For achieving something and being successful in life we say we
should begin with the end in mind. But little do we know about the theory of this
mind which is responsible for a whole lot of how we feel, respond or act in life.
Does the mind feed us with something or can we provide food for our mind? Can
we alter our attitude by altering our mind-set? A flurry of questions on mind, isn’t
it? Well, let’s go for a walk through this limn on mind, by taking a few simple
strides.
It all begins with the broad division of mind into two-the conscious and
the sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind accounts for nearly 10-12% of our
capacity whereas the lions share; 88-90% is accounted by the subconscious mind.
Each of them has their own role to play. Let us initially pick up the conscious mind
and also keep our eyes peeled for knowing about the subconscious mind. The
mind is often considered as the memory box of the human beings, but it has a far
more role and meaning.
The conscious mind is that part of our mind that is responsible for logic
and reasoning. If someone is asked about the sum of one plus one, it is the
conscious mind which is going to be used for the addition. Also, any voluntary
movement like moving our hand or leg is taken up by the conscious mind. The
conscious mind has a short term memory and is responsible for our will power
and creativity. It is associated with rules and principles.
The sub-conscious mind is the part of our mind responsible for all our involuntary
actions. Our emotions are controlled by the sub-conscious mind. That’s why we
sometimes feel afraid, anxious or down without wanting to experience such a feeling. It contains all permanent memories in great detail, beliefs, habits and programming to generate emotions, intuition and so on. It is powerful than the conscious mind.
From where did our mind get the beliefs, habits, fears and negative emotions?
Has it been put in our mind by someone else? Is our mind someone else’s garbage
bin? Then, our mind, is it really ours?
Story
Let us try and understand the conscious and sub-conscious mind and
their relationship by looking at the example of Anoop who wants to learn how to
drive a car. At the very beginning of learning, Anoop while driving is very much
focussed on the different voluntary moves involving the steer, the gear, the break
and the clutches, and finds it nearly impossible to pick up a ringing mobile phone
on the drive. This is because he is still using his conscious mind to drive the car.
After a few months of driving, Anoop has found that driving has become a natural
habit that happens automatically and he does not have to think or focus much on
the process. Also Anoop was able to use one of his hands to pick up a ringing
mobile phone on the drive on a later occasion. This happened solely because the
driving agility was transferred from the conscious to the subconscious mind as a
skill or habit. The skill which got embedded in the subconscious mind is highly
resistant to be forgotten. So the actions for driving the car seem to be like
involuntary movements from the sub conscious mind and the conscious mind is
now free to pick up the ringing phone.
Activity
List out one of your belief, dislike and anxiety
1.______________________________________________
2.______________________________________________
3.______________________________________________
Quote
“A negative mind will never give a positive life.”
— Ziad K. Abdelnour
Take Away
1. The conscious mind is responsible for logics, reasoning and voluntary actions.
2. The sub conscious mind which is more powerful than the conscious mind is the
store house of our past memories, fears, beliefs, habits and emotions.