By Ricky Parcell
This week’s title will doubtless remind some of you of the great Steve Martin movie from the 1980s. But the following column is actually about the conscious and unconscious mind and their effect our our physical and mental health.
At my regular day job in Ibiza at The Body Camp (thebodycamp.com) our guests spend the first few days unwinding from all the stresses of their lives, soaking up the Spanish sunshine (in moderation), eating live, healthy organic foods in an incredible setting and enjoying some fun exercise. We also spend a few hours daily talking and discussing the interesting subject of the conscious and unconscious mind…..the two brains.
What is the conscious mind?
Believe it nor not, the conscious mind only accounts for 5-10% of your daily thought process. The conscious mind is what we choose to focus on, in the moment (around 3-7 things for most people) such as thinking about someone or looking at something. It’s where our focus goes – when WE CHOOSE to use it.
But of course this begs the question…what about the other 90% of our thoughts. Just for a moment think of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. As anyone can tell you, what really did the damage was the 7/8th of the iceberg which lay under the surface….and so it is with us. 90% of our hidden, learned daily habits and behaviors come from the unconscious mind, which is not always a good thing.
To be fair, the unconscious is responsible vital behaviours like driving our hearts to beat 100,000 times a day, and ensuring we breathe over 20,000 times a day – and that’s just for starters! But the unconscious mind also consists of all our learned habits and behaviors from education, family, environment, learned experiences, trauma, etc…. and so it is very, very powerful.
Research suggests we have over 70,000 thoughts a day in this area of our minds….which is why the conscious mind can only focus on 3-7 things at once. The unconscious mind is an incredibly powerful part of our minds and is heavily involved in daily habits (which you sometimes don’t even think about) – such as brushing your teeth, driving and texting (some people!) dressing in a hurry perhaps, eating and drinking. If you can communicate to this part of the brain, you have a high chance of success in life. The most successful people in life are able to say something, act on it and just do it, but for many of us all the good intentions in the world are no match for the so-called ‘critical facility’.
Critical facility
If you believe you have no will power and you can’t stop smoking, eating chocolate, drinking etc…it could be because you have a critical facility. It’s a gap between our conscious and unconscious mind.
When the two are linked, they talk easily and communicate to each other. There is a direct and unencumbered link between desire and action. Therefore simple orders like “I am going to stop smoking” or “I am going to stop eating too much chocolate” (or any highly addictive substances) are followed, allowing both minds to work in harmony and make this a certainty. But people with a large critical facility – too many of us, sadly don’t process much (in terms of will power) and find it difficult to control the urge or impulses they sometimes feel in daily life.
The good news is that all behaviours are learned and reinforced over time, and bad behaviours can be unlearned the same way. The key is to improve your habits on a daily basis and clarify the communication between the two minds. We recommend practising mindfulness training, meditation, yoga, tai-chi, mindful eating and mindful walking. And of course, a weeklong retreat to the Body Camp wouldn’t hurt either!
Rick Parcell
Master Coach. www.thebodycamp.com
