Conscious & Unconscious Mind

Here I lay out a simple way of looking at the mind and how you can use more of your mind to your benefit.

Our conscious mind is only able to process 7 bits of information per second +/-2 depending on the individual. This information is stored like a scratch pad in your prefrontal cortex.

This comes from the work of George Miller, cognitive psychologist at Harvard in the 1950s. Often called the magic number 7.

This information can be changed by just drawing your attention to something else.

As the new information gets added other information gets dropped out of your conscious awareness.

If you turn your attention to how your feet feel on the floor or those sounds in the background or think about what you had for breakfast you can draw things that you were not conscious of, into this conscious awareness/conscious mind.

Unconsciously your brain always has that information, of what you had for breakfast what the sounds are in the background and what your feet feel like on the floor it’s just not determined to be important at the moment so you are not aware of it.

Our unconscious mind is also running our heartbeat, hormones secreted into your blood by the endocrine system, blink reflex, often our breathing’s also automated by the unconscious part of our mind. As I mentioned earlier habits also become unconscious as the brain looks to save energy and automates them.

The unconscious mind can process about a million times the amount of data.

All of this information could be overwhelming if we paid attention to it all so it gets filtered out of our conscious awareness.

The majority of our brain is working unconsciously, that is, we are not aware of what it is doing at the time it is doing it. While there isn’t a particular part of the brain responsible for unconscious processes there is a part of the brain that seems to act like a filter to bring what’s important to the conscious mind and to filter out the rest.

Introduction to the RAS The Reticular Activating System.

There is a part of the physical brain, most of the brain stem, that seems to determine what the brain should be looking for or what is important to bring to your awareness.

Although I no longer work in construction supply sales I still find myself noticing what kind of sealant is being used in a home renovation show. My attention is drawn to a van with glass racks like a magnet because my brain is looking for this information, determined to be important to me as an unconscious habit.

Is your RAS tuned for the things that are valuable to you?

How do we affect what our brain is noticing and showing us?

This is a key component to making changes in our lives that we don’t have to keep trying to make consciously. We can use our broader mind to look for things that align with our goals.

And how can we do this?

Be curious about things that will serve us well.

Ask empowering questions.

Being curious activates the mind’s interest to seek and to understand.

If you are into cars you can notice cars that other people don't even seem to see.

If you believe that people are mostly good you can find lots of evidence of this.

If you believe that people are all out for themselves and you've got to stick it to them before they stick it to you.......you can likely find things like this.

If you believe in alien life forms you are also likely to have a keen eye for any supporting evidence.

More now than ever we can live in a bit of an echo chamber with internet realities we can share with strangers of the same interests.

While all of this is fine, what would you like to be attracting to your conscious mind?

Do you believe that you can learn and grow?

Do you believe that things are pretty much fixed and not changeable?

Are you curious how some people seem to save money and how many ways there are to do this?

Do you figure, you can't change spending habits?

Are you curious how to realy enjoy your life like some people really seem to more than others?

Do you believe that no matter what happens to you in your life there are ways to make the best of it?

We get notifications from where we set our intentions.

The reticular activating system unconsciously works for us.

Putting your RAS to work for you to serve empowered future self.

Ask Empowering questions!

This is some of the most powerful work you can do and its not complicated.

Thinking, a lot of the time is asking a question and answering that question.

It is, isn’t it?

• Learning how to tune your unconscious mind to look for what you want in your life can save you a lot of energy. This can get you what you want without needing to depend on willpower and remembering to build habits.

This is where the reticular activating system comes in.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through.

• Asking yourself empowering questions will get you more of what you want out of your life as your RAS will be looking for opportunities for you to be successful.

If you were asking yourself the wrong questions your unconscious mind will still bring those things to your attention and they may keep you held back in a bad pattern.

Here are a few examples of disempowering questions and how they can be reformulated into empowering questions that can change your life for the better.

Example 1

Instead of asking yourself something like “Why am I always late to meetings?”

Step 1

• Frame it as a positive process question.

Ask yourself

“How can I be on time?”

Step 2

• Give it a timeframe so that your brain knows when you’re going to work on this. The brain loves this direction and will dutifully get to work on it for you.

Ask yourself

“How can I be on time today?”

Step 3

• Make it even stronger by bring in the presupposition that presumes or presupposes you will do it and allow yourself to enjoying doing what you want to do!

Ask yourself

“What can I do today to be on time and have a good time while I do it?”

This ends up with an empowering question that will guide you towards success and prompt you to enjoy life.

Example 2

For someone down on themselves

Instead of asking yourself “Why am I so stupid?”

This is a terrible question as your brain will bring up all the negative stuff!

Ask yourself

How will I get smarter?

How will I get smarter today?

As I get smarter today how can I have fun doing it?

Example 3

For someone shy or uncomfortable socially

Instead of asking yourself “Why am I nervous speaking to people in person?”

or “Why am I uncomfortable speaking to large groups of people?”

Which can have the effect of your RAS bringing up to you as evidence found through the day of negative stuff!

Ask yourself something like

“What can I do today or this week to get more comfortable Confident talking to people?”

Or maybe

I wonder how much better I can get at this by the next time I do it?

How many great resources can I find that will help me learn to be confident?

How much of my own previous experience can help me?

Example 4

For someone not enjoying work much

Instead of asking yourself “Why am I not having a good time at work?”

Ask yourself

“How can I have a better time at work, today, while doing a great job in my duties?”.

I remember hearing this good advice from the founder of Cascade Aqua-tech while I worked there.

“You spend too much time at work to not have a good time while you are there.” - Neil Pritchard

In closing, on empowering questions I must say-

I wonder how many empowering questions you will make today and how much you will enjoy being more awesome than you already are?