How does the subconscious mind work?

Hello friends and welcome back.  In the first part of this lesson, I mentioned that the subconscious stores our beliefs and behaviors. Remember?  Great. The subconscious also stores our automatic patterns. Any addiction is ruled by an automatic pattern, which makes you use the addictive substance, or behavior throughout the day without being aware of it.  But I’m also talking about the automatic thoughts that continue to haunt the mind of the one who is starting a rehab process. The question is, why it’s happening?

To understand it, listen to some important notes you should know about the subconscious. I’m talking about the place in the brain that makes the addict lose control, freak and eventually causes to relapse. 

So, the first thing you should know is that the subconscious mind operates in automatic patterns. For example, when we learn to drive, at first, we have all the attention and awareness on the driving action, the turning of the steering wheel, the speed, the cars around and the traffic lights. But, as we gain more experience and more hours on the road, driving becomes more and more automatic. Sometimes it is possible to immerse ourselves in thoughts while driving and after a while we discover that we did not pay attention to the road, or to driving and yet we drove just fine. This happens because of the ability to drive, for its complexity was already assimilated subconsciously. And when the conscious mind was preoccupied with thoughts, the subconscious was able to drive the car.

The same thing happens when a baby learns to walk. The walking action is very complex and requires coordination between the activity of dozens of muscles, balance, sense of direction and more. Look at a baby how’s just starting to walk. How he measures every step from side to side. Look how he is aware of every step he takes that’s how he learns to walk. But over time, the complex walking action becomes automatic and none of us pay attention to every step we take. Right?

The subconscious can contain a tremendous number of automatic patterns. If you notice, most of the time you use the addictive substance during the day you do it automatically. About an hour after using the addictive the dopamine level drops. And the addict, without knowing why, automatically uses it again.

An addict does not ask himself before every time he’s using, if I need it now, or it can wait for another time. The addict with his 5 senses is not involved in the decision whether to use the addictive substance or behavior, now or not. This is done automatically with help of the subconscious. And if the person has stopped the addiction and has not responded to the automatic pattern to consume the drug? He is going to lose control, freak out and want to climb on the walls.

Do you understand now why you can use the drug and do anything else at the same time and it will not bother you? Because not you gave an order to use it but your subconscious did it and you’re responding automatically. So now you can enjoy a movie, a conversation on the phone, or being with friends and at the same time smoking, eating or drinking without being aware of it. There are a few more things that are important to know about the subconscious mind.

The subconscious is a part of the brain that is responsible for the automatic activity of the heart rate, respiration, metabolic activity in the digestive system, the blood circulation and the activity of all vital organs like liver, lungs, spleen, pancreas, kidneys and more. All of their actions occur automatically when we are awake, or asleep. And the subconscious is also responsible for …. Yeap, our dreams.

Here is a question for you. When you have a dream does it look like it’s really happening? Yes of course. And until when the dream looks real?  Until you wake up, until the conscious mind with its 5 senses, takes control on reality. Then you know it’s only a dream.

Addicts live in a dream, in a nightmare. Tell me, how many times did you feel like you want to get up tomorrow morning and find yourself free of your addiction. Just to get up without the terrible nightmare you live in. Now you understand why addicts live in paradox of dream and reality? On the one hand, the drug calms you and causes concentration, and a feel-good sensation. But on the other hand, it is a nightmare in real life and addicts wish to wake up without it.

One of the amazing things I discovered is the subconscious is like a child who will believe everything you tell him. He does not know if it is true or if it is a lie. He does not differentiate between imagination and reality and he will do exactly what you tell him to do. As a fact, the subconscious mind wants to help you achieve what you want and aspire in life. 

OK friends, at the end of this lesson I want to quote a verse said by Carl Jung, one of Froid's famous students. He said: "Until you make the subconscious conscious, he will run your life and you will call it fate.

And this is exactly what we are going to learn in the next lesson – about decision and procrastination.

But before you turn to the next lesson, it is important to say a few words. Maybe you already want to move on and stop your addiction. But, please understand that there was a reason I need you to follow the lessons by the order to the end of the course, before you attempt to quit. Listen, I do not believe in shortcuts. I know exactly how much agony there is in the rehab process and how difficult it is to get through the first few weeks. I've been through this dozens of times.

The learning phase is very important, but the implementation phase should not be missed. The workbook and the completion of the material are on your part, and are very important part of the implementation phase. That’s why I’m asking you to rewatch any lesson you didn’t completely understand. It’s very important to start a rehab process with knowledge to help you in every stage of the rehab.

Besides that, in the next lesson, we are going to talk about procrastination, decisions and the only one-time traps.
That’s why I need you to start the next lesson when you already have knowledge of previous lessons. I appreciate your time and I’ll see you soon. Bye bye.