Understanding the conscious and subconscious mind is the key to real transformation.
We are often told to be mentally strong, have the willpower and the grit to make a decision and stick to it.
So we make plans to lose weight, eat better, exercise more, make more money, go for that position at work, be more loving towards the people in our lives, set boundaries, learn French, wake up early, or just be more confident.
We make plans, map out the steps we will take to reach our goals, buy supplements and protein powder, the best set to exercise in, only to find them months later at the back of the kitchen pantry, and that shiny workout set hanging in our closet with tags still on.
Why do our best laid plans fizz out like this?
Our best intentions fall short, and we feel betrayed by ourselves.
Yet again, losing confidence instead of gaining it, stuck in a pattern. All that planning only to find ourselves back at the starting point, even more discouraged.
What if the answer to your predicament is not that simple because you are using your mind to control your mind?
But the good news is that there is a way out of this pattern, this vicious cycle of hoping-trying-being disappointed. You don’t need to crash and burn every time you want to feel better about yourself.
If you could relate to this, you have already taken the first step towards being your authentic self. Awarness is the first step. Once you are aware of your patterns, you can absolutely shift them because when you observe something, it changes according to your expectations. It is not woo woo, it is your superpower.
We are a culture where emotional education is withheld from us; we are taught in school all kinds of sciences, but astonishingly, we are not taught how to understand ourselves, our thoughts and emotions.
Apart from a few biology classes on brain structure, the most crucial aspect of our minds is kept out of textbooks.
Emotional regulation through understanding our emotions, our triggers and how environments shape us, humans, is an elusive subject. We are taught to give our agency to people and things outside us.
But no more. To start the journey on the path to self, let’s begin by understanding our minds and how we can use them to create lives uniquely attuned to our authentic nature.
While the conscious mind handles logic, planning, and decision-making, it only accounts for about 5% of your daily activity.
The subconscious mind, on the other hand, generates nearly 95% of your daily thoughts, emotions, and actions, including the childhood beliefs that continue to shape your reality today.
When limiting beliefs are stored in the subconscious, they create patterns that hold you back.
The good news is that, with awareness and tools such as subconscious reprogramming through Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), these beliefs can be changed, allowing you to step into confidence, self-love, and freedom.
As Dr. Joe Dispenza says, we think around 60,000 to 90,000 thoughts a day, and about 90% of them are the same ones we thought the day before.
No wonder life can feel like it’s on repeat. We step out of that stuckness the moment we start noticing our thoughts, the little stories we tell ourselves every day.
That awareness is where change begins, because once we see the pattern, we can choose something new.
Table of Contents
- What is the Conscious Mind?
- What is the Subconscious Mind?
- Why the Subconscious Runs Most of Your Life
- How Beliefs Are Formed in Childhood
- The Rule of the Mind: Conflicting Beliefs Cannot Coexist
- How the Conscious and Subconscious Work Together
- Why This Knowledge Matters
- From Knowing to Transforming
- FAQ
- Ready to Take the Next Step?
- References
What is the Conscious Mind?
Your conscious mind is the part of you that thinks, plans, and analyzes. It’s like the captain of your ship, steering with logic and willpower. Its main features include:
- Filtering and questioning information.
- Handling short-term memory and decision-making.
- Processing only about 5% of your daily activity.
For example, when you decide what to cook for dinner, compare prices in a store, or plan your weekend schedule — that’s your conscious mind at work. It’s deliberate and logical, but limited compared to the vast storage and power of your subconscious.
What is the Subconscious Mind?
Your subconscious mind is vast and powerful — the engine room of your ship. Unlike the conscious mind, it:
- Stores long-term memories, habits, emotions, and identity.
- Takes everything at face value — it does not analyze or filter.
- Learns through repetition and emotional intensity.
- Runs about 95% of your daily actions automatically.
Psychological research suggests that up to 95% of our daily behaviour is automatic and subconscious (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999). This means that much of what we do is governed by programs installed long ago — often in childhood.
Your subconscious mind never sleeps. It controls all your vital processes and knows the answers to all your problems.
Why the Subconscious Runs Most of Your Life
Think of the subconscious as an automatic pilot.
From learning how to tie your shoelaces as a child to reacting in relationships, it records patterns and plays them back — whether they serve you or not.
That’s why affirmations like “I am confident” don’t always work if the subconscious is still running the opposite program.
The subconscious always wins until reprogrammed.
How Beliefs Are Formed in Childhood
Most of your deepest beliefs are created before the age of 10, when the subconscious is wide open.
- 0–7 years old → Children live mainly in theta brainwaves, a natural hypnotic state. They absorb experiences at a feeling level without questioning (Llinás & Ribary, 1993).
- 7–10 years old → Beliefs solidify through repeated experiences, words, and emotions. Identity and “rules about life” begin forming.
- After 10 years old → The conscious, logical mind strengthens, but by then the subconscious blueprint is already in place (Siegel, 2012).
This explains why cultural or family conditioning runs so deep — we didn’t reason with it, we felt it and absorbed it.
The Rule of the Mind: Conflicting Beliefs Cannot Coexist
Here’s a golden Rule of the Mind: your mind cannot hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time. The stronger, more familiar belief always takes control.
If your conscious mind says, “I want to be calm,” but your subconscious believes, “Stress keeps me safe”, your subconscious wins.
This explains why change feels hard until you align both minds.
How the Conscious and Subconscious Work Together
Your conscious mind sets the goals: “I want to eat healthy, I want to speak with confidence.”
Your subconscious checks its old programs: “But eating sweets made me feel comforted as a child,” or “Speaking up once led to rejection.”
Result?
You sabotage your best intentions.
This is why so many intelligent, hardworking women especially in cultures where people-pleasing was expected — feel blocked even when they know better.
Carl Jung once said “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate”
Why This Knowledge Matters
When you understand your conscious and subconscious mind, you stop blaming yourself for “lack of discipline.” You begin to see that:
- Old beliefs installed in childhood are still running today.
- Your subconscious isn’t against you; it’s trying to protect you.
- Real change begins with awareness, followed by reprogramming.
This knowledge is especially empowering for women raised in traditional households, where old cultural scripts often shape beliefs about worth, voice, and freedom.
From Knowing to Transforming
Awareness is step one. Transformation happens when you practice new ways of thinking and being. That’s where tools like Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT®) come in. By combining hypnosis and belief work, RTT helps you gently and effectively reprogram old subconscious patterns.
If you are ready to break out of your habitual thoughts, I created this audio for you to listen to as many times as you like today. But listening once before bed is also enough. When you are going to sleep or waking up, it is the perfect time to let these positive messages into your subconscious mind and reprogram it with ease to choose better-feeling thoughts throughout the day.
This self-hypnosis will guide you to relax from head to toe and reconnect with your body in a simple yet powerful way, helping to calm overthinking and stress.
👉 Listen to the 10-Minute Relaxation Audio
This is the easiest way to begin experiencing the difference between living in your head and living grounded in your body.
FAQ
What is the difference between the conscious and subconscious mind?
Your conscious mind is logical and analytical, while your subconscious is emotional, automatic, and runs most of your daily life.
Why does my subconscious control me?
Because it takes everything at face value, it repeats what is familiar. Unless you update it, old beliefs keep running.
Can I change my subconscious beliefs?
Yes. Through methods like hypnosis, RTT, and consistent repetition in relaxed states, you can gently install new, empowering beliefs.
Why do affirmations sometimes fail?
Because the subconscious accepts the stronger belief. Without emotional connection or repetition, new affirmations don’t stick.
It’s Time to Take the Next Step?
If you’re ready to align your conscious and subconscious mind, RTT can help you uncover root beliefs and install empowering new ones.
References
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Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The Unbearable Automaticity of Being. American Psychologist, 54(7), 462–479.
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Llinás, R., & Ribary, U. (1993). Coherent 40-Hz oscillation characterizes dream state in humans. PNAS, 90(5), 2078–2081.
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Siegel, D. J. (2012). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press.
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Montgomery, G. H., Schnur, J. B., & David, D. (2011). The impact of hypnosis on clinical care: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 59(3), 284–299.
