The conscious and unconscious mind is mysterious. My mind is absolutely amazing and very complex. So is yours! I have always been fascinated about the inner workings of the mind and I am constantly expanding mine. I would like to delve into the topic of the conscious and unconscious mind. Additionally, I am adding some cool Brain Food with this post. “Feed me, Seymour!”
Relating to the iceberg
There is so much more to an iceberg than people see. To better understand the conscious and unconscious mind we will relate it to the iceberg. Sigmund Freud created the iceberg visual for these reasons. The part that is has breached the surface is known and understood to be the conscious and the larger and not visible part is understood to be the unconscious mind.
Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious explained
Conscious
So, what is conscious exactly? According to our wonderful educational resource, Google states: aware of and responding to one’s surroundings; awake. Conscious is things that you are aware of in the present moment that are pretty fresh to your mind. Floating along and right there in front of you for you to access immediately. Your short-term memory is also considered to be a part of consciousness. Interestingly your short-term memory is very short term. It is said that the average human mind will hold information for about an average of 15-30 seconds. Wow, that’s really short term. In addition, according to George Miller an American Psychologist, the average mind can hold up to 9 items at a time. Also, your current thoughts and feelings are a part of your conscious mind.
Subconscious
A part of the conscious and unconscious mind is, subconscious. Subconscious is defined as: of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one’s actions and feelings. I believe my mental state is usually hovering in this region. Sometimes I am like, “what the heck!” You know what I’m talking about right? I relate the subconscious mind to an intersection. One side of it is conscious which reveals a busy city, the opposite is unconscious which is the backroads in the country.
We relate to the city as our immediate awareness, with lots of things visible and in front of us. In the middle is the “intersection” playing the part of the subconscious, which has access to both the conscious and the unconscious. The subconscious fades a bit, relating to awareness as it gets near the unconscious side. If you don’t like my analogy, then fine just look back at the picture above and reflect on the first part of the post. The picture that looks really cold! I just like cars a lot so I relate a lot to them. Car people, raise your hands and make yourselves known!!
Unconscious
The unconscious is like a massive server that’s on the backend. Defined as:
the part of the mind which is inaccessible to the conscious mind but which affects behavior and emotions. I am learning about this and I think it’s fascinating. What does it really do? How do you access it? Is it my built-in encyclopedia? These are questions that I am working on getting answers to. The unconscious is the almighty influencer without you even knowing it. We were programmed early in life and our experiences have been stored in said massive server. Bits and pieces reveal themselves in unexpected moments for you to say, “what the heck!”
If you start thinking more goodness ongoing you will pave the way for a healthier mind! Look at it as reprogramming your mind.
“Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.” – Jim Carrey
Some cool related stuff:
Conscious Mind
- Responsible for logic and reasoning.
- Decision/action section for motor functions.
- Handles our memory, feelings, and thoughts that we are currently aware of.
Subconscious Mind
- Controls over about 95% of our daily lives.
- Over 1 million times more powerful than a computer system.
- It’s always on high alert and ready.
- Records everything that happens.
Unconscious Mind
- Handles our memory, feelings, and thoughts that we aren’t currently aware of.
- When you are asleep your brain is still able to gauge time. The mental alarm is a good example of this. Best utilized over a period of time with a habit of setting an actual alarm.
- Speaking of habit, your brain works on autopilot most of the time. Sometimes thinking can actually slow you down. For example, someone who plays a sport and has done it for many years can develop their craft to the point that they just do it. If they stop to analyze something they could end up missing.
Little nugget of info
There is also something called the preconscious. But oh my goodness this is too much for my brain. Ha. Ok, in short, there was a debate about this one and whether it relates to all the Jazz above. I am not gonna debate whether it’s official as I am not a Psych Major. The preconscious was considered to be almost like a small mental storage tank that was like a neutral zone of info. Not generally active with the conscious but not in the subconscious and available for recalling information once primed. I believe that it is possibly a similar subconscious but who knows.
Brain Food
Check out this article I read on it. It has some good info on how to use your subconscious mind.
How can our subconscious mind affect the way we think, how we feel and how we behave?
*****Please respond here so we can all learn and grow together!!********
