What is subconscious Reconditioning?

Our beliefs control our behaviours, our behaviours shape our lives and these beliefs that define who we are sit in the vast depths of our subconscious. If you want to change any behaviour, the most effective way to do this is to change the beliefs that control that behaviour. Knowing what you want to believe is a good start, but it wont change anything if you don’t actually believe it. You can’t think or talk your way out of a deep seated belief. But fear not, they can be easily and effectively transformed through subconscious reconditioning.

The science bit

The subconscious mind refers to a part of our mind that operates below the level of conscious awareness and is responsible for automatic and habitual behaviour. It is a reservoir of thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories that influence the way we think, feel and behave without us consciously realising it. While the conscious mind is responsible for logical thinking, decision-making, and rationalising, the subconscious mind is instinctual and operates on a conditioned automatic programme that functions without needing to apply active thoughts.

The subconscious is like a space station being run on autopilot and our conscious brain is the astronaut out on a spacewalk tethered to the station. The astronaut is out there thinking and experiencing while the space station is doing a thousand other things to keep the astronaut alive and safe and the astronaut does not even need to think about it or even be aware of it.

The RA System

The human brain represents about 2% of the human form, but it uses roughly 20-25% of the body's energy to function. If the brain used any more energy than this the rest of the body would not function as effectively. In order to maintain this energy balance the conscious mind is allocated a limited amount of space for it’s thinking, this equates to only around 5% the information that our brain holds, everything else resides in the subconscious. The most fascinating part of all of this is that our subconscious programming influences what and how we think and informs the perspective through which we experience everything. This subconscious programme is created by us and all of our life experiences and is translated to our conscious mind through something called the reticular activating system (RA system).

The RA system is a small part of the brain that works like a filter for our conscious awareness. It filters in all the things we need to be aware of to keep us safe. Survival is the primary function of the filter. Here's how it works; we draw information in from our senses, what we see, what we feel, taste, smell and hear. All of that information, in all it’s complex detail goes into our brain and the RA system takes only what it believes is relevant for our conscious mind, and it decides what is relevant based on our conditioning, aka our beliefs.

The RA system actively looks for evidence to confirm or re-affirm the things that you believe and filters out information that opposes those beliefs, because it is less relevant to your survival. This is also known as confirmation bias. The trouble is, what we need for survival in modern day life is so very different from what kept us alive hundreds or thousands of years ago, but the threat and stress response in the brain remains the same. Our subconscious is working to keep us safe, but the reality is that what our subconscious is keeping us ‘safe’ from is growth and positive change.

Changing behaviours

Not all of our behaviours need changing, some of our behaviours are likely positive and contribute towards our potential for flourishing. Some will likely be neutral, they may not be tremendously helpful, but neither are they harmful. They are simply part of what makes us who we are. But then there are those that are negative, limiting or even harmful. It is these behaviours that keep us in unhelpful cycles and not only place a limit on what we can achieve, but can also have a negative impact on our wellbeing and our happiness. Subconscious reconditioning helps us to identify the unhelpful beliefs connected to those behaviours and shift them on that subconscious level. this is what enable us to create lasting positive and purposeful behaviour change. When our core beliefs are in alignment with what we want it becomes easier to engage in the behaviours that will benefit you, your wellbeing and your happiness. And you will be less likely to fall back into old and unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns.

What can you work on?

If you have something that you want to achieve, but have not yet achieved it we can explore what is holding you back and what unhelpful belief systems are connected to it. This could stem from any area of your life. Anything that causes you discomfort or that you find challenging. Perhaps this could be struggling to stay consistent with fitness or nutritional habits, or developing self-love. Maybe you want to level up your performance in the workplace or overcome procrastination. maybe you are looking to take your sports performance to another level or want to overcome performance anxiety. Ultimately you can change how you think, how you behave and even how you feel! Subconscious reconditioning is one of the most impactful puzzle pieces in all of the happiness puzzle.