Why do we sometimes make deliberately wrong and even harmful decisions for ourselves? Why, having decided to live in a new way, do we slip into old patterns of behavior? Personal development specialist Brian Tracy believes that the reason is in the unconscious.
The unconscious has a huge influence on every action. It is aware of what consciousness cannot recognize. But we, as a rule, do not take it into account, concentrating on conscious mental activity. Here are a few functions of the unconscious that are useful to know about.
1. Memory bank
It is like a huge memory bank, the capacity of which is unlimited. It stores information about everything that happens to us. By the time you turn 21, the unconscious stores a volume of information that is a hundred times greater than the contents of all volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
His memory is impeccable: elderly people under hypnosis can accurately recall events that occurred half a century ago. Rather, it is necessary to doubt what is stored in the mind.
The main function of the unconscious is to store data and retrieve it, ensuring that we respond as programmed. This part of the psyche is a kind of «control program»: it makes everything we say and do fit into the model of how we perceive ourselves.
2. Unquestioning Servant
The unconscious is subjective, it does not think independently, but only executes the commands that it receives from consciousness. Consciousness is the gardener that sows the seeds, and the unconscious is the fertile soil in which they germinate. What eventually grows in the garden of life, flowers or weeds, depends on what we think of ourselves.
3. Keeper of balance
The unconscious strives to maintain balance. Through the autonomic nervous system, it balances hundreds of chemicals in billions of cells. It makes you breathe in and out regularly, and the heart beats in a certain rhythm. Thanks to him, the body most of the time functions smoothly and harmoniously.
It also maintains a balance in the mental sphere, makes us think and act in harmony with what we thought and did in the past.
4. Comfort zone
All habitual patterns of thinking and behavior are stored in the unconscious. It has fixed a comfort zone and tries to keep us in it. When we try to do something new, to take a different approach, it makes us feel emotional and physical discomfort. Resists changes in habitual patterns of behavior.
Satisfaction is the main enemy of creative solutions and future opportunities.
The unconscious pulls many people back into their comfort zone every time we try something new. Even the thought of doing something out of the ordinary can cause feelings of tension and anxiety.
Therefore, one of the main habits of successful people is to pull themselves out of their comfort zone, the usual rut. They know full well that satisfaction is the main enemy of creative solutions and future opportunities.
In order to develop, we simply have to leave our comfort zone, which means being ready to feel awkward and uncomfortable. Something does not work out, goes out of hand badly? Keep doing until you learn. Do not stop trying until you create a new comfort zone on a whole new level.