Fuelling Your Subconscious.

"What you see, you believe; what you believe, you become."

One of the most important things we unwittingly take for granted is what we choose to surround ourselves with on a daily basis. From food, to music, to art, to entertainment, to even our commute to work; what we choose to surround ourselves with on a daily basis sends a subliminal message to and from ourselves, fuelling us on how we think, believe and behave.

Imagine that you were born during the time of Hitler’s Germany, and, as a kid, all you saw were anti-semitic imagery and messaging. Do you think that you would have suddenly told yourself, “You know what, this is all wrong!” or would you have accordingly followed suit on what you believed to be a natural extension of the unfolding world around you? Perhaps the great few among us with enough foresight and enough self-knowledge could claim that they would have had thought outside of the box without any impetus, but for the rest of us, it first takes at least a clue to start thinking a little bit differently.

Humans are lazy creatures, we always seek out the most comfortable path in order to sustain ourselves or, in even less fruitful situations, get us to where we want to go. Comfortability is a killer. By remaining in the comfortable, you will become complacent towards your own personal growth — for, it takes getting out of your comfort zone in order to get you to where you want to go. 

Reading is not easy. Though proclaimed by many to be a “voracious reader”, I actually didn’t even finish reading a full book, cover-to-cover, until I was about 19 (and even that wasn’t a difficult piece of literature, it was Twilight!). It took work. It took me saying to myself, “You are going to finish this book no matter what!” and slowly, slowly, over time, my pattern recognition grew and I was able to read faster and faster.

The thing is, it always takes work. It always takes a tremendous amount of effort to do or become something you want in life. So, why not help yourself by giving yourself a "subliminal advantage"? Why not actively begin to fuel your own subconscious?

Now, before you start to think of this all as woo-woo, understand: the brain is always running. It is always taking in new stimuli and engages your perceptual awareness, only when it deems something as a “threat” or “relevant enough to pay attention to”.*

Have you ever noticed that you can pass down the same street a thousand times and not once notice the dental office until it’s closer to the time you have to book your next appointment? That’s the mind finally telling you, “this is now worth paying attention to.” What is being said and what is being understood, all at the same time? Though, before you start to think negatively of this “mental gatekeeping” of sorts, realize that, if it wasn’t there, you would be going nuts trying to figure out what to focus on if you could focus on everything at once! (So, be thankful…)

The good new: you can creatively hijack your highly-suggestible subconscious (the bad news: marketer's use this trick all the time). The mystics of old used to employ mantra, yantra and disciplined practices in order to help rein in the unruly mind; however, in today’s society, we have come to know these same terms more contemporarily as: affirmations, visualizations and classical conditioning.

You see, despite lacking any real scientific instruments, the mystics of old actually knew quite a bit about how the mind actually works; and only now, by connecting both Eastern and Western methodology are contemporary scientists beginning to catch up. Lexicon is the greatest medium for understanding — it’s not just what you say, but what you mean that matters most. Understanding ancient knowledge through a more contemporary lens is how we are going to evolve as a species. Taking what we knew, validating it, and making it better!

So, how can you start to give yourself a "subliminal advantage"? Select more appropriate influences for what you eat; what you listen to; what you entertain yourself with; what you read to fill yourself with knowledge; all the way down to what you decorate your home with. In this way, you will start to suggest to your subconscious the way you want to think, believe and behave.

With the majority of our decision-making process being unconscious, it is only wise to feed our subconscious more appropriately. Hence,

—change your mind, change your life.