The subconscious mind is the part of your brain where your thoughts and actions happen unintentionally and automatically. It’s where ideas that are as natural to you as breathing come from, and these thoughts can exist in your head without you even realizing they’re there. Naturally, this makes it pretty dangerous to have a negative subconscious, as that can influence everything you do without your knowledge!
But how can you fix something that you’re not even consciously aware of? How can you tap into parts of your brain that aren’t easy to reach? And, once you get there, how can you begin to improve it? Here are three efficient ways to train your subconscious mind to think positively.
1. Talk To Your Subconscious Mind
By definition, the subconscious is something you aren’t innately aware of. To understand what it holds within it, you need to speak to it and seek to understand it actively. In the background, it chugs along unchecked and unheeded until you turn your attention to it directly.
Some people think it’s best to ignore the subconscious because it can hold negative thoughts and other toxic ideas. But addressing your subconscious doesn’t mean you believe entirely in every word that it says. Learning to communicate positively with your subconscious will allow you to understand your deep-rooted issues better.
Basically, if you want to learn to think positive, you have to understand the things that maintain negative thoughts. Those things lie in your subconscious, and without trying to get in touch with it, you’ll never be able to start to train it properly. And, of course, any form of subconscious “training” requires that you interact with that part of your mind. Here is how to begin:
· Ask Your Subconscious Questions
To understand the negativity that your subconscious holds, it can be helpful to ask it questions and prompt it for answers regarding the issues you face. They suggest how many of your negative thoughts that block positive thinking are embedded deep in your subconscious. So you have to coax information regarding these roots out from your mind. Your brain is trying to protect you by using these negative thoughts to find out why. Ask what your subconscious is shielding you from, what it fears, and even what it dislikes. It’s almost like interviewing with that part of your brain.
· Consider If Your Subconscious Has A Point
Your subconscious aims to keep you safe, and while this isn’t always rational, there’s usually a reason it’s doing what it does. In most cases, the way it is going about this protection – for example, by creating negative thoughts, so you don’t do certain things – isn’t ideal or the healthiest option. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a point to what it’s doing. In all likelihood, there are things you need to address and give attention to that you haven’t focused sufficiently on, and this is causing your subconscious to stay negative. There is wisdom in your inner thoughts – listen to them!
· Reassure Your Subconscious
Your subconscious is scared and frightened, and you have to help reassure it and teach it that positive thinking is more beneficial to it. Promise yourself that you will handle challenges well. Remind yourself of your strengths and powers. State that you have heard the fears rooted in your heart and will do everything you can to protect yourself from them without stunting your growth. Acknowledge that things will turn out okay, and your subconscious will relax.
2. Provide Your Subconscious Mind With Motivation
An unmotivated subconscious will have no interest in being trained towards positivity. Your brain needs something to push it forward. Having this healthy desire can work wonders for your positive thinking while allowing your inner brain to focus on something it wants over the usual negativity. Here are some ways to motivate your subconscious:
· Look To That Which Inspires You
There are many potential sources of inspiration in the world. You can find inspiration from other people, from media, fiction, art, and even from yourself. The things that inspire you can help you can stoke a fire in your belly that makes you hunger for forward momentum, sending you sprinting forward. Just remember that drawing inspiration is positive, but comparing yourself to impossible ideals is definitely not! Find people and things that make you want to work harder, but don’t try to mimic them exactly!
· Keep Creating New Goals
A great way to stay motivated is by breaking down large goals into smaller ones and then continuing to add more and more goals as you go, adjusting based on your new abilities and desires. That way, each time you hit a small goal, you get to congratulate yourself and feel your accomplishment. Every new goal should challenge and excites you without being too lofty. Find a balance between giving yourself something to work hard on and making things impossible!
· Surround Yourself With Positive People
People that support you can help you feel motivated to make good on your promises, make them proud, and be held accountable. A positive support circle will uplift you as you uplift them, and this is a great way to keep each other on task and find encouragement when necessary. If you don’t have a large social circle, you can join groups and clubs related to your goals or find support groups that aim to help people from all walks of life move forward.
· Be Realistic
No one’s forward momentum is perfect. Progress is not linear. There will be times when you take steps back and times when you take steps forward, and the sizes of those steps may change pretty dramatically, too. Remember that it’s normal to have dips, to have moments of failure, and to have difficult or rough patches. Take care of yourself, pick yourself up again, and keep trying!
3. Rewire How You Think And Move Towards Positive Thoughts
Training the subconscious mind involves rewiring your brain towards better and more productive manners of perceiving the world, processing input, and thinking about things. It sounds like a tall order, but it’s perfectly doable. As a matter of fact, many methods can successfully help you change the way your brain processes signals. Here are some tips for moving your negative subconscious thoughts to positive ones!
· Give Yourself Examples Of Reality
If your subconscious tends to catastrophize and fear the worst in every single situation, you can counteract this by patiently grounding it back in reality. Think of all the times where you have been through similar outcomes. Imagine how your capabilities have gotten you through all the worst times of your life. Remind yourself of the many, many times you’ve thought the worst, but everything turned out okay. This firm grasp of reality will help your positive thinking.
· Start Using Positive Self-Talk
Positive self-talk is a concept that involves the use of positive statements towards yourself. It’s similar in many ways to positive affirmations, and studies have found that it is an effective way to improve wellbeing. Often, if your subconscious mind leans towards the negative, you have to actively speak to yourself in positive ways and hype yourself up to combat that. But over time, what you say will manifest accurately, and you will begin to believe in the nice things you say about yourself genuinely.
· Toss Out Unnecessary Negativity
If you’re facing a negative thought, observe it, then make a judgment call. Is this thought accurate? Is it grounded in reality? Finally, is it productive, or is it only harming you? If the thought does nothing for you other than bring down the mood, then imagine yourself throwing the thought out the window or hitting a “delete” button on it. While you should never repress your emotions, you should also learn to determine which thoughts serve you in no way whatsoever and aren’t worth your additional effort and thought.
· Be Grateful
Gratitude is a known method of improving the way you look at the world. Essentially, the more grateful you are in everyday life, the more your brain naturally searches for more things to be grateful for. Expressing appreciation to others, patting yourself on the back for your small wins, and finding the good in every bad situation are all fantastic ways to think more positively.
· Use Visualization
Visualization is a powerful technique that involves immersing yourself in an imagined situation. You set your brain to work by creating a landscape that you place yourself into, and you focus on this image until you believe it or know you can manifest it. This is a known method for improving positive thinking, gaining emotional resilience, and training your brain to think in more optimistic ways. It’s an ideal training mechanism for your subconscious because the human brain has trouble distinguishing between imagination and reality, so the things you imagine can help to motivate it! Imagine vivid details and creative thoughts that put you in powerful, successful, and positive situations.
· Combat Negativity With Positivity
Whenever a negative thought crops up in your head, immediately counteract that with a positive thought in kind. It is okay to go a little exaggerated when making these positive statements to fight back – the goal is to “argue” with your negative thoughts and firmly replace them with positive ones. As an example, if you think, “I stuttered when I spoke, so now everyone thinks I’m an idiot,” combat it by thinking, “No, I impressed them all with my brilliant points, so they don’t care that I stuttered!”. Or, if you think, “My partner is going to break up with me because I’m late for this date!”, fight by thinking, “Actually, I texted my partner about this, and they’re very understanding; I will make it up to them, and we will continue being happy together!”
Final Thoughts On Some Ways To Train Your Subconscious Mind To Think Positive
Harnessing your subconscious for positivity is a powerful way to improve your mental wellbeing. Being in tune with your inner self and working with it for your growth can be a fantastic step in your life. It may be tough at first, but keep at it, and you’ll soon find that your subconscious is truly focusing on positive things!
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