North Star Writers Group

My dad’s father understood the power of the subconscious. When I couldn’t figure something out as I was growing up, my grandfather used to say, “Take a walk. Clear your mind.” He believed that if you set aside your issue for a little while, you would allow your subconscious mind to bring forth new and better thoughts, not just the few you already had. As a result, you would come up with a better idea.

It turns out that my grandfather was right.

In his book “The Biology of Belief”, cell biologist Bruce Lipton reported, “…the subconscious mind . . . processes some 20,000,000 environmental stimuli per second v. 40 environmental stimuli interpreted by the conscious mind in the same second…”

Ap Dijkersterhuis and Loran Nordgren of the University of Amsterdam demonstrated in their research the power of subconscious thinking. “Conscious thought is constrained by the low capacity of consciousness. Unconscious thought does not have this constraint because the unconscious has a much higher capacity. It follows that conscious thought by necessity often only takes into account a subset of the information it should take into account.”

I have a challenge for you: Think of five things right now. Keep them in your mind. Try it. You can do it. Concentrate on these five things.

Okay. How’d you do? If you’re like most people, your head is still spinning from trying to hold onto those five thoughts. Why? It’s because your conscious mind attends to one thought at a time.

Now think about your day. You’re busy. You’re moving from one activity to the next. And to get things done you have to focus on each activity as you’re doing them. A great day is when you get through your “to do” list. But how often is that?

Here’s the challenge. What if you want to improve your life in some meaningful way? How can you? Your schedule is maxed out. You don’t have time to think about making a significant change in your life. You know that from experience. So you find yourself saying that you cannot make the change, at least not while you’re over-booked.

Now, if you can only think of one thing at a time and your daily agenda is already full, how are you ever going to make the changes necessary to help you achieve your best possible life?

Here’s the answer: Let your subconscious mind work for you. Tell yourself what’s important to you. Focus on what you want to achieve in your life, and make this the first thing you do every morning. By doing so, you will give direction to your subconscious mind.

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz of the USC Medical School wrote, “Perhaps any behavior change brought about by leaders, managers, therapists, trainers, or coaches is primarily a function of their ability to induce others to focus their attention on specific ideas close enough, often enough and for a long enough time.”

When you begin your day thinking about what you want most in your life, you are training your mind to seek opportunities to fulfill your intention.

Theoretical physicist Henry Stapp wrote, “By virtue of the quantum laws of motion, a strong intention, manifested by the high rapidity of the similar intentional acts, will tend to hold in place the associated template for action.”

Make the start of every morning an intentional act. Give your subconscious mind the opportunity to help you construct the life you want to live. If you do this every day, just think what good things could happen in your life.

David J. Pollay is a syndicated columnist with North Star Writers Group, and an internationally sought-after speaker and seminar leader on how to apply the science of Positive Psychology to business and life. A former leader at Yahoo!, MasterCard, Global Payments, and AIESEC, he now runs The Momentum Project. Mr. Pollay holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and an Economics Degree from Yale University. Email him at david@themomentumproject.com, or call 561.265.1165.

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