In essence there are two different parts to our minds.
The one part experiences our living reality (the conscious mind) and another records our reality and allows us to function in a repetitive habitual way (the subconscious mind).
The conscious mind is our rational analytical mind that thinks and judges. Our five senses feed information through the conscious mind to the subconscious.
The subconscious mind is the seat of our perception of whom and what we are and of the world around us.
This perception is the result of all the information recorded in the subconscious mind.
Within the subconscious mind there is a fully recorded memory bank of every minute of your life, everything you have ever experienced with the emotions and understandings you received attached to those memories!
It is this that makes us who we are.
Our next thought, action or feeling is based on what happened in our past. Pay close attention now because this becomes even more interesting!
The subconscious mind is there to protect us physically, mentally and spiritually and does so 24 hours a day to the best of its ability with the information contained in it.
It’s important to realize that the analytical rational part of the mind is outside the subconscious mind and the subconscious mind has no analytical part of its own.
So whether the information held in the subconscious is good or bad for you, right or wrong, real or imaginary the subconscious mind makes it our reality and keeps it so.
Look at the mind model again and see that which is denoted as the critical faculty. This is our analytical reasoning based upon the perceptions already formed within our subconscious minds.
If new information comes through the conscious mind it is first checked to see if it is in harmony (the same as) with the information already there.
If it is not in harmony it is rejected. Hence the difficulty we have in modifying behaviors.
What does this mean to someone struggling to achieve and maintain his or her desired weight and shape?
Simply this: in your past you have been programmed and conditioned to eat certain foods in certain ways for certain reasons. Often these reasons go well beyond the scope of eating to maintain your good health.
Be it through conscious recognition of these negative perceptions or when dealing with a symptom created by that perception we quickly realize that change from these early beliefs are very difficult.
Now we want those old perceptions out in exchange for a new set. This is known as habit change (behavior modification).
Habit change is tough!
The critical faculty stops the newfound conscious desire for change and compares it to the inner perceptions notes that the information is not in harmony and rejects the new perception.
This occurs even if you desperately want the change.
So lets look at this in action!
A person becomes aware that they are overeating by their weight gain. Wanting a slender attractive body they decide to lose weight. There are a couple of ways they can go.
Either using appetite suppressants to deny the body’s call for food (which ironically leads us to picking it all up again when we are done plus a few extra pounds for our effort!) .
or by getting all the information possible on nutritional content of food and how to structure a healthy diet then trying to change their eating habits through will power
The dieter says, ”I have to stop eating the wrong foods they are making me fat! ”. That thought is generated though will and will power is outside the subconscious mind.
The thought to eat differently is compared to everything within the subconscious mind held on the subject and a voice on the inside says something like, “hey all I know is that when you eat that slab of chocolate life gets a little closer to ok! In fact you are making me nervous and hungry! Quick get me something fatty to eat! ”.
Dieters will tell you that they crave food the worst just after they have decided to go on a diet. The diet is a direct threat to the subconscious mind’s source of secure feelings.
And so is it with every perception held in the subconscious mind. It’s scary to realize that you have negative patterns running on the inside of your mind that make you far less than that which you could be.
It should be even scarier to realize that there is a part of the mind that wants to keep it that way!
One example of a negative perception could be:
One of the first things we experience after our umbilical chord is cut is hunger.
Our constant food supply is cut off and we grow agitated. We are fed and comforted and so our first connection of food and comforting is made. It’s easy to understand then the strong urge to eat when we experience emotional discomfort.