Understanding the Subliminal Mind: Its Impact on Our Decisions

1. The subconscious mind is truly amazing. It processes far more information than our conscious mind, using shortcuts based on our background, cultural environment, and personal experiences to make instant decisions about everything around us.

2. The subconscious influences how we perceive everything in the world—people, objects, events, and more. For instance, we judge people by their facial appearance using pre-existing information in our minds or evaluate events based on past experiences. This allows us to make quick decisions without deep, analytical thinking.

3. The downside is that the subconscious often makes mistakes, arguably in most cases—especially when decisions require analytical thinking. It relies on instinct rather than analysis, often leading us to incorrect conclusions.

4. Marketers frequently exploit our subconscious. Messages hidden within all types of advertisements, even in company logos, are designed to activate our subconscious, guiding us toward decisions that ultimately benefit the business.

5. Many studies have examined the effects of the subconscious on our decisions, and even our experiences. Professor Dan Ariely conducted numerous studies, discovering, for instance, that when people were told a certain substance would help them in some way, they reacted more positively than those who were not informed about the substance’s effects—in various situations and types of events.

6. The subconscious influences our daily behavior. We react to events or situations based on our subconscious perceptions, which, as mentioned, are rooted in past events or experiences. Can we change our reactions to different situations? Absolutely. But how?

7. There is a myth that accessing the subconscious is only possible through hypnosis or similar methods. While hypnosis can indeed effect change in the subconscious, it is not necessary to engage in such practices to "touch" the subconscious. Just as marketers have figured out, anyone can use language, word rhythms, tone of voice, appearance, and so forth, to influence their own subconscious or that of others.

8. If we wish to make genuine changes within ourselves, part of the process involves working on the subconscious. During internal change, we try to understand—which experiences influence us, and what causes us to behave in certain ways? This understanding allows us to alter how we are affected by reality and how we respond to it.

9. Nevertheless, altering the subconscious is not enough to change reality. Working on the subconscious is important, but practical action is also essential—we must get used to behaving differently not only in potential.

10. Have you ever been deep in conversation or work, then suddenly you hear someone calling you from across the room, causing you to lift your head unexpectedly? These scenarios occur because our subconscious processes information from the environment, even when the conscious mind does not pick it up. We hear surrounding noises, but they are not consciously processed—unless something is detected that may be useful to us at that moment. Thus, information captured by the subconscious suddenly shifts to the conscious mind, and we realize someone is calling us, or simply mentioned our name.