Should You Trust Your Unconscious Mind?

Written By Eugene Morgan

Trusting Your Unconscious

When it comes to solving a problem you can’t solve consciously or going through life difficulties, trust your unconscious mind.  When Dr.  Erickson saw a patient he did not plan on how he would facilitate change in that person.  He waited until the patient gave him some kind of stimulus.  He trusted his own unconscious mind to know what to say and when to say it and how to say it.   This was the result of countless hours in a laboratory observing and experimenting with his subjects.

Milton Erickson, “I don’t need to know what your problem is for you to correct it.”  Just in this quote he’s implying that the subject can trust his/her own unconscious mind and that the unconscious mind can correct the problem.  We all have lifetime experiences of  problem solving.     When we don’t have an answer, we can let our unconscious mind search and process one.

For example, have you ever worked on a puzzle or problem, but can’t seem to solve it at that moment.  You then take a break from it.  You start doing other things, like walking the dog or washing the dishes.  Then all of a sudden,  a flash of light goes on  inside your head like  illuminating a dark room when you turn on a light switch.   It becomes clear to you the answer.   In this the example, you did something that you didn’t know you were doing that we do all the time.  You stopped trying to find an answer.  But your unconscious mind continued searching while you were doing something else.

Another example, telling a colleague at work about a great movie you have seen over the weekend but you just can’t seem to recall the name of the well-known actor who played in it.  Although at home, while eating dinner,  you recalled the actor’s name.

Your Unconscious Storehouse

Another good reason to trust your unconscious mind is that it has a storehouse of experiences, learnings and memories.  Dr. Milton Erickson said to his students, patients, and colleagues to trust your unconscious mind.  In previous post, I talked about what is the difference between conscious and unconscious mind. The one thing that was evident in that post was that the unconscious knows more than what we know consciously.  When we learn something new, it is learned consciously. The end result of all conscious learnings ends up in the storehouse of the unconscious mind.   “You all can walk, yet you really don’t know the movements or the processes,” Milton Erickson.

Your Unconscious Can Change

Some say that we are unconsciously predetermined.  Does this means we can’t change?  But do you know your unconscious can change? The unconscious mind changes after reading a good inspirational book.  The unconscious mind is altered after watching a feel good movie.  The unconscious mind changes after meeting someone you regard as a model to live up to.  The unconscious mind changes after learning something new.