Want To Increase Your Midlife Fulfillment? Learn How Your Subconscious Mind Works So You Can Take Charge Of Your Life Again

Episode 23 | (00:00)

Hey there, friend, are you ready to increase your midlife fulfillment? Of course you are. Who doesn't want to have more fulfillment in life? So today we're going to learn how your subconscious mind works so you can start taking charge of your life again. I mean, how cool is that? It's simple and it's pretty straightforward. So I'm gonna give you a few hints and tips on how to use your subconscious mind to its fullest advantage. Alright, let's dive in.

(01:07):
Hey there, Easy Agers. Today, we're going to be talking about the subconscious mind and how it affects just about every single thing you say and you do and you think and all that good stuff. So before I get started today, I wanted to remind you if you have not become an Easy Aging® Insider yet, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com right after this episode and sign up today.

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So in episode 22, which was the previous episode, I talked about how visualization can help you achieve your goals. I used Michael Phelps as the perfect example.

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You remember him, Michael Phelps, swimmer, gold medal Olympian Michael Phelps. I used him as the perfect example of how your subconscious mind responds beautifully to images. He would spend up to two hours a day mentally rehearsing the results he wanted to create at the Olympics.

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So if you haven't listened to episode 22 yet, go back and listen to that. That'll give you a really good idea of how visualization works, as well as give you some simple exercises so you can start visualizing, start creating pictures in your mind about the results you want to create.

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Today. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the subconscious mind. It's really important that we understand how the subconscious mind works so we can have it work with us, we can have it work for us instead of against us.

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Because once you understand how the subconscious mind is working and playing in your favor, or not,  once you figure that part out, then you can start taking the right actions to let your subconscious help you achieve your goal, or start writing your novel, or create a new habit or living a healthy lifestyle, whatever it is that you want to be doing.

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I'm sure there are some of you out there thinking, "Oh, Michelle, the subconscious mind, what are you talking about? That's too woo-woo." I know a lot of folks think the subconscious mind is woo-woo, but it is anything but that. There are a ton of studies, there is plenty of data out there to back up what I'm going to tell you today...

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and rather than going through every single piece of the subconscious mind, which would mean this would be a podcast that is hours and hours and hours long, I'm just gonna give you a quick overview so you'll understand how it plays a role in your daily life. It plays a role in your body functions. It plays a role in every single part of you.

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Now, your subconscious mind is awake 24/7. It controls your body's functions, things like your heartbeat and your blood circulation and your digestion. When you go to sleep, your conscious mind becomes dormant and your subconscious mind obviously has to stay awake to keep you alive.

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Thanks to the subconscious mind, we can actually hear and process everything even while we're asleep, which I find really fascinating.

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The subconscious mind only understands the present. It only lives in the present moment. It does not understand past or future. So when you're talking about the past or future, that is your conscious mind taking over.

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This staying in the present moment, this type of thing... this is why it's so important to be so attentive to what your thoughts are, to the words that you're using when you're talking to yourself. And we all talk to ourselves. Yeah, don't mean to alarm you, but we all do it. ;)

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So basically your subconscious mind is running the show. Some people say up to 95% of your brain power is from the subconscious. Let me give you an image of how it works.

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Let's say you have this huge elephant and maybe he's running around or, I don't know, do elephants run around? Maybe he's stomping around in the Amazon forest. And you see the birds flying to get out of his way, the little animals are scurring away. The monkeys are screeching. He comes barreling through that forest.

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And then you look again and on top of the elephant, you see a little boy sitting up there right on top of his neck (I guess that's his neck), and he's got a little stick. All he's doing is very gently tapping the elephant on one ear or the other, telling him which direction to go in.

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The best way to understand how your subconscious works is: Your conscious mind is the elephant, and your subconscious mind is the little boy telling the elephant what to do, telling him which direction to go in.

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Your conscious mind is the big, make things happen, the doer part of you, kind of like the actor on stage. The subconscious mind is the decision maker. It's the director saying, "Okay, we're gonna go left or right, or front or back, or up or down," or whatever. This is important to understand.

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Another important thing to understand is: your subconscious mind really only knows how to say okay. It only knows how to agree with you. So whatever words you tell it, it's gonna say, "Okay, let's get started. Let's make this happen. Woo-hoo!" That's all it can do is just say okay.

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For example, if you say things to yourself like, "Oh, I am such a loser. Why am I so stupid? I'm embarrassed to be me. I am just so dumb." When you say things like that to yourself, your subconscious hears this and says, "Okay, let's make it happen." And then guess what happens?

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If you do this often enough, you have this story in your head and you repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, eventually it becomes a belief. It's kinda like you're the sad sack. It seems like, "Oh, bad things always happen to that poor person. I wonder why?" I could probably take a really good guess why bad thing after bad thing seems to be happening.

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I used to feel that way about scarcity. I had a scarcity story running in my mind 24/7 that I could not release. In my head I would say things like, "I'm never gonna get ahead. Everyone else can succeed but me. Success comes easily to everybody, but I guess I'm just not gonna be one of those people. I am not going to be a successful person. They're so lucky and I'm not."

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For some reason, I could not grasp onto the concept of abundance. And I don't just mean abundance financially. I also mean abundance in opportunities, whether it was opportunities for work or opportunities for fun or making new friends or anything in my life. This went on for so many years.

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And then I discovered how the subconscious mind works and I said, "Okay, I am determined to start changing my thoughts." So I started talking to myself in a different way, rather than "This will never happen to me. I'm just not cut out to be a successful person."

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So you guys know that I'm a practicing Christian. When I was changing my thoughts, my conversation with myself went something like this: "Why does God bless and favor me so much? You know, He always provides for me, God protects my finances so well.

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And He lavishes me, just lavishes me, with so many opportunities. I am so overwhelmed with gratitude for all the amazing, wonderful, incredible things He does for me."

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I'm sure you've heard the phrase "change your thoughts, change your life." Yeah, it works because when I started thinking differently about abundance and scarcity, when I said, "You know what? Even if the opportunity isn't in my hand right at this very moment, it's on its way."

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I can grasp onto abundance a lot easier these days than I did back when I didn't know what was going on, when I couldn't figure out why bad things always seemed to happen to me.

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It was because I was allowing my thoughts to penetrate my subconscious and all my subconscious I knew how to do was say, "Okay, let's make this happen." And guess what I got.

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So while I believe this was God's timing, I am also grateful that my eyes were open to how the subconscious mind works so I could start using my subconscious mind to its fullest advantage.

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Here's another fun fact about the subconscious mind. It doesn't understand negative words like don't or no. For example, let's say you have a really big event coming up like a wedding or a big presentation at work.

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You're sitting there, minding your own business and all of a sudden you think, "I've got a tickle in my throat. Where did that come from?" Then you remember, "Oh no, every time I get a tickle in my throat, that means I'm about to get really, really sick."

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And what is the first thing you say to yourself after you make this realization? Yep. You say, "Don't get, don't get sick. No, no, don't get sick. I can't be sick. I've got this thing coming up and it's really important and I can't miss it. Don't get sick. Don't get sick. Don't get sick."

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Your subconscious mind does not understand words like don't or no. So every time it hears you say, "Don't get sick," you know what it's hearing? Yep. That's it. "Get sick, get sick, get sick," and then guess what happens?

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Now, I know there have been times when I have literally willed myself not to get sick until after the event, but the moment that event was over I can guarantee you, I was in bed with the covers over my head. I felt so horrible.

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Have you ever had that happen? So this is one of those that when you say things like, "I don't want to be sick" or "I don't want to be poor," all your subconscious is comprehending is "I want to be sick," "I want to be poor" and of course it says, "Okay, let's create it." And guess what you get?

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Instead of saying, I don't want or no or those types of negative things to yourself, say something like, "Oh my goodness, I am amazed. It is amazing that I feel so good. I have so much energy. I am enjoying so much incredible health." Say things like that to yourself instead of "Don't get sick, don't get sick. "

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I know some people may say, "Oh, that's just positive self-talk, that's all that is. Positive self-talk is just so woo-woo."

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But here's the thing: all you're doing when you're saying positive things to yourself is you're using your subconscious mind to work for you and not against you. Basically, you're just giving your brain a little pep talk, a little rah-rah speech.

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Even if you don't believe it 100%, what's the worst that can happen? You're in a better mood? You're living a richer life? You are experiencing a more joyful life every single day? I mean, how horrible is that, right? ;)

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To recap, your subconscious mind is awake 24/7, making sure you're doing important things like breathing and having a heartbeat. It lives only in the present moment.

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Your subconscious mind is the little boy sitting on top of the elephant. Keep that image in your head because that helps dramatically when you're trying to figure out who's running the show.

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Your subconscious mind only knows how to say okay. It only knows how to agree with the things that you say to it and the images you put in your mind. When it agrees with you, it's going to help you make things happen. So be careful of those words that you're putting in your mind, if you didn't catch that earlier. Be careful pay attention to your thoughts and the words that you're using when you talk to yourself.

(12:07):
Your subconscious mind also doesn't understand words like don't or no, so be sure every time you talk to yourself, you put it in a positive framework rather than a negative one. Because if you're using words like don't and no, your subconscious mind is skipping right over them and is going to help you create the opposite of what you really and truly want.

(12:28):
So that's it for today. I hope this gave you a quick overview of how the subconscious mind works and how you can start using it to your advantage. Until next time, peace, love, and blessings to you and yours. Take care, bye-bye.