Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Understanding the Mind

Inside the mind (whatever that means) is this really interesting space, and it's fascinating to try and get a deeper understanding of how it works. And as with anything else...the better you understand it, the better it works for you. 

         Theory-of-the-Mind.jpg

First the basics: We have  a) The Conscious Mind, b) The Subconscious Mind and c) The Critical Filter.

The conscious mind, (which is 12% of the mind), does the thinking....responsible for logic, analysis, decision making, inferential thinking and the will.

The subconscious mind, (which is the rest of the 88%), is the data base of all previous experiences and has a huge influence on our behavior.

It, in turn, has two components:
a) the modern memory (acquired since conception)
b) the primitive memory ( what we are born with)

The critical filter, is the layer which constitutes all your rules, the Do's and Dont's. This gets created by around age 8, is formed based on external factors like, social, educational, economic and religious influences. This is where all inferences including judgement and feelings happen.

When the 'conscious thinking' and the 'subconscious knowing' are in sync, all's good. But then it's not always so hunky dory......sadly, it mostly isn't.

Let's go with an example, and this is an actual case. A woman who was having issues in her relationship. Cognitive counselling identified that it was she who was sabotaging the relationship. She liked the guy, knew he was good for her, her conscious mind was telling her to take it to the next level..... but she would find herself creating issues all the time. She was self sabotaging the relationship, without even realizing why. And no amount of cognitive counselling could help her, as it was a conflict between her 'Will' and her 'Behavior'.

Under hypnosis, they found : As a child, her mother had told her 'whatever you do, don't ever marry an actor' (the mother had issues with the father who was an actor). And that had gotten established in the woman's subconscious mind. And this guy she was dating was an actor, so this association would kick in and push her to sabotage, without her even being aware of it. You get the drift?

Such deep patterns could get formed out of early childhood experiences, and while we may not even be aware consciously...... it forms patterns and it's also what forms our belief systems. And a conflict between the belief system and our conscious mind can give rise to a lot of conflict and ensuing stress.

That's where hypnotherapy helps.... It breaks through that critical filter to directly access the sub conscious mind and alter or replace a belief system or set pattern that might no longer be making sense.

It's also where a lot of our deep fears and phobias come from....... mine for lizards for sure. In fact I'm fairly certain mine comes from the primitive memory, that's how deep rooted it is. While I'm fine living with that one (no courage to tackle it), I'm hoping to search out some of the trickier others, especially behavior patterns that could be conflicting with what I want  :)

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will continue to direct your life, and you will call it fate" - C G Jung

2 comments:

  1. Smitha.....sitting in the class there are a lot of the teaching not very clear.....you have summerised well.....for your readers. The age from the 5th month in the womb to year 8 are so important for a child's future. Can you touch on this for our better understanding!

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  2. Hey there, Thanks and here's a quick snapshot of womb to 8...
    0 to 2 is development of trust (or mistrust). Everything is spontaneous, and no filter exists.
    2 to 3 is when the critical filter starts to develop, as the concept of Self begins, the Will.
    4 to 5 Emotions and Guilt start to appear.
    6 to 10 is when sexuality starts to wake up, not just as intimacy, but as awareness of ones own behavior and somewhere in this stage the critical filter is pretty much set.
    Hope that helps, and glad you found it useful :)

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