“The unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent.” Carl Jung
“We must realize that the subconscious mind is the law of action and always expresses what the conscious mind has impressed on it. What we regularly entertain in our mind creates the conception of self. What we conceive ourselves to be, we become.” Grace Speare
I’ve always liked the saying “it’s like drinking from a fire hose.” The fire hose is such a perfect metaphor for attempting to take in just a little bit when there’s way too much coming at you. I have times where it seems that just getting through the day in this busy, complex world can feel like being hit by that fire hose! Sometimes the local fire department practices with their hoses and ladders in the field behind my house. The fire hose shoots a thick plume of water almost the full length of a soccer field. Imagine trying to take a little sip of water from that hose!
Yet every second of every day we do just that. Psychologists estimate that, in the process of living our usual daily lives, our brains receive at least 2 million bits of information per second. That input bombards our bodies at all hours of the day and night. The conscious mind is only able to process 134 bits of information per second (I have days where that must be a very generous estimate!). So every second of every day, your brain is processing a “fire hose” of data, and filtering out all but a little sip to work with. However, the 1,999,866 bits of data NOT processed by the conscious mind are still processed by our very capable subconscious minds. A great example of this is your ability to drive your car to a familiar place safely and easily, yet remember nothing of the drive. Have you ever had one of those trips? Although your conscious mind was completely engaged in thinking about something else, obviously some other part of your brain was perceiving the traffic around you, controlling your eyes and body to operate the car, and making judgments about when and how to speed up, slow down, or turn. Something that took your full and absolute attention when you were first learning, now might not even register in the conscious mind!
In the book Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell describes experiments where people were able to make very quick decisions based on very little input, yet their “gut reaction” was always right. These experiments proved that we are amazingly observant about the body language, spoken language, and behavior of those around us. The subconscious can notice an eye roll of contempt that lasts only a fraction of a second. The conscious mind isn’t able to detect it, but the subconscious understands it, and the body responds accordingly. The brain is also always on the lookout for safety. So those times you get that “funny feeling” about a person, place, or activity, maybe your subconscious has noticed something that your conscious mind overlooked. The odds are very good (given the 2 million bits of information per second statistic) that an important clue was not picked up by your conscious mind.
The ability to filter so much data into a manageable amount is critical for operating in this complex world. But it also means we can miss a lot of very important data. Like that look of sadness in a loved ones eyes that you missed because your mind was busy elsewhere. Or the car accident that was preventable if someone had just been paying a bit more attention to the activities around him. Imagine, then, being better able to sip from that fire hose. Imagine being able to process more information, or choosing more carefully what to “sip” into your conscious mind. How can you hone your senses and your mind to invite a better quantity and quality of information into your conscious mind? Here are some tips:
- Practice bringing your awareness to different elements of your environment. Feel the pressure of your shoe on your little toe, hear the quiet sounds around you (please turn off TVs, radios, MP3 players first!), look around for a particular color or shape until you find it, etc. This doesn’t need to take more than a few seconds, but it will help you learn to shift from the “rut” of the way you normally perceive your surroundings.
- Focus on using other senses more deeply. Often when I’m on a coaching call I close my eyes so I can more fully hear the nuances of my client’s voice. Close your eyes and listen more carefully, or touch someone or something and really feel the texture. Use your sense of smell more intentionally. Simply using all your senses more fully “wakes up” different parts of the brain.
- Listen to your “gut.” The book The Gift of Fear describes how our willingness to discount our gut reactions allows victims to be drawn into dangerous situations. The energy that we call the gut reaction can be a “good” energy (you’re attracted to someone or something for an “unknown” reason) or a “negative” energy (you feel fear or apprehension for an “unknown” reason). Neither is truly “good” or “bad,” it’s just the mind’s way of getting your attention. So practice paying attention to those feelings.
- Use your conscious mind to ask the subconscious mind to watch out for something. Did you ever buy a new car or a new piece of clothing, thinking you were the ONLY person to have it? You would swear you had never seen anyone else with it. Yet as soon as you bought the item, EVERYONE around you seemed to have one, too? The item was always around, it just fell into that 1,999,866 bits of information that was ignored. Once your conscious mind told the subconscious, “hey, this is important,” it became one of the 134 that was observed. So through intention, you can ensure that your “sip” includes what you’re wanting from the fire hose.
Drinking from a fire hose of environmental input is just a fact of life. But you can be more intentional and effective about how you sip from that fire hose. You can be more present with and receptive to your environment, you can pay attention to how your body responds to the input, and you can intentionally choose what elements of your environment to invite into your conscious mind. Go ahead, have a sip!
