The Power of our Subconscious Mind in the Learning Processes

The subconscious mind is incredibly powerful and plays a significant role in all aspects of our lives, including learning. It is a part of our mind that operates below the level of conscious awareness. It functions like a vast, automatic system that influences our thoughts, behaviours, and perceptions without us being consciously aware of it. The subconscious mind controls and regulates automatic bodily functions, such as breathing, and stores all our memories, experiences, beliefs, and skills. It can process vast amounts of information simultaneously without us even being aware of it, whereas our conscious mind can only focus on a few things at once. Unlike the conscious mind, which is logical and analytical, the subconscious mind is more intuitive and emotional. It doesn’t analyse information in the same way, but rather responds based on ingrained patterns and associations.

So how does our subconscious mind impact our learning? Well, when you use techniques and processes that align with your unconscious mind, learning becomes faster, easier, and results in longer-lasting memory retention. Our unconscious mind provides us with the capacity to learn new things, freeing up space in our conscious mind. When we learn something new, it’s often our subconscious that helps us store and retrieve that information effectively. It recognises patterns and associations quickly, aiding the learning process. For example, when learning a new language, the subconscious picks up on grammar rules, vocabulary, and pronunciation patterns even if we aren’t consciously aware of them. As we practice and repeat the new language we are transferring what we’re learning from the conscious to the subconscious which makes the new language become automatic.

Our emotions, motivation and mindset can significantly affect how well we learn and our subconscious mind heavily influences our emotions and how we feel. Positive emotions like curiosity and excitement can enhance learning, while negative emotions, such as fear and anxiety, can hinder it. Unconscious biases and emotional triggers, which are based on past experiences or learned patterns, can happen without our conscious awareness and influence how we approach learning.  They can lead to scepticism about the value of training, and can hinder engagement and effort in future training sessions, as the unconscious mind might question whether training is worth the investment of time and energy. For example, if we’ve had a bad experience in a training session many years ago, which has knocked our confidence and self-belief, our unconscious mind can form a negative association with that experience and future training. This can lead to a reluctance or anxiety about engaging in future training sessions, or cause us to doubt our competence, giving us a fear of failure due to this ingrained association.

Practical Applications for Learning:

1. Visualisation and Affirmation – using visualisation and positive affirmations can help program the subconscious mind to believe in our ability to learn and succeed.
2. Sleep and Rest – ensuring adequate sleep helps the subconscious process and consolidate learning, leading to better retention and understanding.
3. Practise Mindfulness and Meditation – practices like meditation can help us become more attuned to our subconscious, enhancing our learning and problem-solving abilities by calming the mind and increasing focus.
4. Develop Emotional intelligence – emotional intelligence is closely linked to the unconscious mind, as both play significant roles in how we manage and understand emotions, and how these emotional processes influence our behaviour and how well we learn. Developing emotional intelligence means we are aware of and understand our emotions and are able to manage our unconscious emotional triggers. In doing this we can respond more thoughtfully, rather than react impulsively.

The subconscious mind is a powerful ally in learning, working in the background to process information, form habits, and influence our behaviour and decision-making. By understanding and harnessing its power, we can optimise our learning experiences and outcomes. By understanding our unconscious mind we can also reprogram it, aiming to change deeply ingrained behaviours, beliefs, or emotional responses using techniques as described above.

In summary, the subconscious mind is the hidden, powerful part of our mental life that manages a vast range of functions and influences how we think, feel, and behave, often without our conscious awareness. Its influence is profound, shaping much of who we are and how we experience the world.

Author: Carolyn Lewis

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Sources:
https://studentsuccesstutor.com/unconscious-mind-learning-student-success-study-skills/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2020/08/03/how-your-subconscious-mind-is-running-your-life-and-how-to-fix-it/