Your Subconscious & the Mindset of Choice
The subconscious you and your mindset of choice. I’m always fascinated by how we seem to breeze through life with so much going on around us and within us. We socialise, run around with our kids, work, eat, digest, breathe, talk, move our bodies, get stuck on thoughts from the past, thoughts of the future and feel all sorts of emotions as the day rolls on. And just to remind you, 95% of the stuff I’ve just listed is going on autonomously! Without your conscious mind having to be present at all!
Your phenomenal body runs itself on auto pilot - you don’t have to be aware that your heart is beating or that you are breathing or the food you ate 3 hours ago is well on it’s way past the duodenum heading into the small intestine after your gall bladder has squirted out some bile to help you break down that fatty food you just ate.
You don’t have to be consciously aware that you need to swing your arms to create momentum and fall in sync with your legs as you walk. And to top this off, most of the time you’re not consciously choosing the thoughts that fly through your head based on what the man at the shop just told you of his weekend and how you responded with your interpretations and reaction to his chain of events, all based on your perspective of how you see and feel your way through life.
WOW hey - how phenomenal are you!! We do all this stuff in life, and some of us hurry through it and do it ever so autonomously. There was a famous quote once said, “if you don’t choose life, life still happens to you”. Super true.
My weekend events illustrates this perfectly. I went indoor rock climbing for the first time on the Saturday. Whilst I was 30 metres off the ground, supported by a thin rope attached to my harness and a dear buddy on Terra firma holding me, I became aware of how much trust I had put in myself, the rope, the person way down below that was to pull the rope towards the ground should I slip and otherwise fall and crush myself.
I also became aware of how much was going on. The inside of my forearms were screaming as my subconscious apparently thinks if I grip real tight with my fingers, my whole body will be held. I forgot about really using my arms or these amazing legs that are ten times stronger than my arms, let alone my fingers! I was sweating, my heart rate was elevated and my breath intensified. My mind was in certainty mode talking it up. “You can do it Zsuzs, don’t be a wuss. This is easy. Just concentrate. Don’t give up”. I was committed to climbing right to the top, but that took a lot of concentration, and again, I only became aware of that as my friend on the ground called out to me over and over again as she wanted to take a happy snap. I thought to myself, no way can I look, I’m in survival mode here. There was so much going on! In a nutshell, you have to be really present and conscious whilst rock climbing.
Each time I took on a climb, I would make adjustments. Less gripping with my fingers, use my arms & legs more. Slow down my breathing, loose my competitive edge....Ha? Me, competitive...? Never! I only became aware of this when a younger guy was climbing above me and I overtook him, to which he tried to speed up, slipped & swung off the wall. And of course without the harness, he would have had a nasty fall. And here I tell myself and others over and over again that I’m not competitive! Ha! Cats out of the bag.
So, again, I became aware of my subconscious operating system. If you ever asked me if I was competitive, I would always say “no, I’m here for the fun, who cares about winning.” Yet, there it was, plain as day.
This story is a great analogy as to the multitude of things that go on beneath the surface of our presentation of ourselves. My intention is always to help you slow things down, so that you can become aware and consciously choose where you career your mind, body and emotions. The ultimate way I know how to do this before the day gets super busy is either to meditate and set an intention or just simply set that intention before you get out of bed.
(APPLY) Try this - tomorrow when you wake up, choose an emotion that serves you. Choose to be happy. Choose to be light. Choose to be unphased by people who may otherwise get under your skin. Choose to be giving, warm, kind... And if physical ailments or illnesses prevail, choose to be well, choose for your knee to be strong, your shoulders to be relaxed. And when the physical discomfort pops up again, send it love and choose to be well.
If your mind is racy and full or overwhelmed, choose to be trusting. Choose to be peaceful, calm, light. Just choose. It takes a macro second in the morning to run the intention for your day through your head before you get up and your beautiful autonomous, subconscious self kicks into gear again. But note, the times when you set up your thinking, feeling, physical & spiritual day, you will feel more invigorated, peaceful and like you indeed are at the helm of operating your life. Try it, and by all means, feel free to email me anytime and let me know how you got on.
