now understand that they are merely enablers or vehicles you need to employ to achieve self realisation. So yes they need to work together as one but before they can do that they need to be firmly separated and understood. Initially when trying to define those concepts in my own mind the first two always made perfect sense. The body and the mind are as physically separate as two things can be, however for years the idea of the spirit eluded me. I have often attributed the spirit to religion as many claim to have found their spiritual solace in prayer or meditation. I accepted it as such but since I do not practice either of those things I decided that this was the reason why I did not fully understand it. Besides, my thinking was that through logic you can solve any puzzle and thus achieve spiritual calm. So in my books the mind and the spirit were really either the same thing or as connected as to each other as two things can be. In other words I was confused as hell. What I did eventually find out though is they are not connected at all. The mind is your logic layer you apply every day to solve problems you are faced with, the spirit is your unconscious mind you access via your feelings. In other words it is really the way to access your true self. Ok, an interesting definition you may say but how do I know that it is correct? Well, I may remind you that what I am writing here is based on my internal explorations and discoveries. Sure we all have our own character traits and beliefs that make us all different from each other but in the end we are all subject to the same psychology and physiology rules as anyone else. In the end same basic rules apply to all of us. Separating mind from spirit can be relatively easy or very difficult depending on an individual. Chances are if you are finding the process too easy you are not doing it right as these two almost always tend to compete with each other in a decision making process. Most of the time it’s really hard to tell which had led you to your final decision. The first step in understanding who you really are must therefore begin with silencing or separating your conscious mind (the logic) from your unconscious one (your feelings). The rules and beliefs we accumulate over the years manifest themselves to us as the “logical choice of action” Fact is they may or may not be our preferred choice of action at all. What you need to listen to is your feelings. Right after you are presented with a choice your subconscious mind will let you know how you feel about it. It may be very brief, or merely a passing glimpse, but it is very important to recognise it for what it is. The stronger the feeling about the subject matter the closer you get to the heart of who you really are what is really important to you. It is your subconscious mind telling you that you should not compromise on this. At least not on a subconscious/unaware level. I am certain that everyone at some stage have gone to a friend for advice only to find out that once it was given to you, you realised that your mind was already made up about it before you even asked for it? However if you against your feelings you will often feel unsatisfied or uneasy, experience a sense of regret or maybe even anger. Essentially this is your subconscious telling you that you chose poorly. So if you want to “unlock” your unconscious mind and understand who you really are (which needs to happen before you can accept who you are) then you can try this very simple rule. When presented with a choice (maybe something trivial like a choice of a meal for lunch) listen intently to what your feelings are telling you before you are bombarded by your conscious mind with messages such as “Watch your cholesterol” “You should have a salad” or conversely “Screw this healthy crap” and you will get a glimpse of what you really feel like. If you missed it pause and think back, what was that “gut” feel right after the choice was presented to you? If you go with the initial feeling you will get one step closer to separating your logical mind from engaging automatically when a decision is to be made. This is very important as your logical mind is merely a tool that you have at your disposal and it is not your governing body. The more consistently you use this process the longer the initial feelings will last and they are your window to who you really are. Eventually your logical mind will stop engaging automatically in your decision process and you will be able to distinguish the two quite clearly. You can apply this process to the most trivial or the most complex of choices. As mentioned before, uncertainty comes from the conscious mind which applies a set of rules and beliefs that for the lack of the better word “cloud” our judgement. Yes this is the true “Dark side” of our society “clouding” who we really are so we choose the “rational” option every time, although it may or may not be ours to begin with. But feelings can, by definition, be irrational and compulsive which puts them directly at odds with logic. A classic example of this internal struggle is of course portrayed by the character of Mr Spok in Star Trek. . But in the end feelings show us, or guide us to who we really are. Fact is though, if we used pure feelings approach to govern our lives we would simply not be able to co-exit in a civilised society. Thus we must learn to use our logical mind as a tool to help us make decisions but at the same time not to compromise on how we truly feel about something. In the end it is a compromise but a conscious one that you make. Ok, so a compromise is a necessity of co-existence, but this does not stop us from finding out who we are and more importantly from living it. If a decision you must make puts you at odds with your true feelings you must make it at a conscious level. In other words don’t lie to yourself. Do what you have to but tell yourself that this is at odds with who you are. Don’t try to justify it to yourself either. If you do you run a risk of convincing yourself that this was your choice all along where in fact it was not. Lies and deceit bear a heavy price on our sense of true self. The more you do it the further you will move away from who you really are, so if you are trying to “find” yourself, or stay on the path of self discovery simply do not lie. This can be tricky in social situations and very often lands me in a lot of hot water but this is a choice I make in order to stay true to myself. If you feel you must lie then do so but at a conscious level, meaning be aware that this is exactly what you are doing. But there is one, cardinal rule you must never break and that is “Never lie to yourself”. Lying to yourself is essentially convincing yourself that what is false is really true. This path is in direct contradiction to what we are trying to achieve here and if you do this you will very quickly lose yourself. More on some ideas how to keep yourself focused on tasks ahead still to come.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 23:08:50 +0000