The unconscious mind is the key to all of our reactions and behaviors, successes and perceived failures. All behavior is based in positive intention; it just doesn’t feel that way at times. Whenever you feel that you are self-sabotaging, procrastinating or failing in some way, there is a deeper part of your consciousness that is operating on another agenda, and believe it or not, this other part of your mind is actually succeeding famously.

There are two acting parts of our mind, the conscious mind and the unconscious or subconscious mind. The conscious mind comprises only a small part of our functioning mind power. This includes our rational thought process, decision making, logic, reasoning, and will power. Our subconscious or unconscious mind constitutes the largest working part of our mind. This is where we store all of our past experiences, thoughts, emotions, and associations. This part of the mind is formed primarily in the earlier stages of life as we experience events, thoughts and ideas for the first time. Individuals are born with only two fears, that of loud noises and that of falling.

Each time we have a new experience it is filed in our subconscious mind where our mind refers to it in future for a response. What is even more interesting is that many times individuals will have an experience or associate a negative response to something without realizing that this has even occurred. These individuals may not even know why they have a fear or adverse response to something and yet continue to have this fear response that seems to make no sense to them.

Children can also grow up with indirect messages like the parent who does everything for them, the parent who always rescues them, or the parent who has unreasonably high expectations. And these types of messages and interactions can also occur through other caretakers in the child’s life, as well as through teachers and through peers. These are all ways that we develop our foundation of experience from which we act and react as we become adults.

The interactions and messages discussed above are all likely to form negative cognitions of self in the child’s unconscious mind. These become embedded unconscious self cognitions and patterns, many of which are positive and adaptive but some that can be self-limiting and maladaptive to the life we want. Even more interestingly, some of these subconscious cognitions are taken in and established while we are completely unaware of the association being made and yet we act and react from them, none the less. This is why, while the conscious part of our mind may desire, even demand change, it can be so difficult and even seemingly impossible to achieve it.

The largest functioning part of our mind functions at the unconscious level and may be working directly in opposition to the desires of our conscious mind. Having a greater understanding of the unconscious mind and how it works for, and seemingly against us in our lives is the first step to creating the lasting life change we desire.

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