A few days ago I was having a conversation with a few people, which led to a chat about the unconscious mind, more exactly what it is, do we really have one and how do you get in touch with it. I decided to listen to whatever everyone had to say about this and only talk afterwards
The thing is, many people have heard about the unconscious mind, subconscious, conscious mind, etc, but most people are confused about what these words mean, while some people dismiss the existence of the unconscious mind altogether.
Let me tell you a little story. It was about 2 years ago when I was travelling with my parents, me being the designated driver. I wasn’t used to drive my dad’s car and still I was going fast down the highway. We approached an exit and the driver in front of me must have decided, very late, to take that precise exit. He hit the break quite hard but his speed was too great to still have time to take the exit. The consequence was that he nearly stopped in the middle of the highway, just after the exit. I was right behind him, I had another car behind me and yet another car approaching on the lane next to mine. What would you have done?
You see, when you have to make such quick decisions, you don’t exactly have time to calculate, consciously, your next move. In other words, you have no time to talk to yourself (conscious mind), express opinions about what’s best to do, and then do it. Instead, you just do something… and maybe find a logical explanation later.
I checked mirrors, shifted gears down, pressed the acceleration pedal all the way down, moved onto the next lane and then overtook the stopped car. Where did that come from? This is what my unconscious mind told me to do, or, if you wish, this was my gut instinct taking over. No self-talk, no dialogue, no well-thought decision, just my unconscious mind doing what it’s doing best: look after my wellbeing.
If you ever wondered if you have an unconscious mind, the answer is yes, you do! It’s your unconscious mind sometimes waking you up minutes before your alarm goes off. It’s your unconscious mind giving you those occasional lightbulb moments we all love. And it’s your unconscious mind whispering to you whenever you’d logically do one thing but you choose another, just because it feels right.
