How to Influence the Subconscious and Build Positive Subconscious Beliefs?

How do we remove limiting subconscious beliefs and introduce new ones? We introduce new information to the subconscious — such as "I am capable". The subconscious is not wise and will not reject the new information; instead, it will allow it to enter and build a new subconscious belief based on it. Additionally, once we introduce new information that contradicts the existing information in the subconscious — such as information that asserts we are capable, contradicting the previous belief — the old information will be erased in a manner similar to 'burning' new information on an old disc. It will erase the previous subconscious belief of "I am not capable" and change it to the new belief "I am capable and will succeed."

But here we have something that hinders us — the conscious mind. The conscious mind is smart, logical, and disputes things that seem illogical. Once we have a subconscious belief of "I am not capable" and we try to introduce "I am capable", the conscious mind will review all the information stored in the subconscious to see if the new information is logical. If it determines that the belief "I am not capable" is present, it will not allow the belief "I am capable" to enter because it mistakenly thinks it's illogical. Therefore, to introduce new information into the subconscious that will facilitate a new positive subconscious belief and erase the old one, we must find a way to bypass the conscious mind and insert information directly into the subconscious.

To illustrate this — let us imagine the human brain as a pot. Inside the pot is the subconscious, but in the way of the subconscious, there's a lid, which is the conscious mind preventing us from introducing new things into the pot. When we want to insert a powerful belief into the subconscious, the conscious mind uses existing negative subconscious beliefs to contradict the new belief we attempt to insert. The conscious mind starts asking logical questions that contradict the new belief, such as: "How can there be change, after years of no change?", "It's not logical there will be a change, you've tried so many times and didn't succeed." Consequently, we cannot insert the belief in change into the subconscious because the lid (the back brain — the subconscious) is closed and doesn't allow new contents to be inserted into the pot (the forebrain — the conscious).

To instill the belief in change within the subconscious, we must remove the lid from the pot — shift the conscious mind that prevents new materials from entering the subconscious. We must dissolve the logical arguments that change is impossible and then introduce new positive beliefs into the subconscious. We need to bypass the conscious mind to insert things into the subconscious.

How is this done in practice?

There are many methods in emotional therapy, such as NLP — a wonderful method given to our generation by Hashem to help improve our lives, along with other methods that achieve this effectively and swiftly. Using these methods during therapy, with Hashem's help, we successfully bypass the 'guard' — the conscious mind that hinders the introduction of new materials into the subconscious. This way, the subconscious is reprogrammed with positive subconscious beliefs, erasing negative ones.

This can also be achieved through repetition of phrases, but it is a longer process requiring strong concentration and investment. It's not a short process, but when dealing with changes that aren't too complex and don't hinder our current living, or if someone is in therapy and wants to enhance the effect, practicing through repetition can be effective.

Repeating a Phrase Many Times — Penetrates the Subconscious and Changes Inner Beliefs

For the action of inserting belief into the subconscious while bypassing the conscious to be correctly executed, we must understand how the subconscious operates. We mentioned that the subconscious is called the dark side — the more instinctual part, as it operates less rationally and more spontaneously. The subconscious doesn't distinguish between reality and imagination or between truth and falsehood. Therefore, if we repeat a phrase of belief in change repeatedly, it will accept it as if the change indeed happened in reality, and it will build a new positive subconscious belief that believes in change.

Certainly, extensive and persistent repetition is needed for this to become a subconscious belief that dissolves previous erroneous beliefs, allowing the subconscious to believe in the change.

The Impact of Repetition

This practice of repeating a phrase that penetrates the unconscious part of a person is also seen in Halacha. In the Shulchan Aruch, it is stated that if a person recites "He makes the wind blow and the rain fall" in the Amidah prayer during the summer months instead of "He causes the dew to fall", they must repeat the prayer. What if a person prayed at the beginning of the summer and is unsure whether they changed to "He causes the dew to fall" or continued as usual in winter, "He makes the wind blow and the rain fall"? According to Halacha, if more than thirty days have passed where "He causes the dew to fall" has been recited three times a day — in Shacharit, Mincha, and Arvit — then that person has said "He causes the dew to fall" ninety times, and it is considered that they did not err and aren't required to repeat the prayer.

We learn from this that the human subconscious operates such that if a person repeats a phrase ninety times, something in their brain changes — the phrase becomes a part of them, part of their automatic response, and automatically, when they act without conscious intention, they will repeat the phrase they have learned.

Likewise, if we repeat a phrase of belief that Hashem can bring us salvation, or belief that we can make changes in our personality, in our traits, gradually this phrase will influence the subconscious to believe in the chances for salvation and change, and consequently, the change will occur.

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