Theory of Mind in regards to Hypnosis

The conscious part of the mind is only about 12% of the mind. The Conscious Mind is there will-power, reasoning, logic, and decision making take place.

The other 88% of mind is the subconscious part of the mind. The Subconscious Mind regulates involuntary functions of the body, like your heart beat, breathing, etc. It also stores memories and life experiences. The Subconscious Mind is also the seat of emotions and responds to thoughts with emotions.

It is also the seat of imagination. In fact, the imagination is the language of the subconscious.

The Subconscious mind is not logical. It just accepts everything as true. As small children, we operate in the subconscious which is why kids can believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

At about the age of 7 or 8 we develop the Critical Area of Mind (filter). This is when kids start questioning….let’s take the Santa Claus example…they start questioning how one person can go to everyone’s house in the whole world in one night, etc.

When we are born we only have two fears….the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Everything else we learn by association and identification. If we have a friendly loving dog, then we know that dogs are friendly and lovable…..stored as a positive known (+). If we get bit by a dog, then we know that dogs are mean…stored as a negative known (-)

Let’s take the example of emotional eating. As children we have experiences of parties and holidays with lots of food. These events are typically fun and filled with loving people. We store a known, in our Subconscious, that food = love. When we get stressed, or lonely, our automatic response is to eat in a subconscious attempt to feel love.

The Critical Area of Mind acts like a filter. We get bombarded with message units continually (the arrows)

Message units enter our minds from the environment, our bodies, conscious mind and our subconscious minds.  We get as many as 10,000 message units from each source every day.  Message units enter the conscious mind continuously.  Then they drop down through the filter of the Critical Area of Mind.  If the messages are accepted, they drop down and reinforce a known.  If they are not, they are vented out.  The critical area does not accept an unknown because it could be a pain.  It will always go for a known, even if it is not pleasurable. The mind always tries to keep the script the same. If willpower is trying to rule it will eventually lose because we have 12% of our minds fighting the other 88% of our minds.

In hypnosis, we open the filter, so we can put in suggestion (messages) that will change the knowns.  Instead of food=love, we can change it to food=fuel and love=affection so we can cut down food without feeling deprived.