The Power of Your Subconscious Mind - By Dr. Joseph Murphy

29 Aug 2021

Date Finished: 29th August 2021 How strongly I recommend it: 10/10

In my opinion, it’s the best book to start with understanding the powers of our subconscious mind. Dr. Joseph Murphy explains what our subconscious mind is and then goes on to share techniques on how to use it and manifest whatever we desire. Moreover, it helps us find our incorrect mental makeups and teaches us how to rectify them.

Details and review: Amazon Page

My Notes:

The treasure house is within you

It is not what we believe in that gets what we want. How our subconscious mind reacts to what we believe is what fulfills our prayers.

Belief = Mental Picture = Thought in mind

Therefore, what we think about gets manifested and not what we claim we want. So, we must think about what we want. This is important to highlight as it can be the case that the fear of not getting what we want can dominate our thoughts, and that is what gets manifested.

To get started it is important to realize that this ultimate superpower (power of subconscious mind) is already within us. We just need to learn to use it.

Whenever we face a problem or a lack/fear of something, our conscious mind goes in a state of panic and this induces negativity in the subconscious mind. Once the subconscious mind accepts that, it pushes us in a deeper state of fear and then our actions mess things up

Tip to address such a situation: Speak affirmatively, authoritatively and with conviction to yourself, your mind will be flooded with harmony and peace!

In general the solution is to work on the cause and not the conditions and circumstances. Our mind thinking negatively (trying to self-sabotage) is the cause. Change that and not the action that induces the fear. For eg. when you fear performing poorly because of stage fright, acting on the cause is to tell your mind “I’m going to rock it!” and acting on the circumstances can be run away on the last moment or even claim that “It just doesn’t fell right”.

Never finish a negative statement. Reverse it immediately and wonders will happen in your life!

Understanding how our mind works

Our conscious mind, being a rational part, has the ability to push information to our subconscious mind. So what we think about (with our conscious mind) habitually sinks down into our subconscious mind. Remember, that subconscious mind doesn’t think, select, reason, compare on its own, it excepts suggestions from outside. This is the reason why the conscious mind acts as a gatekeeper to any suggestion from outside for protecting the subconscious mind. Thus, nothing goes into a subconscious mind without approval of our conscious mind. This protection is important as the subconscious mind except whatever the suggestion (however right or wrong) and begins its efforts to make that the truth/reality.

Your subconscious mind doesn’t understand a joke. It takes you at your word.

Like auto suggestion, suggestions from others can also serve as a negative suggestion to your subconscious mind. Solution: use constructive autosuggestion to change such a negative suggestion.

If there is an intake, there must be an outgo. This is the law of nature we can observe in anything. Even our subconscious mind. It’s like a garden, as you so, so shall you reap. Any negativity you feed your subconscious mind (or mind in general) it will find an outlet. May be in the form of your destruction (of health, wealth, character). This negativity will breed tension, anxiety, diseases (ulcers, heart problems). So feed your mind with positive, good, life-giving, happy, harmonious thoughts and see your self rise to be the best you.

Mental Healings

The organ of healing is the subconscious mind, and the process of healing is faith.

Faith is believing that you will actually heal on whatever you want will surely come to you.

All disease originate in the mind. Nothing appears on the body unless there is a mental pattern corresponding to it.

It is important to understand the deeper meaning here. Our mind has the power to control all body functions. So if we think and except that it will affect us, it surely will. We can think of our mind as the volume button. Our mind has the ability to increase or decrease the effect of your thoughts. This is true not just for our health but anything we think about.

An important technique to make the subconscious mind work for what we want is to imagine the end desired and feel that it is real, that it has been fulfilled). Think about the events that will happen when we have achieved what we want. This is a way to convince our subconscious mind about what it has to manifest. This mental make up will force all the powers (our subconscious mind, our actions, how we interpret outcomes of different events) to be aligned with that goal.

Believe you have received, and you shall receive.

While praying/affirming/thinking, we must not introduce thoughts or words of the problem that we are/will be facing (or a disease). Let our prayer be free from negative things. By doing so, our focus will shift from the problem/disease to the outcome that we want. If we think about the disease (even if it’s to say that “I don’t want it”), because we are thinking about the disease, our subconscious mind will take the picture of disease and manifest it (and not staying away from it). So, keep the prayers and affirmations positive.

Techniques to impress on our subconscious mind

1. Get a clear idea of what you want, visualize it in your mind as clearly and vividly as possible. Feel it like it’s reality. Our mind doesn’t know the difference between a thought and reality.
2. Form a movie in your mind of the time when you have achieved the goal. Play this frequently in your mind.
3. Convey the idea and thought to your subconscious mind in a drowsy sleepy state.
4. Just before you sleep and just after you wake up, practice all/some of these techniques.
5. Practice gratitude and then affirmations. The practice of feeling grateful for what you have raises your vibration to a higher state, frees your mind, and so the affirmations/prayers work better.
6. Think of/say your affirmations as if you are already living it, i.e., it’s a reality (in present tense). That makes your subconscious feel that you already have it and it continues to be in that state. In other words, it begins to manifest it.
7. Spiritually reason out that the blockers to your success are nothing but your mind beliefs. Step-by-step remove that patterns and blueprints.
8. Think of what you want, think of this mighty universe/God - how powerful it is, how great healer and solver it is. This will lift our consciousness into a new spiritual dimension. Think that this mighty all-powerful universe is solving the problem for us and making us and our lives better.
9. The power of our affirmations is the amount of feeling we put in it and the faith we have for it.

Subconscious mind is Lifeward

Any of our desires, aspirations, and visions for the grander and nobler life are the creations of the subconscious mind. We might have felt that at times we are not able to rationally justify or prove our strongest beliefs/convictions. It is because these stem from our subconscious mind and not our conscious mind. In the same way, some of our best works and achievements are a result of our subconscious mind’s ability. Think of it to be a black-box, which can perform complex analysis and thinking very accurately, but we don’t know its inner workings (and how it actually arrives at the conclusion).

Why does fear, anxiety, negativity get induced in our mind? Our subconscious mind is like an intelligence of its own. But as discussed earlier, it has the conscious mind as a gatekeeper. This conscious mind, based on information from the five senses, can sway our beliefs and make us fearful (like fear of losing because of past experiences). If we are not careful, this is the only blueprint that our subconscious mind gets fed, and not having any choice, it excepts this blueprint. That is why we need deliberate efforts to keep the naturally lifeward and striving-for-better attitude of a subconscious mind intact (using techniques like affirmations and mental-movie).

As a normal conditioning, or subconscious mind wants harmony (harmonious input and output). If you feed it negativity (by extension, thoughts and experiences that break it’s harmony), it sticks with us in one form or another (diseases, stress, worry). It can also prove severely destructive and even fatal. As, darkness is destroyed with light, erase and replace negativity by positive thoughts, affirmations, and experiences.

Getting the results we want

Sometimes we find that our prayers are not answered or we get the opposite of what we wanted. There are two reasons for this: lack of confidence and too much effort.

Lack of confidence leads us to think of negative thoughts like “I don’t know what to do”, “Things are worse”, or “I see no way out”. One of the primary reasons for this is that we are thinking of the details about how we will get to our goal. Our subconscious mind as the ability to come up with innovative and better solutions to our problems. So we must not get stuck up in imagining the details and obstacles, and must trust our subconscious mind. Trust that there is a way out and we will get what we desire. For this, we must have a very clear idea of the end goal we want. Imagine with clarity and detail that what we want has already been accomplished and we are enjoying it (and not something that will unfold in the future).

Working harder does not lead to better results. Use no willpower. Instead, visualize the end and the state of freedom and produces.

You will find your intellect trying to get in the way, trying to find ways to solve the problem and impose those ways on your subconscious. Resist this.

Successful prayer requires 3 basic steps:

1. Acknowledge the problem & silently admit that it exists.
2. Turn the problem over to the subconscious mind which alone knows the most effective solution or way out (using imagination).
3. Rest with a deep sense of conviction that it is done.

Why we may get the opposite of what we pray for?

When our desires and imagination are in conflict, our imagination invariably gains the day.

Giving thought to the fear of failing leads us to imagining failure. And the more effort we put into conquering our imagination (positively) or suppressing it (negative thoughts), greater is the strength given to the dominant idea of failing.

And the thought “I will use my power to overcome my failure.” reinforces the thought of failure. Mental effort often leads to self-defeat, creating the opposite of what is desired. To focus on the need to exert willpower is to emphasize the condition of powerlessness.

If we are thinking something like “I try so hard, why don’t I get results?”, “I must force myself to pray harder”, “I must use all willpower I have”, then we are trying to hard. Exercising will power to force subconscious mind to except the idea is a recipe for failure. Moreover, there’s high chance, we’ll end up with the opposite. So, it’s better to adopt the effortless way discussed before (3 steps of successful prayer).

Using subconscious mind for wealth

We might believe that the only way to be wealthy is my doing very hard work. Yet, we find that this is not true for a lot of many people, some of whom we know personally. We can take help of our subconscious mind and use the effortless way to reach our financial goals and be wealthy.

Do the thing you love to do, and do it for the joy and thrill of it. Believe that you are worth receiving a very high pay or earning a lot of money.

For this, affirming “I am a millionaire.” is not the key. We must develop a wealth and prosperity mentality.

Building a wealth consciousness:

Repeat for five minutes to yourself three or four times a day - “WEALTH, SUCCESS”. These words have tremendous power. They represent the inner power of the subconscious mind.

Developing such an attitude will lead to conditions and circumstances that will manifested it for us. The best part: these words don’t create any conflict in mind.

Why affirmations for wealth fail?

One of the main reasons for this is that inside we feel that we are lying to ourselves. This happens because our conscious mind rejects these ideas. Our affirmations work best when they are specific and it does not produce a conflict. To solve this conflict:

1. Frequently say this affirmation (especially prior to sleep): “By day and night I am being transferred in all my interests”.
2. Don’t sign blank checks (as it gives a sense of lack in the present moment).
3. Think of thoughts about prosperity, success, wealth, and peace as often as possible. The subconscious mind follows the principle of compounding. It will multiply and magnify these constructive thoughts.

Second reason for this is neutralizing the information.

When you place a seed in the ground, you do not dig it up again later in the day. You let it take root and grow.

The same can be true for affirmations. If 10 minutes after the affirmation ritual we let fear and negativity induce in our mind, we are neutralizing the affirmation. Solution: just when we are about to say or think negatively, cut it midway and pray for your prosperity.

Don’t criticize/condemn/complain:

Ever being envious when something really good happens to someone else that even you want? It’s natural to feel that way but very important to overcome this emotion. We must say to ourselves, “Isn’t it wonderful! I rejoice in that man’s prosperity. I wish for him greater and greater wealth.” Wish well for everyone and not just superficially, but feel it. Even if we know or feel that the base of that person’s prosperity is dishonesty. It removes the blockers in our path to achieve prosperity.

The logic is simple. Entertaining negative thoughts puts us in a negative position and pushes prosperity away from us. Also, it removes conflicts in our mind and leads us to accept wealth and prosperity blueprint.

Sleep and grow rich:

Use “WEALTH” as a lullaby when you go to sleep. Wealth will flow to you in avalanches of abundance.

Money Blueprints

From a very young age, we have adapted some mental blueprints about the money, that we were given to us by our parents, family, teachers, friends, and in general, society. Many times these blueprints are destructive for our financial well-being. Some of the common blueprints are:

1. Money is the root of all evil.
2. Money is filthy lucre.
3. Desiring a lot of money is not a good thing.
4. Not having money is okay.
5. I don’t like money.
6. Having a lot of money makes one a crook.
7. Money robs us of peace, happiness, and harmony.

All these ways of thinking are disastrously wrong. We must rectify these blueprints, if we have any.

Don’t let anyone make you feel doubtful or ashamed of your desire to be rich. As it’s deep deepest level, it is a desire for a fuller, happier more wonderful life. It is a cosmic orange. It is not only good but very good.

If we find that we have some of the above blueprints, then there is surely some time or some aspect where we feel a financial lack. The reason for this is our criticism for money. What we criticize, moves away from us. Thus, the solution for this is to appreciate money that’s ours and even if it’s others.

Don’t neglect that money is necessary. All our needs are fulfilled by money. Giving our children the best of education, the home that we live in, buying the food we need, all costs money. So we must acknowledge that money is good. Having more money doesn’t rob us of peace and harmony. Striving to lead a balanced life will yield health, wealth, happiness, and peace in abundance and all at the same time.

To develop the right attitude towards money, affirm this several times a day:

I like money. I love it I use it wisely, constructively, and judiciously. Money is constantly circulating in my life. I release it with joy, and it returns to me multiplied in wonderful ways. It is good and very good. Money flows to me in avalanches of abundance. I use it for good only and I am grateful for my good and for the riches in my mind.

Wrong blueprints have the potential to destruct us in ways we might not even realize. Say we work at a large corporation and we feel that we are underpaid. Having wrong blueprints puts us in opposition to our employer. One thing leads to another, it starts affecting our quality and sooner or later, a supervisor files us. So the problem here is our mental make up and not the employer. This is law of action and reaction: action is a thought and reaction is the response of subconscious mind.

“Infinite intelligence governs and watches over all my financial transactions. Whatsoever I do shall prosper.”

Subconscious mind and sleep

Sleep is the best tool to get results from our subconscious mind. Even while we sleep, our subconscious mind keeps working. Thus, when we are facing a problem/dilemma, we must affirm that our subconscious mind will solve the problem using its infinite intelligence. We can give it to our subconscious mind just before we sleep. We will get the solution in our sleep for sure (in the form of a dream). This technique has been used even by scientists from all fields (some as famous as Nikola Tesla).

It can be the case that we did not get the answer overnight. Don’t lose hope, try again the next night, keep at it till it doesn’t happen. There is no way our subconscious mind doesn’t unfold it for us.

Attracting happiness

Happiness is a state of mind. And contrary to the popular belief that many people hold, we have the freedom to choose to be happy. True and lasting happiness will come in our life when we realize that we (and our subconscious mind) are capable of overcoming any problem, heal the body, and prosper beyond our fondest dreams.

_I am a spiritual and mental magnet attracting to myself all things that bless and prosper me. _

To be happy, it is important to desire to be happy. This might seem seem absurd at first, as who doesn’t want to be happy. But there are people who are so used to not being happy that when a happy event happens to them, they feel like stepping out of comfort zone and want to go back to being not happy. It’s not that one chooses this knowingly. They entertain ideas like:

• Today is a black day; everything is going wrong.
• Everyone is against me.
• He can, but I can’t.

We must look for such patterns in ourselves, and if we relate to these, we must put an end to it immediately.

Another general believe that most of us hold is that external factors, events, and influences give us happiness (getting $1 million, buying a new home, etc). We must realize that happiness is a mental and spiritual state. It is our mind that has the ability to evoke the feeling of happiness. Thus, the blockers to our happiness are our own thoughts and mental beliefs.

Affirmation for happiness: When you open your eyes in the morning, say to yourself, “I choose happiness today. I choose success today. I choose right actions today. I choose love and goodwill for all today. I chose peace today.” Pour life, love, and interest into this affirmation, and you will have chosen happiness.

Subconscious mind and harmonious human relations

We all have a heard of the saying, “Whatever we give out, comes back to us”. This is true even for our subconscious mind and the world. Thinking of giving out negativity, anger, hatred, judgments will one way or another come back to us. So even if the other person does that, we must refrain from that. We must keep our minds free of such thoughts. As many times, it might be the case that the anger in our mind causes the situation to be such for us.

If we go a level deeper, will realize that what someone else says or does to us cannot irritate/disturb us unless we allow it to disturb our mind. And whenever we face an issue that can rob us of our peace of mind, it’s better to stay away from it even if it’s to respond.

Sometimes we might be taken advantage of when the other person resorts to emotional blackmails like crying jags, temper tantrums, etc. Remember, appeasement never wins. Be firm but kind, and refused to yield.

Forgiveness

Unknowingly, we might be carrying a lot of unnecessary guilt. It could be in the form of a past incident of which we were the victim or the one who did it. It is important that we learn whatever it is that the incident has to teach. But, carrying it forward can be destructive for us. To come out of it, it’s important to forgive ourselves and rewire our brains with appropriate blueprints using gratitude and affirmations.

If we want true mental peace and radiant health, we must forgive others. Forgiving others does not mean we start liking them or talking to them if we don’t want to. It just means wishing good for them. It might not be easy at first, but practice can help. Whenever the unpleasant incident comes in our mind stop in there and say that you forgive them and which good for them.

Acid test for forgiveness: If you remember the pain but it doesn’t hurt now, you have forgiven that person.

Think of it this way, a dental treatment done last year caused a lot of pain; you remember it but it doesn’t pain today.

Removing mental blocks

The only thing stopping us from getting what we want or breaking a bad habit/pattern is the mental block we have in our minds. It might not be visible to us but in most situations, it’s the cause. Fear, anxiety, guilt pushes us towards building bad habits (like excessive drinking), and habits such as these in turn increase the fear, guilt.

Solution: Visualize you’ve broken free of these habits and everything is perfect. Whenever a negative thought appears in your mind (like the urge of drinking), change your mental talk and think of the happy outcome that stopping drinking will produce.

Vanquishing fear

Fear is nothing but just a thought in mind. It’s okay to have normal fears (like quickly moving aside when a fast car passes by), but other than a handful of such normal fears, all are abnormal fears (like fear of public speaking).

Abnormal fears are just a creation of a mind. There is no monster behind the door. The most effective way to tackle fear is attacking it head on.

“Do the thing you are afraid to do, and the death of fear is certain.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This advice might seem banal but it’s the reality. When we tackle it upfront we are sure to realize that all the fear has no truth and reality.

Staying young in spirit forever

Age is just a number. The society has made us believe that old age means the beginning of the end. This is the worst believe one can accept an imprint on their subconscious mind. In fact 65 is the age after which one has the most to offer. Indeed it’s true that one needs to be young at heart. That is why we find some people who are 80 years young and 30 years old.

Some of the greatest people in the past have done their best works in the world near and after 80 years in age, like Michelangelo, Socrates, Newton, and many more. With age we can keep our minds more active if you truly desire and believe it.

Thus, age is just a number.

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