Divisions of the Mind

standing on the edge

As a psychotherapist who uses hypnosis I must admit that sometimes it feels like I have two separate people in my big reclining therapy chair at the same time.

The two certainly are related and they seem to know quite a bit about each other. They appear to have passed through some remarkably similar experiences.

But they just don't seem to communicate very well with each other.

One person is entirely rational and logical; they analyze and compare, measure and debate. When I speak with these people I make sure I use a very logical approach.

The other person in the chair is quite different. They care nothing for logic. They make no demands that things be rational. They feel and they function on an emotional, rather than a cerebral level. When I speak with these people I make sure I use the language of feelings and imagination.

I don't really have two separate people in my therapy chair, of course, but it certainly can feel as if I do.

That first analytical person is simply the conscious mind, while the second feeling person is the subconscious mind. Both are useful, indeed essential parts of the self, yet their nature is quite different. And often they can be at odds with each other.

To better understand why this is, it's necessary to understand something of the way in which our minds function.

You see, the conscious mind is that part of us that reasons. It is basically who we think we are. It is the repository of will power and conscious decision-making.

The subconscious mind, on the other hand, is that part of us that experiences emotions. It is basically who we feel we are. It is the repository of our habits and our beliefs.

We also have a third part, and that is the unconscious mind. This is the part of us that is responsible for the smooth running of all those processes that we simply take for granted - our breathing and heart beat, the regulation of our body temperature, the functioning of our autonomic nervous system.
It's what keeps things going when we sleep and when we are awake, without our ever really having to think about it or give it instructions.

In my next post I’ll explain how the subconscious mind – working on past misperceptions – can so often override the conscious, and cause problems. And I’ll explain how hypnotherapy can help to correct this.


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