The Subconscious Mind's Role In Influencing Your Behavior
- May 8, 2022
- 4 min read
Written by: Vince Morales, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you fully conscious of what you are doing 100% of the time? Almost certainly, like most people, you are not. Most of the time, we are unaware of how we go straight into the shower when we wake up, snooze our alarm for 10 more minutes every morning, or get dressed and leave the house in 15 minutes when we are already late.
We have made many reflex actions out of our daily routines that we are hardly conscious of at the time. And we rely on our habits to get us through our day. Because most of these are repeated actions, they are effortless, and we need to put little thought into doing them.
Studies show that approximately 95% of our human brain activity is beyond conscious awareness. The unconscious part of our brain (subconscious mind) is powerful beyond measure.
With that being the case, we should dig deeper into the nature of the subconscious mind to fully understand its power over our lives. The subconscious mind determines 95% of our actions and automated decisions every waking day, and that is nothing to underestimate.
What the Subconscious Mind is Capable Of
Most people are aware of the presence of the subconscious mind. Still, because its function is unconscious in the first place, we pay little attention to it. Subconsciousness often gets associated with dreams. And because we tend to think they have little to no effect on our waking lives, they seem to have no power over us at all.
Everyone has two sides to their brain activity, conscious and unconscious thought. Our conscious mind interacts with the world on a day-to-day basis. It receives new data and information, and it acts on that information, even if the action is to ignore it. Later, like volatile RAM computer memory, it forgets it.
But all our memories and life experiences never simply evaporate from our minds. Eventually, our conscious memory may forget it, but the subconscious mind will stock it up, like an unlimited memory bank. Our subconscious works on the sidelines throughout our lives to receive our memories, experiences, and predominant thoughts, including personal trauma, if any.
Trauma experienced, as much as we want to forget it, is received by the subconscious mind. And that is why we develop phobias and fears. Overcoming them will also need to be undertaken on a subconscious level. The subconscious maybe that thing in the background that we barely notice, but it drives and powerfully influences our lives, far more than we would like sometimes. It protects our experiences from being forgotten, with no discernment powers of its own. It blindly obeys and accepts.
The subconscious mind is impeccable as permanent storage of all our life records. We maintain homeostasis throughout our lives to preserve our bodies' independence. In that case, the subconscious mind practices the same homeostatic impulse within our mental and psychological operations.
As we think about something incessantly and learn to accept information within us, the subconscious mind works in the background like an operating system. It receives and stores away data and, later, makes sense of it by helping us create the circumstances and experiences that match the dominant information it has experienced and accumulated.
Side note: 'Makes sense,' in this context, means to make sense according to its (your) own belief system, built up from a life's experience and inputs. This is subjective and may not be the same 'it makes sense that someone else may apply.
The subconscious mind seamlessly automates our actions and drives behavior, more than we sometimes realize. We build habits, identify fears, and develop addictions – all on a subconscious level.
Limitations of the Subconscious Mind
The subconscious mind is not creative, nor can it freely choose which information to accept or reject. This job belongs to our external environment and our conscious mind's deliberate actions. We may have little control over what happens in our external environment. Still, we influence our subconscious mind over our predominant thoughts and actions. In this manner, we can apply filters to our inputs.
This is where the help of positive material (books and media) and being in the company of positive people come into play. By mindfully taking an active role in shaping our external environment, we are likewise feeding positivity to our subconscious thought.
"You are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the people you meet, your dreams, and the conversations you engage in. You are what you take from these." – Jac Vanek
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Vince Morales, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Vince Morales is a mindset, self-image, and resilience coach. In addition, he is skilled in leadership consultation and development. From April 2016 to June 2017, Vince was a homeless veteran in San Diego, CA. While homeless he made a powerful decision to change his thinking and mindset launching into life coaching. He developed a niche for resilience and mindset coaching. The growth of his business ultimately led to the end of his homelessness. Vince is the Founder of Validus Coaching & Consulting, formerly Zoe Transformation. His story has been featured in online articles and online news outlets all over the U.S. He is a certified John Maxwell Team Coach, Trainer, & Speaker as well as a motivational speaker. In 2021, Vince earned his Master's degree in Psychology of Leadership from Penn State University and is currently a doctoral student pursuing a PhD in Performance Psychology. He is a 2020 inductee in The National Society of Leadership and Success.
