Behind The Curtain of The Unconscious - Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

You attract to your life whatever you give your energy, focus, and attention to, whether wanted or unwanted". The Universe takes these thoughts as instructions and returns them to you in the form of experiences and things. This is all accomplished within the operating system of the unconscious mind, which we are about to explore.

There are nine quantifiable steps in the process of creation:

• Step 1: Intended outcome (forming a vision).
  
• Step 2: Information gathering (learning what you don't know that might be helpful).
  
• Step 3: Information analysis (sorting out information that is relevant to your situation).
  
• Step 4: Incubation (periods of withdrawal, reflection, quiet and meditation).
  
• Step 5: Insight (spontaneous quantum leap of creativity with aha moments).
  
• Step 6: Inspiration (knowing that you're on the right track - intuition).
  
• Step 7: Implementation (taking action).
  
• Step 8: Integration (absorbing the new into the old paradigm).
  
• Step 9: Incarnation (emergent properties evolve out of this process-true creativity - not innovation).

This is a general overview of the mechanism in which our efforts are processed from the formless into form. However, to fully understand the evolution of our requests into tangible realities we have yet to explore some critical details involving the dynamics of the unconscious mind.

Within the realm of the unconscious lays the true magic in our ability to deliberately and consistently produce what we intentionally desire. Unfortunately, we frequently get discouraged and sidetracked when what we want doesn't show up. We think that because we have imagined, decided, understood, or planned something it's automatically going to result in what we intended.

Because we so strongly identify with our conscious mind we tend to think that the thoughts we experience there are really who we are. We've falsely assumed that the conscious mind is making it all happen. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Think about something as simple as your last "New Year's resolution". Look at all of the information available on the major healthcare issues facing the inhabitants of this country. There's certainly no lack of data or facts heralding the cause and offering solutions for lifestyle epidemics like obesity, diabetes, depression, insomnia or stress, to name a few.

So many opportunities, so much data, much more information, and yet we experience no results. Why? Because we believe that the conscious functions of the brain are sufficient to drive productive results directly into our lives.

The problem with this thinking is that we haven't recognized that the conscious mind is not designed for long-term consequences. In fact, the conscious functions of the brain account for only 2-4 percent of what we actually do. While this small percentage of influence is critical to the successful function of the areas it governs, it produces no long-term sustainable results.

Even though it does provide the inspiration and momentum to alter our course, imagine new possibilities, explore various possibilities, it just does not last! The good news is that the conscious brain is not in charge of overseeing the ten quadrillion biochemical reactions that occur in your body every second. The other good news is that there is another area of the brain that is far better equipped to handle all of the details of these more intricate and exotic functions.

Of course, this other component of the brain is the unconscious portion. It's on duty twenty-four hours a day, every day of your life. And it's far more powerful than you've ever recognized, realized or imagined. While the conscious brain loses focus every six to ten seconds, your unconscious brain never, ever loses focus, not once, not ever! So obviously, this is where all the action is located. This is where everything from perception to habits, beliefs, behaviors, accomplishments and achievements take place. This is the seat of change that allows you to follow through with all of the activities that produce the intended outcomes concocted by the conscious mind, which defines, articulates, and establishes the basic direction.

To illustrate the distinct allocation of resources available in these two general areas of the brain consider the following facts:

• The conscious brain accounts for 17 percent of total brain mass and about one-sixth of its weight. Conversely, it controls only 2-4 percent of perception and behavior.
  
  
• The non-conscious brain occupies 83 percent of the total brain mass and makes up the other five-sixths of its weight. But, it controls 96-98 percent of all perception and behavior.
  
  
• Impulses in the conscious brain travel somewhere between 120 and 140 mph. Non-conscious impulses travel at more than 100,000 mph, which is roughly 800 times faster than conscious impulses.
  
  
• Information in the conscious brain is processed at the rate of around 2,000 bits per second. The non-conscious brain processes information at four hundred billion bits per second.

The conscious brain is the seat of the will. This is where you set goals and evaluate results. The non-conscious brain is a servant. It determines nothing on its own and exists merely to act on the information and instructions provided to it. It doesn't decide to do anything on its own and doesn't judge or assign value to outcomes. Its only concern is that the results match the intended outcome.

The conscious brain identifies with the past and future. The non-conscious brain only recognizes "NOW". Memory spans for the two components differ dramatically as the conscious brain is limited to about twenty seconds, while the non-conscious brain remembers everything it experiences forever. So, in order to experience a successful change consistent with your intended outcome you must transform yourself into the person for whom the probability of great things happening increases.

And this transformation starts at the level of your thoughts. Thoughts give meaning to events. We take action by responding to our thoughts. And for every action, there is a memory, which is an interpretation of our perception of the event. Meanings, experience, interpretation, memory, desire - all of these are very closely connected in the quantum field and can be accessed intentionally to create change.

Once we decide to act on the vague concept of a thought, it becomes a reality. Repeatedly entertaining the same thought produces the habitual behavior of thinking the same thoughts and attracting the same results. This process subsequently produces a tangible outcome in our physical experience of reality.

So our lives are made real by acting on the infinite number of possible choices available, thus creating a memory of that experience and the potential for repeating it. If it produced a pleasurable result, the desire to experience it again is produced. Thus, patterns of behavior emerge, and the choices we make most frequently determine how we got where we are at any one point. This repeated action of thinking the same thoughts increases the probability that these thoughts and behaviors will occur again.

We get used to a certain way of doing things and continue that pattern out of habit, simply because it is comfortable and presumed safe. In order to change your life, you must allow a different influence to interrupt the familiar pattern by choosing a different intended outcome and deliberately engaging the resources available in the non-conscious portion of your brain.

To fully appreciate the magic available in the design of this process you must actively apply these principles in your own life. Unless this information is used by you in a way that allows for you to experience the tangible results in your own life, this whole exercise will amount to little more than another brief moment of inspiration that temporarily quenches a passionate longing for purpose, meaning, and contentment.

Change is inevitable. But the simple question remains: Will you continue to be a victim of change, or will you choose to experience the changes you create for yourself? It is at this junction that a new decision must be made. Since change is inevitable and life goes on, how will you choose to go on with your life?

Are You Ready for a Change?

• Now is the time to begin, because there is no time but now. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. As you think so will be your experience.
  
  
• What you experience is not nearly as important as how you experience it.
  
  
• The only thing you can do for anyone else is work on yourself.

The bottom line here is that when you think the same thing over and over again, it will eventually become a "HABIT" of thought. A habit of thought over time (repetition, repetition, repetition), becomes an attitude or belief. Since beliefs form your paradigm and dictate how you interact with the rest of the world, the quality of your beliefs will determine the quality of your life.

But remember, energy flows where attention goes, so you must develop discipline, consistency, and focus as you intentionally and deliberately communicate your intended outcomes to your non-conscious brain. In order to do this effectively you must create new habits. Habits are created by doing something over and over again, to the point where you no longer need to think about it consciously in order to repeat the process perfectly.

For more information on how to consciously activate this process please see my article on "Goal Achievement and the Non-Conscious Mind".

By Dr. Richard A. DiCenso