The Conscious Mind is the part of the mind responsible for interpretation, logic and deliberate actions. An example of using your conscious mind is if you were to answer a question of what’s ten plus two, your conscious mind would be used to get the answer. An example of deliberate action using your conscious mind would be scratching your arm, as you made the decision to lift your arm and place your hand on the area that itches and to scratch that area.

To summarize whenever you are conscious (aware) of what you are doing, you can be assured it is because of your conscious mind.

The conscious mind is also known to be the first layer of defense for your mind. If someone tried to present you with a thought that doesn’t match what you believe then your conscious mind will bring to your attention the difference in what you believe and what is presented. The same rings true for physical actions. You do not have to touch a flame to know that it is hot. Despite someone encouraging you to touch the flame and stating it isn’t hot, you know better as your conscious mind is conveying the message.

The Subconscious Mind is the part of your mind responsible for all of the actions you make in which you are not intentionally aware of. Examples of this include breathing, heart beats, as both are controlled by your subconscious mind. Additional examples controlled by your subconscious mind are your emotions. The reasoning for why you are afraid of doing something you have never done before, feeling upset or nervous while trying not to be any of them, are due to your subconscious mind. Another word for subconscious is unintentional, which shows though you may feel a certain way you may not want to.

Your subconscious mind is responsible for storing any memories you may have and your convictions (beliefs) on any subject.

An exercise that best shows how your conscious and subconscious mind work differently is to do the following:

  • Open your eyes and keep your eyes open without blinking for as long as you can. While you are focusing on keeping your eyes from blinking, your conscious mind is in charge.
  • Now I want you to blink and get back to reading. As you no longer focus (consciously) on keeping your eyes open, you will notice how your subconscious mind takes over without you so much as thinking about it.

Utilizing both The Conscious Mind and The Subconscious Mind for your benefit

Now that you understand how the conscious and subconscious minds work separately and together you must use this to your benefit. In order to incorporate this knowledge into your life you must be cautious of the information that you have entering your mind on a consistent basis.

By controlling the information that enters your mind you are then able to control the information fed to the subconscious mind and able to yield more power over your mood and most importantly your future success.

Utilizing your understanding of both the conscious and subconscious minds can also help keep your emotional state in check. Though emotions are passed to your conscious mind through your subconscious mind, one would think it would be impossible to stop them from coming out. However, if you are aware of what is to come in to your conscious mind, often times you are able to “sike” yourself out in to not allowing these emotions to materialize by shifting your minds focus.

It is essential to understand your mind is always listening, so you must be careful as to the information it is fed. If negative information is fed to the mind, it will be on the mind, whether you are aware of it or not. This explains why you have been in a bad mood or upset in the past, though you are trying to stay busy. The best example of this is having a bad break-up. Once you go through the break-up, you attempt to occupy your time with friends and plans. You cannot change your state or mind from wandering, as your subconscious mind still has the break up actively running through your mind.

Defined, As Napoleon Hill wrote, “The subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. It works with the material we feed it, throughout thought impulses.”[1]

[1] Think and Grow Rich p.87 Napoleon Hill Highroads Media, Inc. Los Angeles, California 1960

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