We all have subconscious programmes that are recorded as a protective response to trauma. Whenever we get into real or perceived danger the subconsious records a programme to protect us from that situation in the future. This is a survival mechanism designed to keep us safe; a fear and a reaction. And once a subconsious programme is created, it is never cancelled, and the more it gets triggered, the stronger it becomes. The subconsious doesn't know the difference between real and perceived danger which results in a mixture of genuine useful programmes that keep us safe and faulty programmes that do not serve us into adult life. These "faulty programmes" are recorded in our subconscious throughout our lives. The process starts even from before we're born. These unwanted protective programmes are what can cause the debilitating symptoms that hold us back in life, such as anxiety, stress, depression, procrastination and sometimes much more serious symptoms, including physical ailments. These symptoms can then lead to dependencies on alcohol, drugs, food, material things or even exercise as the subconsious learns that these things give us a short term reprieve from our feelings.
Our subconscious mind is like a radar; it's always listening, always interpreting, always recording. Like a loyal guard dog, it's ready to pounce at any moment to try and protect us from emotional distress. Just like a real dog it can easily be miss trained with the wrong environment, and become over reactive, miss interpret situations, become confused, distressed, and aggressive.
How do these faulty programmes get recorded? The subconscious is incredibly powerful; it keeps us alive, governing all of our bodily functions, it holds all of our habits, beliefs and behaviours, but is also designed to keep us safe from danger and keep us surviving at all costs. The subconscious responds when it detects danger to trigger the fight or flight response; the amygdala, a gland in the base of the brain releases adrenaline, ready to fight or run away. Blood pressure increases, muscles tense. Cortisol, the stress hormone is released to boost energy and blood flow is diverted from none essential functions in danger such as digestion. Importantly, the amygdala then "hijacks" the rational thought process to allow the subconsious to react instinctively and quickly to keep us safe. It's this key step that causes us to suffer so much as a result of our faulty subconscious programmes - brain fog, short term memory issues, irrational thought processes and more. Cortisol is what stops us being able to rationalise thoughts and feelings when we feel anxious and stressed.
The subconsious is designed to be much more powerful that your consious mind, to enable us to react instinctively and decisively when we're in real danger. Unfortunately, the subconsious does not know the difference between real and perceived danger. In our modern lives the "amygdala hijack" is triggered in many situations and the resulting emotional distress causes our subconscious to create the faulty debilitating programs that hold us back in life. Because this process blocks our rational thought process, and because the subconsious is designed to be more powerful and dominant that our consious mind, we cannot just "snap out of it", or get rid of those thoughts and feelings with positive thinking or mindfulness. When we're in continued periods of emotional disstress the response can be so extreme in subduing our rationale thought process it feels like the world is going to end and there is nothing we can do about it. The subconsious in these scenarios is like the Terminator - "it can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop...EVER".
As a simple example to demonstrate the process, imagine being in a restaurant and eating a piping hot piece of Aubergine. The fight or flight response will be triggered to stop the pain of the burning as soon as possible, by whatever instinctive means it can - you'll most likely spit it out. If you had time to think consciously about it, you might actually prefer the burning to the embarrassment of spitting the food out! The subconscious will then create a protective programme to avoid that emotional response in the future. So the next time you eat aubergine, you will instinctively hesitate before it goes anywhere near your mouth, as the subconscious reacts milliseconds before the conscious mind. And you will most likely never go in that restaurant again, and every time you walk past it you will feel the embarrassment and the anxiety build up - your subconsious minds warning signals that it's sensing danger.
When applied to distress caused by a traumatic emotional experience, the subconscious similarly tries to protect you from that response in the future with a protective programme. Most of us have had a teacher at school that has made us feel like everything we do isn't good enough, no matter how much we try; I certainly had a few! The subconscious can react to cause us to stop trying, or even be disruptive to avoid that feeling of failure (I was the class clown and acted up to avoid doing the work). I've had multiple clients who have been academic high achievers in school, however their parents have pushed them so hard no matter how well they did, leaving them feeling like failures. They might get 98% in a test but then be quizzed as to why they didn't get 100%, and asked what they did wrong! In adult life those clients have developed a protective programme, that as a reaction to the fear of failure it causes them to hold back in life, avoid taking risks, avoiding responsibility, procrastinating, and potentially avoiding opportunities. This can result in depression, stress and anxiety as the conscious mind tries to fight against the subconscious programme.
We can often achieve a lot through will power however the subconscious is much more dominant and powerful, and will always take precedence if there is a conflicting program in the subconscious. This is why we struggle to make the common changes to our lives, or keep up momentum with the changes we want to make in life. Whether its maintaining a positive mindset, changing our diets, quitting smoking, finding a new job, or keeping a regular exercise routine. This is why we struggle so much to make the positive change sin our lives, or overcome fears, phobias, stress, anxiety and depression.
We can think of your subconscious mind as a computer full of programmes. With Hypnotherapy we can connect directly to the subconscious computer to interact with its programmes. With Analytical Hypnotherapy we find the root cause trauma that causes the debilitating symptoms that hold us back in life. We can easily find and reframe the trauma, and remove the faulty programmes associated with them for good, leaving us free from any blocks that are holding us back permanently. Leaving you to be the best version of you, you can possibly be free from limitations.
If you would like to find out more please get in touch. You can book a free consultation and Hypnotherapy taster session in my Leeds or Doncaster clinics here.
Chris (DIP: HYP / NAHAH / RPHAH)
