The Mind / Part II: The Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind runs about 90% of our lives. It has to do with the common, everyday things that we do such as turning the key the correct way to unlock our door. We don’t “think” or have to make a decision about whether to turn to the left or to the right every time we unlock a door. It’s done “automatically” without conscious thought. And what a great benefit that is to us. Just imagine if we had to make a decision or choose an option every time we reached for our toothbrush, tied our shoes, or started our car.

We lump all of these kinds of decisions into something called “habits.” I have just gotten up in the morning and I’m not operating very efficiently. I go to the bathroom sink and I turn the knob to the left of the faucet counter-clockwise and wait for the water to warm up. I pick the soap up from the soap dish which is in its usual place to the right of the sink. I turn the cold water knob counterclockwise and adjust the two knobs so that I get the temperature I want for washing my face. I pick up my washcloth from the rack - And, thankfully, I have not had to make a single decision.

Now how would it be if I had to use my conscious mind - to make these kinds of decisions on every occurrence. I’m still half asleep and I’m standing at my bathroom sink. Now, which knob is for the hot water? Oh, yes, it’s the one with the “H” on it. And, now, which way do I turn it? I simply turn to the left and it works. When I was visiting in England, sometimes I had to try different things until I got the desired effect. This is called trial and error and is very hard, wasteful, and sometimes painful.

I was looking for a sports’ example to give here and it occurred to me that almost everything we do in sports eventually ends up being done in the “automatic” mode. We build common moves into habitual behavior - no “thinking” needed or wanted. When we have a new situation, we incorporate it into the known action until it becomes habitual.

O. K., here is a simple example:

You bought a new putter - you love the feeling of the different shaft except that your puts go 2% farther than they did with your old putter. So you inform your conscious mind that it has to tell you to hit it that much softer. After enough successful attempts on the putting green, you don’t have to be reminded of it any more – it is now “My putting stroke”.