We have had so many advancements in modern medicines and technology. Still, some areas of human existence remain unexplored and mysterious. One of them is the subconscious mind and its powers.
The spiritual self-help book “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” is the most popular authority on this topic. Written by Dr. Joseph Murphy, it was published in 1963. It has been a best-seller since then and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
It discusses how beliefs held in our subconscious mind shapes our life. It also provides practical examples of how we can change those beliefs by training our conscious mind to focus on the good.
Subconscious mind meaning
The Subconscious Mind is the storehouse of all our life memories and experiences. You might not think about a particular memory all the time. But if the memory is important, you can always summon it from the depths of your subconscious mind.
Subconscious mind vs Conscious mind
Your conscious mind is the one responsible for making all the decisions and choices for you. It is the active and rational part of your mind. You have control over it.
The subconscious mind is the unconscious and irrational part of your mind. You don’t have direct control over it.
The thoughts that you frequently think and accept in your conscious mind get stored in your subconscious.
It influences the emotions you form in your conscious mind. It is also the place where all your ideas and creativity come from.
Your subconscious mind is always active and works even in your sleep when your conscious mind is at rest. It controls your internal body functions like heartbeat, breathing, digestion, and growth of hair and nails.
It is what you do impulsively when you don’t have enough time to think and form decisions in your conscious mind.
This is why you see so many people behaving irrationally in situations, which could have been handled in a better manner. It is mostly because they didn’t want to spend their energy using their conscious mind to do the logical, analytical thinking work for them.
Instead, they let their Subconscious mind control their actions and reactions for them. And the Subconscious mind is illogical and not rational. It works on the long-held belief systems that you may have formed in your childhood.
Maybe once you tried to lose weight and failed because you were under tremendous office stress and just couldn’t stop stress eating. But since you failed, your subconscious mind now holds the belief that you can never lose weight.
So, now even if you have left your stressful job and can manage your diet better, you won’t try to lose weight. You will remember your failures the last time you attempted something similar.
We do most things with the help of our subconscious. Only a few activities are done by the use of our conscious mind. This is because there are so many small tasks to be done, and so many decisions to be made in our day-to-day life. Our analytical and energy-hungry conscious mind cannot keep track of all of them. It gets tired rather quickly and requires rest.
How the subconscious mind works
Throughout the book, Dr. Joseph Murphy explains the workings of the subconscious mind with the help of an example of a seed sown in the soil.
The type of seed you sow will determine what kind of fruits you will get in the future.
The soil doesn’t differentiate between good seeds and bad seeds. It will accept whatever you provide it with. Similarly, your subconscious mind won’t question whether your frequent thoughts are good or bad for you. It will accept whatever you believe to be true in your conscious mind.
The soil will consume all the water and nutrients that it can get to keep growing the seed into a plant. So will your mind. It will absorb all the information around you. Notice every opportunity available to grow your thoughts into reality.
You have faith that the soil will turn your seed into a beautiful plant if you keep tending to it regularly. In the same way, you should have faith that your subconscious mind will turn your thoughts into reality if you keep thinking of them frequently in your conscious mind.
The suggestions and statements of others have no power to hurt you if you reject them in your conscious mind. The only power is the movement of your thoughts and how you react to any given statement.
According to the author, every thought is a cause, and every condition is an effect. There is a law of cause and effect. Or the law of action and reaction. Change your thoughts and you change your destiny.
The author says that we need to keep our conscious mind busy with the expectation of the best, and our Subconscious will faithfully reproduce what we habitually think.
Subconscious mind and habits
Dr. Murphy believes habits to be the best proof of the power of the subconscious mind. When we first start learning something new, it is difficult. We have to use our conscious mind and focus all our attention on it.
Think about learning any new technology or app. Many people avoid upgrading and continue to use old, outdated technology. This is because it requires brainpower to learn anything new.
Once you get used to something, you are on auto-pilot and your subconscious mind takes over. Think of all the habits you have formed that once seemed quite challenging to do, but now you can do them even without focusing all your attention on them. Like driving, swimming, and playing the guitar.
How to increase the power of the subconscious mind?
For your subconscious mind to work properly, the author suggests that you follow certain rules.
Whenever any negative thought arises in your mind, replace it immediately with a positive thought. Like any other habit, positive thinking is also a habit that can be formed with practice.
Stay focused on your goals. Write down positive affirmations and repeat them to yourself 5-10 times twice daily.
Have faith in the power of your subconscious mind and don’t let doubts from your conscious mind get in the way. For that, you must repeat your affirmations in a sleepy, drowsy state when your conscious mind will be at rest.
Watch the power of your subconscious mind chapter wise summary in Hindi –
Can the subconscious mind change physical appearance?
To make any change possible both your conscious and subconscious mind has to agree, or you have to present suggestions to your subconscious mind in a sleepy state so that your conscious mind doesn’t provide too much opposition.
For example, if you believe that you will never lose weight, then your subconscious will ensure that you never actually lose it. It will keep diverting your attention toward calorie-dense food. It might also make you feel too tired when it’s time for your daily exercise routine.
In contrast, if you believe that you can lose weight, then your subconscious will direct you towards healthier choices to make your belief a reality.
To help you in achieving your goals faster, you can conjure up the ideal physical appearance that you desire. Then use a vision board to place this idea in your subconscious mind.
According to Dr. Joseph Murphy, our Subconscious mind responds to hypnosis. You can hypnotize yourself and make it believe the desired physical appearance that you want.
Subconscious mind and dreams
The author believes our Subconscious often speaks to us in our dreams taking the form of a friend or relative whom we trust. That’s why it is often said that don’t take major decisions impulsively. Sleep on them overnight.
The best time to implant an idea into our subconscious mind is before we go to sleep. When we are asleep our conscious mind is at rest. The subconscious mind stays active to keep our vital body processes like breathing, digestion, and perspiration working.
The author shares an example from his personal life on how his subconscious mind guided him in his sleep to help avoid a tragedy. Before the start of World War II, the author had received a great job opportunity to work in Japan.
Before going to sleep every night, he prayed to his subconscious mind to guide him in taking the correct decision about this opportunity.
Once when he was sleeping, his friend appeared in his dream and told him, “Don’t go there. Look at the headlines”. The author also saw the headlines of the newspaper in his dreams. It mentioned something about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor.
Every war is first planned in the mind. Since our subconscious mind is one with the universal subconscious, many people get dreams about world events that are yet to occur.
Recommended – Top 10 Thought-Provoking Quotes from The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
The subconscious mind’s healing power
This book brings to our attention the strange phenomena of magical healings observed in various parts of the world throughout history. These, supposedly divine, healings occur in patients even after doctors and medical science have failed to cure them.
The author provides an example from his life of one such healing. His friend was cured of Tuberculosis after his son presented him with a wooden ring. The son claimed the ring was made from a piece of wood given to him by a monk. The wood was believed to be taken from the holy cross and had cured many people of their illnesses.
The father took the ring and had complete faith in his mind that he would be cured. And he was cured. The reality though was that the ring was made from an ordinary piece of wood the son had picked from a sidewalk.
It wasn’t the ring that cured the father of his illness. The ring was just a medium. It was the faith he held in his subconscious mind that cured him.
Hence, the author states that the real healing power is in our Subconscious mind. Not in any piece of wood, bones of a saint, or holy water. You can replace those objects with fake ones. But if the subject isn’t aware of the deception and still believes in his mind that he will be healed, then healing will most likely occur.
Subconscious mind and aging
Aging is more of a belief held in your subconscious mind than the physical transformation you see in your body. The author believes aging only happens when we stop learning new skills and have lost enthusiasm for life.
Do not view aging negatively by thinking of it as growing old. Instead, positively see aging as the accumulation of wisdom over the years.
By aging, you are moving ahead in the path of life. With reduced physical strength, you can now focus more of your attention on growing mentally and spiritually. You can pursue those hobbies for which you didn’t have time before.
The author provides examples of many professionals who are working well past their retirement age. They enjoy the work they do. The author’s father set out to learn French at 65. Five years later, he became a specialist in it. He then started to study Gaelic and taught it until his death at 99.
Subconscious mind visualization
Along with affirmations, we can also use visualizations to assist in implanting an idea in our subconscious mind. To do this – write down your goal or use a picture for assistance. Make sure to view the goal or picture as many times as possible in a day.
The author tells us the story of a young boy to help demonstrate the power of visualization. The boy wanted to be a surgeon but he didn’t have the money to pursue his dream. He asked his subconscious mind for guidance.
He used to work in medical clinics as a cleaner. While cleaning, he used to always imagine his name on a diploma hanging on the walls of the clinic.
A Doctor took a liking to him and his work. He decided to sponsor his education and sent him to a medical school. Now the boy is a renowned surgeon in Canada.
Subconscious mind for success
Mr. Murphy states that failure is often caused by a lack of confidence and too much effort.
You don’t have to toil hard at work to achieve success. Many people are working just a few hours per week and still manage to make a lot of money. While many others are working for very long hours and still struggling financially.
The author cites three things that are needed for success –
- Love the work that you do
- Specialize in a particular area of that work
- Your work should serve a greater purpose and elevate humanity
Is the subconscious mind scientifically proven?
In this study conducted by psychologists at Yale, people’s judgments of a stranger were influenced by handing them a cup of coffee. The study participants had no idea that their social instincts were being manipulated.
A laboratory assistant carrying some stationery items and a cup of hot or cold coffee deliberately bumped into the subjects and asked them to hold the cup for a brief period.
The subjects who held a cup of cold coffee gave an unfavorable rating to a hypothetical person they later read about, as compared to their fellow students, who had momentarily held a cup of hot coffee.
Studies like this one reveal a subconscious mind that is far more active, driven, and unconstrained than previously thought. It functions by ensuring that you respond exactly the way you are programmed.
If you liked this article, then you might also like –
Book Summary: The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn
Inner Engineering by Sadhguru (All Lessons Explained)
Awakening Your Inner Creator: Decoding Neville Goddard’s “At Your Command” Part 1
From Imagination to Reality: Decoding Neville Goddard’s “At Your Command” Part 2
Don’t forget to subscribe to receive updates about new posts. You can also find me on YouTube and Instagram.
Dear Kesar,
We hope this message finds you well. We would like to introduce ourselves as the team behind Lightin, a book summary app company currently in its early stages. Our app is available on both Google and iOS platforms. Our goal is to create warm and comprehensive book summaries that are enjoyable to listen to and to make it possible for more people to participate in the exciting trend of continuous learning and personal growth.
We have been admirers of your work for some time, specifically the depth, logic, and completeness of your book summaries. We were wondering if you might be interested in exploring the possibility of collaborating with us. Should you be, we have included our email contact information for your convenience. We look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
The Lightin Team
Hi Hector, thanks for your kind words. Really appreciate them! I just sent you an email regarding the collaboration offer.