RE 76: The Conscious and Unconscious Mind

Simon, with 15 years of sobriety, shares how he did. Three years ago, Simon started the Hope Rehab Center  in Thailand and has been helping people change transform their lives.

The Conscious and the unconscious mind. I recently read the book "This Naked Mind - Control Alcohol" by Annie Grace and the chapter covering the how the brain worked was fascinating.

Conscious: Aware of something, knowing that something exists or is happening.

Unconscious: The part of the mind a person is not aware of but is a powerful force in controlling behavior.

Consciousness: Being aware of something within oneself. The upper level of mental life that a person is aware of as contrasted with unconscious process.

Warning: This may blow your mind...

 

The unconscious mind is responsible for desires Studies show, we have two separate thinking systems. The conscious mind, and the unconscious mind When we want something to change in our life, we usually make a conscious decision. However, drinking is no longer a conscious decision. The unconscious mind doesn’t get the memo Unconscious learning happens automatically and unintentionally We are conditioned to think drinking enhances our lives and makes us happy This is why when we want to drink less, our unconscious mind tells us to drink more. Insert major dilemma here. We have been conditioned to believe in alcohol. To believe that me and some random captain would make it happen. The unconscious mind is not logical. It’s comprised of feelings, observations. It’s the source of love, jealousy, fear, kindness and sadness. When a person makes a decision to quit drinking alcohol, their unconscious mind is never in on that conversation. Gary, pull up a chair. Studies dating back to the 1970’s indicate our unconscious mind makes 1/3 of a second fast than our conscious mind. The unconscious mind controls the emotions. When someone tells yourself to stop having a bad day, that never works. But over time, this positive reinforcement can work. Liminal thinking, which we will get to in later podcast episodes, is how will cover how to converse with the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is formed by beliefs, conclusions, assumptions, experiences and observations. Often time, it is far separated from reality which is where the conscious mind lives. Our culture of drinking makes everything better has been ingrained into our unconscious mind without us ever knowing. One easy way to challenge this, which we often never do, is look for external validity. For example, the bud light makes you a better beach volleyball player. Go to a beach and try to find a real life example if this. It won’t happen. We let the unconscious mind determine our thinking because we like certainty. In the conscious mind, there is so much unknown and that is always scary. The unconscious mind is a bubble of safety where we feel comfortable. Why did I find it so hard to quit drinking? Well, I knew I wouldn’t have a good time at a social event sober, I knew I wasn’t funny, I knew I wouldn’t be able to chat with girls. I never stood a chance at quitting drinking unless a pain point was strong enough, aka, the bottom. We can address this by bringing unconscious experiences, observations, assumptions and conclusions, into conscious thought. We do this through knowledge. Before we drank alcohol, we were happy joyous and free, we didn’t miss it. The Author Terry Pratchett says, we need to be able to at any time, accept that fact that we all could be absolute and utterly wrong.

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