Do you realize that subliminal suggestion is adding to your stress and influencing your choices?
I won’t reiterate what I wrote last year on the subject of how to cope with the holiday stresses, although it’s still relevant: That blog is still available if you want some realistic and easy ways to stay cool calm and collected while doing everything you feel you want and need to do.
This blog is all about how your mind is on more intense overdrive at this time of year, and more vulnerable to subliminal suggestions; subliminal means below the threshold of your consciousness. These messages are pouring into your subconscious mind from everywhere around you, and a great deal of it is being absorbed into your mind and possibly influencing you without your awareness. We cannot know just how much impact subliminal suggestion has on your individual psychology and your actions, but we do know it’s everywhere all the time. Even though science can prove that these communications are being received by your subconscious mind, the subject of subliminal suggestion and it’s potential to cause individual and group action remains controversial. In certain situations and conditions we do know that some people are more influenced by it than others. Stress is one of subliminal suggestions allies.
The problem is that at this time of year, subliminal suggestions may actually have more influence on you than any other time.
Let me explain.
If you are like so many people I interact with in my practice and in everyday life I can guess that you feel at least little over loaded, perhaps even overwhelmed right now. Are you?
It’s no wonder because along with all of the other demands for your time and attention you are hearing once again the familiar sounds of the season; Christmas carols everywhere, more TV commercials than ever about what you should buy, newspaper adds by stores and email marketing, pop ups on your computer from sellers of everything clamoring for your business. Then there’s and the bells rung by Salvation Army volunteers asking for donations; if you are like me you are receiving more catalogues than usual in the mail and from the many charitable organizations you do or don’t contribute to all year-long, envelopes loaded with greetings cards, calendars and pleas for more money.
Whew!
Some of it is nice, and reminds us it is the season to be merry, joy to the world and all that, and to give as generously as we can. Indeed giving is on our minds and in our hearts almost all the time right now and we want to be in the spirit of the season.
However, some of it is truly invasive and much of it is subliminal, with the deliberate intent to bypass your conscious mind and influence your actions. BUY MORE! It’s designed to move your emotions and plays into your needs and wishes not consciously expressed, or perhaps repressed. So without your being conscious of it, subliminal suggestion is adding to the stress of the season.
So, one of the most needed skills right now is the ability to tune out as much a possible the noise, not just the kind that you are aware of that invades your eyes and ears from all around, the loud cacophony of store music and the crowds, the honking horns of other impatient shoppers, also the subliminal messages that reach your subconscious and feed your desires and instincts to do what you believe you need and want to do to make the holiday season special, to give, to live up to expectations and honor traditions, at any cost.
Subliminal suggestion can be powerful. Now it’s important to know that in and of its self it won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. For example subliminal tapes that are sold by hypnotists and self-help organizations seldom have any real or lasting effect on people’s behaviors. There are lots of reasons for this fact, better discussed in another blog; herein though I just want to remind you that all behavior is motivated and there are many complex,often subconscious issues supporting all of your behaviors. However, if you are already so inclined to act in a certain way, if there are no limiting and conflicting psychological factors, if you have a latent need or desire, whether or not you can afford the time and money, subliminal suggestion can move you to take action in that direction.
You can’t be made through this often subversive methodology to go against your will or ethics, anymore than you would in formally or informally induced hypnosis. This kind of subliminal influence is what advertising agencies hire experts to do to help them make full use of it all the time. Also the writers of TV, radio commercials, newspaper ads and other commercial publications such as catalogs and magazines know at this time of year more than any other season you want to be generous and therefore you are more susceptible to the powers of suggestion. They know that an overloaded and stressed mind combined with the emotional need to fulfill everyone’s wishes along with the physical stress of trying to fit it all into your life makes you a prime target for their subliminal sales pitch.
Yes of course you want to get the advertised bargains, stretch your dollars and still check everything off on your gift shopping list. But do you want to be influenced by those clever people who know how to by-pass your conscious mind and direct their messages to your subconscious?
Certain kinds of subliminal advertising have been made illegal, even though people could be made to buy a soda and popcorn in the movies with this subversive type of encouragement, the statistics don’t generally favor the method, as I’ve already explained, especially where there are deeper more complex issues motivating behaviors. We are after all not simple-minded beings that operate like machines or without a “because” to everything we do.
This said, during holidays because we are inundated more than ever with images, sounds and other sensory data, and those internal messages to do this and/or that as well, we may be more vulnerable, therefore less able to discriminate between this and that. At a time when good judgment in decision-making it crucial, it is also harder because we are over loaded and even more stressed; therefore we need to be consciously aware of those things influencing us subconsciously. If the subliminal message is something that appeals to you on some level, it registers in your subconscious so you might find yourself drawn to it, and end up feeling the need to act on it. Desire often overrides common sense for many people anyway. That explains the debt and stress people have out themselves under. And your subconscious wants you to be happy, it wants to please you, therefore it is more susceptible to suggestions that your happiness depends on something in particular; i.e. a pair of expensive shoes, a purse or an extravagant gift to impress someone, or to reciprocate equally.
The messages are often hidden in music and in other store announcements so that you don’t register them consciously. In fact even though they may be audible to your conscious mind, you may not be attending to them. Your subconscious is though.
Here’s some ways to protect yourself.
One way is to be much more aware that these subliminal suggestions are being sent to your mind and brain. When you go into a store or read a magazine, watch TV, make a conscious choice what to pay attention to and decide right there and then what you will or will not do with that input.
Stay aware of the power of your conscious mind. Pay attention to your surroundings. Tune in consciously to the sounds and discriminate between those you wish to hear, and those you need to reject. Decide to tune out the wrong messages, those not only coming from your own mind but also from outside of yourself. Also be aware that what comes to consciousness is from your subconscious, and it’s your conscious mind’s job to decide whether or not to act on it. Your conscious mind always has the last word.
Everyone is talking to their subconscious all the time, (and it is always listening) not that people are aware of it, unless they have taken my Mind Mastery Course or read The Mind Is Willing. Unfortunately self talk is often not only negative; it is most often contrary to your best interests and most positive intentions. Make sure what you say to yourself is true to your best intentions.
It’s crucial for you to make deliberate conscious choices; be careful not to buy on impulse. Oh I know you think you always do. However, subliminal suggestion’s effectiveness thrives on the impulses that we as human beings always have to get instant gratification. Bring your conscious mind to attention when in stores and among groups.
People are always talking about the power fo the subconscious, and it is indeed awesome.
The power of your conscious mind to influence your subconscious is far greater than most people realize.
Learning how to consciously control what you think and do will have a tremendous positive impact on your subconscious mind and therefore your life! Listen to your thoughts. Cancel any thoughts that contradict your common sense, or go against your best laid out holiday plans and budget.
Just be aware that when you are shopping or planning your holiday events, your thinking, along with your conscious desires to conform to tradition, and your actions may be a product of subliminal ideation that have been planted from outside sources; learn to sort out your own ideas from those that are being imposed on you from others.
I trust that this message will be taken in consciously and subconsciously. That you will keep reminding your subconscious to help you do only what is right and best for you at all times.
Of course there is so much more for you to learn about the relationship between your conscious and subconscious, and about your wonderful subconscious mind, and how to get them working as a powerful team. Of course it takes more than my blog could possibly accommodate to teach you everything you need to know to have the kind of conscious control you need to work with your subconscious more effectively. After all my Mind Mastery is a four-week home study course, and my book, The Mind Is Willing is 400 pages of how to get your conscious and subconscious working as a powerful team. This blog content is created to help you be more aware of subliminal influences during a challenging time of the year, and how to limit their impact on your choices.
I wish you a safe and fulfilling holiday season and a healthy prosperous new year.
TTFN from Elaine