Your unconscious mind stores all your short- and long-term memories, plus temporal (time related, what you did on your last holiday) and non temporal e.g. remembering faces, remembering what objects are and what they are for.
It is the domain of the emotions. All your emotions, such as anger, fear, happiness, are created here, however they are then experienced in your conscious mind.
The unconscious mind automatically focuses on unfinished business, as we are a problem-solving species. If there is something you are trying to avoid, then your unconscious will bring it to your attention in your conscious mind at regular intervals. This can manifest as stress and anxiety.
Your unconscious mind is a highly moral being. Which means that if you are taught something and accept it, then this will shape the way you live your life. Hypnosis cannot change your moral beliefs. This helps explain why some people have beliefs that we cannot understand, because we didn’t have the same life or teachings as them.
Your unconscious mind LOVES patterns! It feels safe. The latest research suggests that it takes 66 days to create a new habit – and they don’t have to be consecutive days. So, if you break that diet or have a wobble, it’s fine, just continue again the next day.
Your unconscious is unfortunately not rational! It doesn’t know the difference between a good habit or a bad one. It won’t recognise that smoking is bad for your health, it only knows that you’ve done it for some time and you’re still alive! So, from that point of view, why change?
The unconscious mind takes everything literally, so when I use hypnotherapy, I always use clear suggestions such as “You choose healthy and nutritious foods now”.
Your unconscious mind takes everything literally! So, when we do something wrong and say, “I’m an idiot!” your unconscious mind will really take that on board and new neural pathways can be created. Regular negative talk, even about other people, really does rewire your brain, so you become more negative.
If I tell you not to think of a purple giraffe with yellow spots, wearing a red top hat, what are you picturing in your mind right now? Your mind cannot process a negative because to not think of a purple giraffe you have to, at least for a moment. So instead of saying “Don’t get stressed”, we say “Just Relax”, or the famous “Keep Calm and Carry On”!
Your unconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. Many successful people, including sports people have harnessed this to mentally rehearse what they are going to do, and this gives brilliant results. This can be used to great success in my coaching sessions.