Your Unconscious Mind

"Though much is taken, much abides. And though We are not now that strength which in the old days Moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Although we can consciously take in only a very small amount of information the world offers us, we notice and respond to much more without being aware. Our conscious mind is very limited and seems able to keep track of a maximum of seven variables or pieces of information at one time.

This idea was originally outlined in 1956 by the American psychologist George Miller and a classic paper called "The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." These pieces of information do not have a fixed size, they can be anything from driving a car to looking in the rearview mirror.

One way we learn is by consciously mastering small pieces of behavior, and combining them into larger and larger chunks, so they become habitual and unconscious. We formed habit, so we are free to notice other things.

So our conscious is limited to seven plus or minus two pieces of information, either from the internal world of our thoughts, or from the external world. Our unconscious, by contrast, is all the life-giving processes of our body, although we have learned, our past experiences, and all that we might notice, but do not, in the present moment.

The unconscious is much wiser than the conscious mind. The idea of being able to understand an infinitely complex world with a conscious mind that can only hold about seven pieces of information at once, is obviously ludicrous.

The notion of conscious and unconscious is central to this model of how we learn. In NLP, something is conscious when it is in present moment, awareness, as this sentence is right now. Something is unconscious when it is not in present moment awareness.

The background noises that you can hear were probably unconscious until you read the sentence. The memory of your first sight of snow is almost certainly out of conscious awareness. If you have ever helped a young child to learn to ride a bike, you'll be aware of just how unconscious that skill has become in yourself. And the process of turning your last meal into hair and toenails is likely to remain forever unconscious.

We live in a culture which believes that we do most of what we do consciously. Yet most of what we do, and what we do best, we do unconsciously.

By learning to become a master of your unconscious mind, you’ll be come a master of your life.

The Best is yet to come!

David Martin
Answer Concepts, S.A.
answerconcepts@msn.com