Realising Benefits – Introduction
Introduction
This is the final tool in the mindset toolkit and brings the collection together…
Coming to light from the book The Secret, manifestation has been a trendy topic for the last few years.
Dream, Believe, Achieve
It is a subject that has perplexed me for when you research it, it is basically all about repeatedly thinking about something you want to happen, to make it happen. For me and my inclination towards Taoist philosophy, it all sounds like there is a bit too much trying going on!
For so many people to be talking about it though, there may be something in it…
So, this tool is an exploration of how we can leverage the power of our subconscious mind to effect real lasting change in our lives.
What is it?
The mindset toolkit is full of insights designed to help you calibrate your way of thinking to promote authentic action. This tool digs in to the underlying structure of the human mind and explores the universal “how” behind what makes these tools effective.
It is a bit like a cheat code that once understood gives your greater control and influence in cultivating your mindset.
This is a tool of awareness leading to choice leading to action which builds a positive feedback loop.
Let’s start by laying a shared foundation of understanding around the functioning of the human mind.
Consciousness
First let’s consider two phenomena of the human brain: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. We can keep this simple…
The conscious mind is the bit that you use to think; the bit you are aware of.
Your unconscious mind is the bit that you are unaware of, which controls your breathing and other autonomic functions of your body. It is also the source of the thoughts which just pop in to your mind.
Think of it this way… let’s say your home is in the middle of a land locked country. You cannot see the sea. Your view of the sky represents your conscious perspective on the world. The bit you can see right above you.
Sometimes clouds float in to view. These clouds were formed hundreds or even thousands of miles away out at sea. You did not see them being made and you are not consciously aware of the process… This is how the subconscious mind influences your conscious perspective… It produces the
weather that then influences your day.
Even though you are not aware of the formation of the weather, you can still influence what is happening… just think about humans causing the effect of global warming…
Perspectives on the Mind
Each of these perspectives serve as a different lens; each correct in their own way, all interrelated, but none wholistically explaining the mind in isolation…
Even together they do not explain the mind in totality. They do however afford differing views to expand your perspective and enable new perceptions to be formed.
Conscious and Unconscious
This concept was originally introduced by Sigmund Freud and as previously mentioned could be summarised as the thinking processes that we are aware of, and unaware of.
Ego and Self
The concept of the Ego is part of Freud’s model, but the self is an abstraction later layered on by Carl Jung.
Essentially the Ego spans both conscious and unconscious thinking processes and the self if the bit we identify with.
In earlier tools I refer to this concept of the self as “I”. Here are links to some posts to deepen your understanding:
I and Me – Understanding your Ego
Experiencing Self and Narrating Self
These concepts where introduced by Daniel Kahnman and dig further in to the concept of the self.
The experiencing self refers to the part of us that lives moment to moment (much like my definition of I), and the narrating self represents the voice of the unconscious part of our Ego as it interfaces with the conscious part. The narrating self-constructs the story of our lives in memory.
System 1 and System 2
Popularised by Daniel Kahnman in his book Thinking Fast and Slow, system 1 and system 2 refer to different types of thinking processes in the mind. System 1 being fast, intuitive, automatic thinking often linked to the unconscious mind (e.g., what is 2+2?), and system 2 being slow, deliberate, analytical thinking often linked to conscious reasoning (e.g., what percentage of cats are vegetarians?).
Why Does this Matter?
Each lens serves as a different perspective on that mind that can be useful in different contexts where we want to effect change in ourselves.
As a practical example, think back to the use of Language tool where we explored saying what you mean…
You can consciously train your system 2 to select different language when rationally thinking about things, but for this change to have a real long-lasting effect the language patterns used by your system 1 must be updated too.
In this tool, we will explore techniques, strategies and perspectives for how we can all speed up this influencing of our unconscious mind. This is a complex subject though and words of another human can only take this so far…
Reflecting on the insights in this tool from these different perspectives will help you better understand how to apply them effectively for yourself. I could offer a detailed examples of how this could work, but not only would that take far too long because we don’t have the words to concisely communicate the emergent processes of our cognition, more importantly, each of our minds is unique so any example provided would dilute your own unique way of cultivating these insights.
I offer the dots, but joining them together is something we each need to do for ourselves.
What’s Next?
In the next post we will start to explore the dots and see what web of connections you form…
Enjoy, for now.