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Too Much Mind |
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You are capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for.
Our minds are divided into two parts:
The sub-conscious mind and the conscious mind.
This article is a bit more scientific than the ones I usually write. I am by no means an expert on psychology although I love reading books about it. I think that the sub-conscious and conscious mind explanation clarifies to a big extent what we (self improvement bloggers) always write about:
Self-limiting beliefs
Positive thinking
Achieving your dreams
In today’s world we are often conditioned to think logically and ignore our gut feelings about something. Things need to be based on facts and concrete evidence. This gut feeling can best be described as the sub-conscious mind.
The Sub-Conscious Mind
The sub-conscious mind is like a guidance-system. It runs on auto-pilot in the background all the time. It is freely programmable and open to any sort of commands and instructions.When we are born the sub-conscious mind consists only of basic reptilian functions essential for our survival, i.e. breathing,the heart needs to pump and we need food and water. Besides that, the sub-conscious mind is empty and ready to be programmed with instructions that we feed it.
These instructions come from the conscious mind. Every time we say something like ” I suck at sports”, we enter these instructions into our sub-conscious mind. With enough repetition of these instructions, the sub-conscious mind has no choice but to follow them, resulting in the fact that you suck at sports.
If you have any form of self-sabotaging thoughts and wonder why you are not as good as you would like to be, then the reason is that you are programming your sub-conscious to guide you in the direction of these thoughts. Of course, the opposite is true also. If you consciously think of good thoughts and processes, these are the thoughts that will get programmed into your sub-conscious mind.
The Conscious Mind
The conscious mind is the critical and analytical section of our minds. This is where we do maths, solve problems, learn a language or make decisions. I think the ‘learning a language’ is a good example of the conscious and sub-conscious mind. When we start out, we have to actively read,analyze and learn the language. We learn the grammar,vocab and rules. By doing this active learning with our conscious mind, we are slowly programming the data into our subconscious minds. Learning the language is complete when we finish that programming into the sub-conscious mind. We then no longer need to think about words or translate them from our native language, instead we just think in the new language. It has become automatic.
“Too Much Mind”
In the past, we used to get things done by relying on ourselves. We had a much greater sense of feeling of how something was supposed to be. Today we rely on machines and computers to solve many of our problems. This has left us out of touch with our feelings and sub-conscious mind. This has left us to often be too analytical and in our heads.
In the movie The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise plays a lieutenant of the US army fighting the ‘rebels’ (samurai) in Japan in the times just before the industrial revolution. In a heavy battle, the samurai annihilate the US army. Tom manages to fight off many of the samurai warriors before killing a top warrior in an unexpected brave move. This gains respect from the samurai leader, who then decides to capture Tom instead of killing him.
Tom spends many months with the Samurai after being captured. He is not treated as a prisoner, and is allowed to help in the village and learn the life of the Samurai. When learning to fight with the traditional samurai sword, Tom gets beaten and defeated a lot. He was too rigid, too aggressive,too much in his head. One of the villagers who was watching Tom train against the best Samurai warriors told him “Too much mind. No mind”.
The villager was old and wise, and knew that the only way to truly become a great warrior is to get out of your head. He wanted Tom to stop thinking and analyzing. Rather feel and react to what is. Let everything flow.
In a later stage Tom is found back in the urban Japan, on his own, and is attacked by 3 evil men with swords. This is my favorite scene of the movie: the camera goes slow motion as Tom remembers and applies the rule of “No Mind”. His body and sword just move, he ducks and dodges swings from his attackers and defeats all 3 men without being injured.
*note: The Last Samurai is an amazing movie. I highly suggest watching it. The depicted Samurai village in the mountains and their way of life is incredibly beautiful. Sometimes it makes me sad that everything is concrete and technology nowadays.*
Trust Your Sub-Conscious Mind:
When we are placed in new situations or confronted with unknown problems, it is often a good idea to go with what feels best. Most of the time your sub-conscious mind knows what to do. Do not shut it out. Try to listen to it more and get in touch with it. Trust that it has your best interest at heart and allow it to lead you.
You know that feeling you get sometimes where you can’t explain why something does not feel right? You cannot explain why but you just know it. (For example a bad / good feeling you get when you meet a person for the first time.) This is your sub-conscious mind that has picked up something in the surrounding or situation that it knows is not right. Your sub-conscious mind can often pick up intentions of people before you can logically deduce them. This is why you get that bad / good feeling sometimes. Learn to trust those feelings.
This is total speculation, but I think the sub-conscious mind is a survival mechanism. Back in our primitive days where we lived off the land and had to deal with dangerous animals and landscapes, our sub-conscious mind acted as a warning system to guide us away from danger and towards the best places to set up camp.
All I want you to remember from this post is:
“Too much mind. No mind.”
Sometimes it’s good not to over-analyze something and just go with what feels right.
Have a Rockin’ day
Diggy
It is funny you should mention something like this. I was talking to someone about the sub-conscious mind. They told me a story about a girl that had gotten home and she was going to go in the house. She was getting an odd feeling though. She ignored it and went inside the house. She still had an odd feeling though and it was getting stronger. She had just went in the house but she decided to go over to the neighbor’s house. She went over there and told the neighbor about the feeling. They waited a little while and went over to the house together. Turns out her house was broken into, but the robber hadn’t left when she first arrived apparently since the door was wide open and she knew she closed it before she went to the neighbor’s house.
That odd feeling was her sub-conscious finding clues that were small. The door had two locks but only one was locked. She had left a light on, but it was off when she got home. Small things that she didn’t notice, but that odd feeling did. Sometimes you are too preoccupied with life that the little things slip by which your sub-conscious does notice.
Philip´s last blog ..Make It Harder to Fail Than Succeed
Hey Philip!
Welcome to UpgradeReality:)
That is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. The sub-conscious picks up little hints and clues that take the conscious,analytical mind much longer to process and become aware of.
Thanks for sharing that story:)
Have a beautiful day!
Great analysis, Diggy!
Felix Noir´s last blog ..Links are current down, but torrents are up….
Hey Felix!
Long time buddy!
How are you doing?
Hey Diggy,
it seems here that you are advising people to trust more with our intuitions?
While you are mostly right on that, and I do trust my intuition most of the time, it is just that intuitions can sometimes become corrupted and morphed in a destructive way.
Some peoples’ intuition (subconscious) may tell them to see women badly, and they may not even know why. Because somewhere deep in their subconscious, they have been treated badly by their mothers or sisters, or any other negative/traumatic experiences that were related with a female.
While our intuitions can sometimes help us, it is best to think about it before-hand during a serious situation. Adults use more of a logical approach, while teenagers with more intuition (which may be why sometimes they are illogically emotional)
I try to use my logic to deduce my intuition and ask myself why I feel that specific gut feeling, and if I realize that the source of my subconscious gut feeling isn’t reliable or realistic, then I will proceed with a more logical approach.
Steven
Steven´s last blog ..Want Motivation? – Then Scare Yourself S***less
Hey Steven!
Hmm, I don’t want to create confusion here.
Let me try and explain myself better:
Your mind consists of two parts, the conscious analytical mind, and the subconscious mind (which can be referred to as intuition).
You are right when you say intuition is not always good, because your intuition is mostly the effect of the conscious programming you have been doing your whole life. That is why as you say, if you have grown up your whole life repeating to your unconscious mind that women are bad, your intuition will tell you that all women are bad.
I really recommend reading Psycho-cybernetics, it will give you a much greater insight than what I can possibly describe.
The point I tried to bring across is that sometimes its okay not knowing what to do, and then it is okay to just go with what feels best. Trust that you know enough to make the right decision.
Take a martial arts fight for example. The other guy may be bigger and stronger when you face him. You have trained hard and you are good. If you think consciously about blocking, kicking and punching, you will likely find youself beat. However, if you just get out of your head and let your mind and body guide you (by all the training and repetition you have done) you may find you will have a much better outcome.
I hope it makes sense:)
Thanks for stopping by
Hey Diggy
I enjoyed this alot…I really think gut feelings tell us so much, and it’s our job to learn to listen. Many of the eastern religions and philosophies seem to be teaching us a similar message….It’s so easy to get caught up in the analysing, planning mindset, but the state of mind you are talking about is about surrendering to the present moment and as you said going with the flow.
Jen
Jen´s last blog ..The Power of “No”
Hey Jen:)
Glad you enjoyed the post!
How is your blog coming along? Growing in popularity?
Hey Diggy
growing slowly but surely and I’m learning to enjoy the process and not get too worried about stats and keep going. I know guest posting is the next level and I have just arranged my first, also hosting my first guest post soon, so all good and exciting stuff. It’s my favourite hobby these days! 
Thanks for asking…Blog’s coming along well
Hope you’re well, not long till your big trip! x
ps – like your new reply plugin
Jen´s last blog ..The Power of “No”
Great Blog! it’s wierd cause a couple of days ago I was thinking on what causes us to have “gut feelings” and then I stumble upon your blog. I came with the theory that our minds know more then we think, for example People who study micro expression or body language can tell if someone is lying to them by knowing simple hints like they look up or to the left,they grin ect…but ever have the gut feeling someone is lying to you but you can’t explane why you feel that way? maybe your mind notices these micro expressions,know they indicate a lie but since you didnt study on that you dont know these little signs are lies but your mind does and I think thats the guy feeling we are gettin.And this blog just made things more clear to me on that deep inner feeling we get. Thanks!
Hey Jason!
Welcome to UpgradeReality!!
Yeah you have it right. I don’t remember the source, but I read that the face has a few thousand expressions. The subconscious can pick up on these expressions like you say and that is why you get that gut feeling of good or bad
Thanks for stopping by!
I remember reading recently, that sub-conscious mind is basically what lets us be on autopilot mode most of the time, so that conscious mind is freed to operate on different things. If you’d need concentrate on just walking or staying up, it wouldn’t leave much brainpower to think about where you’re actually going and why.
I like the example of learning to drive a car a lot; at first you need to consciously focus on the pedals, gears, indicators etc. but as time passes driving the car becomes and unconscious process. You just think of where you want to go without thinking of how to actually drive the car.
I wrote a blog post recently about polarization of body and mind, and I think that subconscious mind manifests itself in our bodies. Let’s say you’re nervous about something, and you’ll probably feel the nervousness in the bottom of your stomach as well, not just in your head. Would be nice to hear your take on this.
Oh, and the blog post I mentioned is here in case you’re interested: http://www.samipaju.com/blog/2009/11/9/are-we-lost-in-our-heads.html
Sami´s last blog ..An inward look at life
Hey Sami!
Welcome to UpgradeReality:)
As far as I know we have 3 kinds of brains:
The reptillian brain-responsible for the most basic actions as breathing and keeping our heart beating
The Mammalian brain- responsibile for things like our basic survival needs, getting food, water, shelter and reproducing.
The higher brain- what we have evolved into with analytic and critical thinking. The ability to solve problems.
I think the mind and body are indeed one, and through the mind you can physically make your body ill or heal it. The mind is very powerful.
Thanks for stopping by:)
Hey, Thanks for this… Often have come across articles explaining subconscious & conscious mind…but you have explained it in the most simple way…
It is said that the brain is divided into right hemisphere and left hemisphere. Is it that both of these are parts of conscious mind ?… I know the question is silly but just writing whatever came to my mind…going with the flow…
Hey Gunjan!
Honestly I would not know the answer to this. I still have much to learn about the brain:)
I know left and right are different for being more creative or being more analytical. Someone who uses one side of the brain more than the other will lean towards one of the above categories
Cheers!
I’m going to give up thinking altogether.
(Awesome post, Diggy!)
Lisis´s last blog ..Mental Illness: The Sun Also Rises… Barely
Haha:) Yes you know enough already Lisis! No need for more thinking
Thanks for stopping by!
Diggy,
This is a great article. The subconscious mind has unlimited power to accomplish almost anything. I’ve been going through this exercise from Brian tracy’s goals programs where I write my top 10 goals every single day and night right when I wake up and right before I go to sleep. One of those goals is to monetize my blog and make 5k a month. Sure it’s not going to happen overnight, but every morning I have new ideas because I’m letting my subconscious do its work.
Srinivas Rao´s last blog ..Sooner is better, but it’s never too late
Svri!
That’s great to hear. Keep on working on those goals. I have a similar goal, and I also know it’s not going to happen overnight.
Wake up every day and work on your blog, and over time you will get there
Great post! I definitely overanalyze things WAY more than I should. Sometimes it’s really fun but sometimes it can be really draining and pointless. Thanks for sharing these insights and reminding me that not everything has to be analyzed to death!
Positively Present´s last blog ..living life with purpose
Heya Dani!
How are things?
You do seem to analyze things a lot, I read it in your posts all the time. It’s good in a way, but sometimes it’s good to just go with the flow
Thanks for stopping by!
Another reason why I decided to follow you on Twitter. This is a perfectly timed post as I read “Blink” by Gladwell. Will definitely give Psycho-cybernetics a look. The subconscious is such a powerful tool that can help us become better beings only if we try to understand its inner workings. “Grab the subscons by the horns!” (sorry Dodge). –Paul
Paul L’Acosta´s last blog ..marketingfails: The era of the blogazine? RT @AdamSinger: The death of the boring blog post? http://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-death-of-the-blog-post/
Hey Paul!
Thanks for the kind words:)
I haven’t heard of Blink, is it any good?
Yes~ I do try to keep this in mind ~:-) when in a fight myself…
Char (PSI Tutor:Mentor)´s last blog ..Reflective Journal Examples
Hehe:)
How are you doing Char? Life’s gooood?
I definitely try to listen to my sub-conscious mind more and more. We can also call it our intuition or ‘gut’ feeling.
I have a tendency to overthink, so more and more I try to make quicker decisions based on my first impulse. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t think at all, it just means that our initial reaction and feeling is probably the truest form of ourselves and what we really want.
Hey Nate!
Thanks for stopping by!
Have an awesome weekend
Diggy – Upgradereality.com´s last blog ..Too Much Mind
[...] recently read ‘Too Much Mind,’ a blog post from one of my favorite bloggers, ‘Diggy.’ He compares two simple things that [...]
Great post Diggs.
Subconscious mind = Gut.
JONNY | thelifething.com´s last blog ..How To Be A Chocolate Coated, Sprinkle Covered, Irresistible Social Supermagnet
Jonny!
Thanks for stopping by Mr!
Love the title of your last post, very catchy!
Have a great week!
“which your sub-conscious does notice.” Now if I can get my sub-conscious to write my blogs.
Haha! I’m sure within 100 years we will be able to download our brains onto a computer and get our digital clone to work for us. The question is, will the computers and machines take over the world when we do this? Terminator style?
Scary stuff
I tell ya, over-analyzing things stunts growth and loses you money. It’s true, and it’s real.
I see it all the time with fund management friends who analyze too much and end up missing the trade/investment.
Financial Samurai´s last blog ..The Katana: Nobody Really Cares More About You Than You 11/22
The recession is creating both hardship and opportunity. Those who recognize the opportunity will use this time of uncertainty and high unemployment to improve their marketability. Our collective brainpower is a huge untapped resource, especially among members of minorities. Perhaps with a minority President, who is well educated, other minorities will begin to do what it takes to get the education the best jobs of the future will demand. Richard Provance, thelearningbooth.com
It’s important to remember, as you said, that the subconscious mind is there for a reason.
Many, if not most, of the issues in modern life stem from the interference that the mind creates. As humans, it is one of our most powerful tools, but also carries the potential to be our greatest limitation.
BTW, I really liked The Last Samurai also. But then again, martial arts as a personal development tool is right up my alley.
Thanks for the awesome post!