What is your top, or regular, answer when people say: ”Hi,
how are you?”
Are you in the: ”I’m good!”
group, or the “Not too bad!” group? Or, alternatively, in the “I’m great, I’m
fantastic!" group? Some might say that these answers are pretty much the same.
But your unconscious/subconsious mind would disagree.
Why is that? Because of what
happens in the transfer between conscious and subconscious mind,
and how the latter processes information. There is a part in the brain, the so
called Reticular Activating System (or RAS) which is responsible for the
sleep/wake transitions of your mind. It acts like a filter between your
conscious and subconscious mind, bringing to your attention only
information that is relevant to you, to your needs, and what is familiar to
you.
What is more RAS, as an automatic
mechanism takes instructions from your conscious mind and passes them on to
your subconscious. If someone asks you:
“What ice-cream do you prefer – vanilla or chocolate?”, your RAS immediately
brings up the images of two beautiful ice-cream cones (or similar), and only
then your conscious mind produces the answer.
This step of processing of
information occurs because RAS is also the tool we use for visualising. If I say:
“Think of a purple camel”, your mind will obediently bring up the image of a
purple camel. If you say: “Mmm, I would love a blueberry muffin”, guess what –
RAS will produce for you the most appetising muffin, and will even add the
smell of freshly melting blueberries, butter and caramelised sugar.
Interestingly enough, when you
tell yourself: “I shouldn’t eat a blueberry muffins!”, all your RAS can offer
you as images is beautiful muffins! Subsequently, all you can think about
is…what you are supposed not to be thinking about. The reason for this
contradiction is that the subconscious mind does not recognise negation – any
words like: not, don’t, never. That’s why, if we use Oprah Winfrey’s example,
if you say to yourself: “I don’t want to be fat!”, all you RAS imagines and
sends as messages to your unconscious mind is: fat…
RAS is very powerful with telling
the subconscious mind what is reality. This is why, in PART 2, I will give you
some ideas on how you can use these powers to your benefit.
Your Coach to Success
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