Feeling stuck in a rut, yearning for a breakthrough in life? Brace yourself as we unravel the captivating duo of the subconscious mind and growth mindset. Get ready to embark on a journey of self-discovery, where you'll unlock hidden potentials, learn some tools and get introduced to certain supports, such as life coaching, meditation and hypnotherapy, can support you to access your subconscious mind and transform your life in ways you never thought possible by developing an empowered mindset.
The Mindset Paradigm Shift
In life, we all can experience self-doubt, uncertainty, and a fear of missed opportunities. What if a simple shift in mindset could change everything in how you relate to yourself, others and circumstances? By embracing a growth mindset, with the intentional support of your subconscious mind, perceived challenges can be viewed as steppingstones to success and failures as valuable lessons. Imagine what you will experience when you unleash a wave of resilience, tenacity, and uncharted possibilities.
Conscious & Subconscious Minds
We are amazing beings. If we want to really understand how to empower our lives, I believe it is of great service to us, to understand how our minds work, the conscious and subconscious minds.
Simply stated, we are of two minds: our conscious and subconscious minds. Freud spoke of having three minds, including the 'unconscious mind' in the mix. However, for the purpose of relating 'mindset and the subconscious mind', I will speak only to the first two.
The conscious mind is logical, planning, it works with short term memory, and it uses 'will-power' to get things done. However, it really only affects 5-10% of our actions and behaviours in our day to day lives. The subconscious mind on the other hand, affects 90-95% of our day. This part of our mind is protective and serves as the reservoir of experiences, from birth, that we create beliefs, fears and behaviours. Generally speaking, if we are not mindful of 'why' we behave in a particular way, we simply respond from 'automatic', our subconscious mind.
All our life experiences, and what we make them mean about ourselves and the world around us, are stored in our subconscious mind to guide and protect us in life. Our long-term memory, values, fears, past lives, spiritual connection, etc. are stored in this part of our mind.
If we ever wonder what is getting in our way of producing something in life or why we struggle to overcome a fear, look no further. We are most likely experiencing our subconscious mind's protective nature responding yet needing an update.
The subconscious mind can get in the way of growing our mindset because it protects us and holds onto 'old' fears and beliefs. For example, it does not realize time. We may no longer want to be afraid of dogs and even though when we were five years old, and a dog attacked us. We are now a grown adult, perhaps with children of our own, and we are still terrified of getting a family dog. The subconscious mind thinks it is protecting while it is actually limiting our experiences and opportunities.
Understanding the Subconscious-Mindset Connection
Our subconscious mind is like the silent partner shaping our mindset. Because it is the warehouse of past experiences, beliefs, and emotions, it absolutely influences our thoughts and behaviours.
When it comes to cultivating a growth mindset, the subconscious mind plays a crucial role. It acts as a bridge between our conscious thoughts and beliefs, and how they manifest in our reality.
The subconscious mind supports a growth mindset through:
Conditioning and Beliefs The subconscious mind is heavily influenced by conditioning and beliefs, many of which are formed during childhood. If we are raised with messages of self-doubt or limitations, those beliefs may still be ingrained within our subconscious. By updating these 'old' limiting beliefs with empowering thoughts and affirmations, you can align your subconscious mind with a growth mindset.
Autopilot Behaviours As previously mentioned, the subconscious mind is responsible for our automatic thought patterns and behaviours. By intentionally and mindfully instilling positive habits and regularly practicing growth-oriented behaviours, we can train your subconscious mind to default to growth-focused.
Resilience and Adaptability The subconscious mind holds a repository of past experiences, which include challenges and successes. By embracing failure as feedback, we can shift how we perceive our life in general. It is important for us to experience life as 'not going the way we had planned it' in order to give up control and see our life more as a journey we can create and feel empowered.
Essentially, we cultivate a growth mindset that involves viewing failures as valuable learning experiences. Our subconscious mind can aid in this by reframing failures as steppingstones towards success. By making a mistake at work or at home, our subconscious can help us see it as a chance to learn, adapt, and improve rather than a reflection of your abilities.
Belief in Effort and Persistence Our subconscious mind can influence our beliefs about the importance of effort and persistence. With a growth mindset, your subconscious will reinforce the idea that putting in consistent effort and persevering through challenges leads to personal growth and improvement. It can help you stay motivated and determined to achieve your goals, even when faced with setbacks.
Reprogramming Limiting Beliefs
Is it even possible? Yes, and we can start by identifying and challenging limiting beliefs that hold you back. These beliefs often stem from childhood experiences or societal conditioning.
Replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations, like "I am capable of achieving my goals" or "I am deserving of success."
When we repeat these affirmations consistently, and daily for at least three months, and use visuals to remind us of our positive affirmations and 'what' we envision ourselves as 'being' (happy, loving) when we embody these affirmations, we start to rewire our subconscious programming. By intentionally being in action to change this mindset, we create a shift in our subconscious belief(s) and grow our mindset.
Visualization Techniques
Visualization is a powerful tool to optimize our subconscious mind. Create pictures and visuals to view in rooms visited throughout the day. Make a screen saver on the phone or write up words and have them posted where they can be seen, to remind and speak to the subconscious mind, reminding it of the positive affirmations it wants to take on and store.
The subconscious mind is a powerhouse within our psyche that operates beneath the surface of our conscious awareness. It stores all our memories, beliefs, emotions, and experiences, shaping your thoughts, behaviours, and responses to stimuli.
Life Coaching | Meditation | Hypnotherapy
All three techniques and practitioners access the subconscious mind and support beautiful insight to any limiting beliefs we may have. All approaches are gentle and empowering.
Life coaching is a process in which a trained professional, known as a life coach, supports individuals or groups in setting and achieving goals, improving their overall well-being, and enhancing their personal and professional lives. Life coaches help us gain clarity as to what is going on at present, help us overcome obstacles, and take action towards our desired outcomes by asking insightful questions that encourage us to reflect deeply. This supports us to access
our subconscious thoughts and emotions. By experiencing this, coaches can uncover subconscious patterns or limiting beliefs that may be holding us back.
Meditation is a practice that involves training the mind to focus and redirect thoughts. It is often used to increase awareness, achieve mental clarity, and promote relaxation. There are various forms of meditation, and all access the subconscious mind by relaxing the brain waves from an alert 'beta wave state' to the subconscious state of 'alpha and theta brain waves'.
Meditation is supported by our posture, a quiet space, and focusing our attention on a particular object, breath, or mantra .
Through meditation, we can increase our awareness which will help us recognize and understand the patterns and beliefs that live in our subconscious mind. We can observe them without judgment or attachment, allowing for self-reflection and introspection.
Hypnotherapy is a gentle technique that uses hypnosis to access the subconscious mind. Like meditation, the subconscious mind is available once we are relaxed and our brain waves move from an alert state, Beta, to the relaxed Alpha and Theta wave states. This is the state of trance or hypnosis, allowing the subconscious mind to come forward.
In trance, the hypnotherapist can communicate with an individual and they can access the subconscious mind to help create positive changes in beliefs, behaviours, and mindset that the individual has requested. Please note, individuals ONLY take on what their subconscious mind is comfortable with and wanting. The subconscious mind is more receptive to suggestions during hypnosis as it bypasses the critical and analytical thinking of the conscious mind. By doing this, individuals can be supported to change their beliefs, behaviours, and mindset. With positive suggestions, individuals are supported to let go of negative thoughts and fears. The goal is to create a more positive and empowering growth mindset.
By understanding how our subconscious mind influences our mindset, we can harness its power to cultivate a growth mindset.
When we imagine our subconscious mind as the backstage director of our life, that works tirelessly behind the scenes to shape our thoughts, beliefs, and actions, we can understand that we have a lot more choice in 'how' we can optimize our mindset. Our subconscious mind is similar to a secret partner, that holds the keys to unlocking a growth mindset—an essential mindset for personal and professional development.
Pat Barker is the founder of Mother Tree, coaching & hypnotherapy. She believes that empowered women and mother roots (generations), are similar to the thriving nature of trees in a forest. The Mother Tree in a forest is "an elder tree that helps forests recover from events like fire or logging, by transmitting information through below-ground root and fungal networks." (S Simard)
Pat Barker believes that if we intentionally take beautiful emotional, spiritual, physical and mindful care, to be present to our needs first, as women & mothers ... we will thrive, our communities we are connected to will thrive and so will nature. Pat is a semi-retired inclusion teacher, certified life coach and hypnotherapist | Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner and presenter. She works with children, youth and women to support overcoming fears, unhelpful beliefs, attentional concerns that affect learning, and anxiety. She empowers change that comes from within, providing in-person and online services. Pat proudly identifies as Red River Métis, lives in Winnipeg with her three daughters and small Maltese terrier in a beautiful community enveloped by big, beautiful trees.
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