THE MINDThe mind is divided into three parts: the conscious, the sub-conscious and the super-conscious. It is the most marvelous tool that we have. It can bring us to the pinnacle of success or drive us into the depths of dispair. The mind controls everything that we do. It controls the body, our thinking, our beliefs and our emotional state.
THE CONSCIOUS MIND Our conscious mind is our thinking mind. A part of which is the "critical factor". The critical factor is a filter that analyzes information or stimulation as it comes in and forms a conclusion about that information and how it will be used by us. It is the thing that causes us to go "huh?" when we take in information that does not sit right with us or that we can't understand. It is a kind of stop-gap in letting information reach the sub-conscious or super-conscious. The critical factor does not form until between the ages of 8-11; until that time our sub-conscious minds are open to receiving any information that comes along. This is why children are so open, honest and literal. They have not formed the critical factor that allows them to analyze or form a response that will be "acceptable" in society. They don't understand metaphors because they take everything literally. There will be more about the critical factor in our page on
hypnosis.
The sub-conscious mind controls our body by governing the sympathetic and the para-sympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is our "fight or flight" control. This system responds to stress and danger-either outside or inside stressors. It is the part of our nervous system that causes our heart to pump faster, adreneline to flow and blood to drain from our digestive system to our extremities in anticipation of our having to run to get away from danger-or to turn and fight. Due to our high-stress society, many of us live in this "fight or flight" mode much too often. Our bodies were never intended to function at that high level so much. The response to danger was only supposed to occur infrequently when danger was present, like a wild animal or invasion by another tribe. Because Americans live in such stress daily, we are beginning to have more problems with our immune systems. Our adrenal glands (the ones that produce adreneline) are working overtime to keep us in a high state of alert. We are rushing to work, to get our kids, to get them to soccer, football, music lessons, home to get dinner, to the store, and then getting up again the next day to do it all again. Whew!!! We are also noticing a higher rate of immune problems and attention problems in our children. This is because they are too over-worked and over-stressed as well and their adrenals are having to kick in long before they should. We are in effect "blowing ourselves up" due to high-stress and are suffering long-term effects. The para-sympathetic nervous system on the other hand controls our regulating functions. It controls digestion, respiration, elimination and our immune system. It works without our conscious control. It also helps with keeping us calm and centered. This is the nervous system that is supposed to be working most of the time. It is supposed to be the system that takes over when we are at rest. Since we are living more and more in the "fight or flight" mode, our para-sympathetic system cannot do its job correctly-it does not have enough time to work. This is resulting in massive problems with digestion and breathing and immune system failure. Just look at the commercials that are on TV for drugs right now and you will see the vast majority are for digestive and breathing problems, allergies or drugs to help us relax. This is because we are not allowing our bodies to function naturally; we are not allowing our para-sympathetic nervous system to do its job. In order to have our bodies function in the way they were supposed to, we must do more to allow our para-sympathetic nervous systems to work more ofen. When it is working correctly our breathing is correct and fills our body with oxygen, our digestion and elimination is regular and easy and eliminates toxins that harm us and our immune system keeps us healthy and strong. Our bodies were wondrously designed to function correctly for years and years. It is not "normal" to be on medication or to age horribly and in pain. It is not "normal" to have cancer, or diabetes or AIDS/HIV or ADHD or any of the other myriad of diseases that seem to be common and accepted these days. Everyone seems to be on medication for something, even our children! We must do everything we can to allow our bodies to function in the miraculous way they were designed. There is much We can do to help the para-sympathetic nervous system to kick-in: Acupuncture and massage, hypnosis and meditation; all of these (and more) help to bring the para-sympathetic nervous system to the forefront and regulate our bodily systems. The sub-conscious is also the feeling, emotional mind. It is the storehouse of our beliefs about ourselves and others. The beliefs that we hold about everything govern how we see life and how we act upon it. These beliefs are often set as children and are so deep-seated that they run our lives without us being consciously aware of them. We act and react based on an ingrained set of beliefs that may or may not be true about ourselves or about others. Many of us hold "false beliefs" about ourselves that hurt us and keep us from reaching our highest potential. For example, the belief that one is a "bad" speller is a false belief. How many of us hold that belief about ourselves? It is a false belief because our mind works similarly to a computer or a camera. Everything that we experience or see or hear is recorded in our mind-just like data being input into a computer or a camera taking pictures. We all see, several hundred times over, the correct spelling of words in books, magazines, newpapers and on TV. Those words, and their correct spellings, are recorded over and over in our minds. The reason we can't seem to call up the correct spelling (even though it is recorded in our mind) is that the "false belief" that we can't spell overrides the correct information and "lo and behold!", we have spelled the word incorrectly. The belief was probably formed somewhere in childhood and becomes deeply ingrained in the mind and no matter what, that belief is going to win out! Unless...we change the belief. How do we do that? Hypnosis is an excellent tool for changing false beliefs. It goes directly to the subconscious mind where the belief lives and allows positive change to take place. Read more about hypnosis and how it can benefit you on our hypnosis page.
THE SUPER-CONSCIOUS MIND The super-conscious is a fascinating area of the mind and one that many scientists or scholars do not believe exists. It is the part that links us to all other creatures and to our Creator or The One Source. You may prefer to believe that it is where our soul or spirit resides if that is easier for you to accept. It is where we meet our guides and angels and our higher self. It is where we meet God. It is the part of ourselves that is part of all else in the Universe or in Creation. It is the part where Truth lives. When you go to this part, in deep meditation, trance or prayer, you commune with all that is; the Source of all being. It is the seat of inspiration and divine guidance. It is beauty and pure love. Where Love exists, nothing else that is not Love can be. It is the very essence of who we are. It allows us to speak to beings higher than ourselves, including our "higher self" which is the self that resides with Source and knows all. All psychic ability, intuition, channeling, etc. goes through the super-conscious mind. When we connect with this mind, we are privy to knowledge that our conscious minds cannot even begin to fathom. There are many ways to contact our super-consciousness. They all involve the trance state. When we are in trance, we by-pass the critical factor and our conscious mind to delve into our sub-conscious and as we go higher, our super-conscious minds. There are various levels of trance from light trance all the way to sommnambulism-which is a deep trance in which there is spontaneous anesthesia. Medium to deep trance states will allow you to connect to your super-conscious mind. We all go in and out of light trance states everyday. This includes when we are reading, or watching TV or daydreaming. The trance state is a normal state of consciousness and we can learn to control it and make it work for us. In the beginning of our training or practice, we may need to use deeper states of trance to connect to our super-consciousness but as we practice more, we will be able to connect with lighter and lighter states until we can reach a state of what I call "conscious trance". Read more about the trance state and what we can accomplish by going there in our pages about hypnosis and channeling. We invite you to subscribe to our e-zine THE REALM OF SPIRIT. It contains messages from our guides and angels and information on our events. Please use the box at the left under the navigation bar to subscribe. For back issues of The Realm of Spirit please click
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