The Unconscious Mind

Getting to know your unconscious mind.

Stand up and sit back down again. In doing so did you have to tell your muscles to contract and relax, did you tell your knees and back to bend? No, you did this on an unconscious level, this behaviour has been learned...programmed into you through years of experience, you’ve done it so many times you now do it without thinking about it.

Now DON’T do the following: Don’t think of a green bus. What did you do...it was too hard not to think about a green bus. You can not tell your mind not to think about what you don’t want to think about, without thinking about it.

Driving a car – think back to the time when you did not know how to drive a car, you had to learn about the brakes, clutch, engine revs, steering, dashboard controls etc, now you do all of these things on a sub conscious level, without having to tell yourself.

Learned behaviour can be changed, you can find better ways of doing things, you can avoid making the same mistakes, you can achieve more, but only if you are willing to ‘re programme’ your mind.

If you’re quite happy with the way your life is going then you won’t be in a hurry to change the way you think. Ultimately it lies with the case to want to change.

How does this affect racism? Many people are racist on a sub conscious level and probably don’t even realise that their comments and actions are seen as such. It is only when they see a person as a person, irrespective of colour or creed that they will see them as equals in society and as having the same rights as them. Would you expect the same rights as any other individual if you were in ‘their’ country.

How does this affect general behaviour? Let’s say you programme your mind that you have a right to get drunk every week, you don’t think why you are drinking, you don’t bother looking into the effects alcohol is having on your health, or the impact it is having on family. You may even justify drinking whilst you are on benefits without thinking that the government is paying you benefits to help with your living costs and not to keep you in alcohol or drugs for that matter. Why would this person want to change? Could he change? Sometimes you need to state the obvious to a case that has no inclination to challenge his own way of thinking. You could ask; How much does the state pay you in benefits to spend on alcohol? Do you think it is your right to be able to drinks? Do you drink because of the status associated with ‘working class’ people? Do you view this as something successful people do?

PSR 2011

Problem Solving Template

This template can be applied to many different scenarios and help define and solve problems.