Watching the Movements of the Mind
When I was asked to write an article for the Autumn/Fall edition of The Hamblin Vision magazine on the theme of shaping the subconscious, at first I didn’t really understand the phrase. What exactly is the subconscious? Even if I know what it is, how on earth can it be shaped? I tried to find out some answers and discovered that the subconscious is the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one’s actions and feelings, even though one doesn’t realise it! How amazing is that! I wanted to investigate this and ponder on how significant this is in understanding what makes us tick. Apparently, it also notices and remembers information of which we are unaware. I began to picture it as a vast, endless, hidden, mental storehouse that has immense power over us.
As I began to understand a little more about the subconscious, or the ‘unconscious’ as it is referred to in psychoanalysis, I pondered about how it could be shaped. I wondered if it could be ‘reprogrammed’ to somehow improve feelings so that negative emotions could be dissolved away, to be substituted by more positive ones. If the mindset is good, surely this would result in better actions.
I wanted to see how this subconscious was working in practice and so I tried hard to watch the movements in my mind. I discovered that when I was quiet and still within myself, I could watch what was going on internally more easily. Immediately after a period of meditation or spiritual reading was a good time to look at this, before my mind had started to accumulate the usual agitation and busyness. I certainly needed to be alert, aware and connected to the present moment. Then it began to be possible to observe a process of ideas, attitudes and prejudices popping up. I really had to be very awake because it happens so quickly, but I could see for myself that there is a very small window giving the opportunity for a moment of choice. I could observe a movement in the mind that was restricting and certainly not useful. In that moment, I could choose to let it go and decide to go for something different, which would lead to a better outcome for both myself and probably for others around me.
Another useful by-product of this exercise of watching the movements in the mind is that I am given very subtle wake-up calls! I began to be aware that if something negative was playing in my mind, I would frequently make a clumsy physical movement. It would be something seemingly insignificant like knocking my elbow into a piece of furniture or stubbing my toe, but I soon came to realise that these little mishaps were a gift! They were reminding me to wake up, see what is going on in the mind and to let it go, by replacing the negative thought for something more positive.
This process has reminded me of something my philosophy tutor tells us that ‘the wise live every moment of their lives carefully’. Now I think I’ve got a better understanding of what this is about!
