Understanding How the Mind Works

Understanding how the mind works may help you understand how you can control your thoughts, which create your so-called "realities" that affect all your actions and reactions, your choices and decisions in life.

The Conscious and the Subconscious Mind

The mind—the consciousness of the brain—has two components: the conscious mind, and the subconscious mind. All your experiences and perceptions of what happens in your life impacted by your five senses are stored in both your conscious mind and subconscious mind.

Unlike the conscious mind, the subconscious mind embraces indiscriminately all life experiences and perceptions of those happenings encountered in life.

Your subconscious mind is like the basement of your house where you dump all the physical possessions you have been hoarding over the years.

Your conscious mind is like the living area in your house, where you proudly display only some of the physical possessions you have chosen according to your likes and dislikes, such as a piece of antique furniture in the living room, or an original painting hanging on the wall in the dining room.

Your conscious mind filters all your thoughts—what you think is appropriate or relevant for your mental storage. In other words, your conscious mind consciously chooses what it wants to remember. Your subconscious mind, on the other hand, simply absorbs all your mental perceptions and reactions to all your experiences; it does not have the power to reason or to analyze any mental input. That is to say, it may not be able to tell the half-truths from the truths. Yet, it is your subconscious mind that controls your whole being, because your subconscious mind dominates your conscious mind.

Your conscious mind makes decisions, but it is your subconscious mind that directs and manipulates your conscious mind. If you immediately turn on the TV as soon as you get home from work, most probably it is your subconscious mind telling your conscious mind that now is the time for relaxation and for watching  television. Many people talk on the cell phone while driving -- that, too, is the subconscious mind doing the driving while the conscious mind is doing the driving. 

Controlling the Uncontrollable

Don’t let your mind control your thoughts, which may ultimately become the materials with which you create your ego-self. With your inflated ego, and not the real you or your true self, you may then have many attachments that make you reluctant to let go of. All attachments are no more than distractions of the mind from facing real challenges in life. Learn how to let go of control—especially control of what is uncontrollable. Get the wisdom to let go to let God.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau