BL: Sure. The principle source of stress signals is the system’s central voice, the mind. The mind is like the driver of a vehicle.
If we employ good driving skills in managing our behaviors and dealing with our emotions, then we should anticipate a long, happy and productive life. In contrast, ineffective behaviors and dysfunctional emotional management, like a bad driver, stress the cellular vehicle, interfering with its performance and provoking a breakdown.
Stress information can come to the cell from the two separate minds that create the body’s controlling central voice.
The (self-) conscious mind is the thinking you; it is the creative mind that expresses free will. It’s the equivalent of a 40-bit processor in that it can handle the input from about 40 nerves per second. In contrast, the subconscious mind is a super computer loaded with a database of pre-programmed behaviors. It is a powerful 40-million-bit processor, interpreting and responding to over 40 million nerve impulses every second. Some programs are derived from genetics: these are our instincts. However, the vast majority of the subconscious programs are acquired through our developmental learning experiences.
The subconscious mind is not a seat of reasoning or creative consciousness, it is strictly a stimulus-response “play-back” device. When an environmental signal is perceived, the subconscious mind reflexively activates a previously-stored behavioral response — no thinking required!
The insidious part of the autopilot mechanism is that subconscious behaviors are programmed to engage without the control of, or the observation by, the conscious self. Neuroscientists have revealed that 95%-99% of our behavior is under the control of the subconscious mind. Consequently, we rarely observe these behaviors or much less know that they are even engaged.
While your conscious mind perceives that you are a good driver, it is the unconscious mind that has its hands on the wheel most of the time. And the unconscious mind may be driving you down the road to ruin.
We have been led to believe that by using willpower, we can override the negative programs of our subconscious mind. Unfortunately, to do that, one must keep a constant vigil on one’s own behavior.
There is no observing entity in the subconscious mind reviewing the behavioral tapes. The subconscious is strictly a record-playback machine. Consequently, there is no discernment as to whether a subconscious behavioral program is good or bad, it is just a tape. The moment you lapse in consciousness, the subconscious mind will automatically engage and play its previously-recorded, experience-based programs.
MAB: How did we get our subconscious programming in the first place?
BL: The prenatal and neonatal brain operates predominantly in delta and theta EEG frequencies through the first six years of our lives. This low level of brain activity is referred to as the hypnagogic state.
While in this hypnotic trance, a child does not have to be actively coached into specific behaviors. She obtains her behavioral programming simply by observing parents, siblings, peers and teachers.
In addition, a child’s subconscious mind also downloads beliefs relating to self. When a parent or teacher tells a young child he is sickly, stupid, bad or undeserving, this too is downloaded as a fact into the youngster’s subconscious mind. These acquired beliefs constitute the central voice that controls the fate of the body’s cellular community.
MAB: That’s pretty sobering! It seems to me that our subconscious mind is like a chunk of green kryptonite from Superman’s home planet, the one thing that could strip him of his superpowers. The kryptonite is analogous to the rocky foundations of childhood. As you indicated earlier, the subconscious isn’t evil by nature — and neither is the kryptonite. Yet it’s through these avenues that the programming of our childhood come back to plague us as adults, and — from what you are saying — rob us of our own superpowers! Many people feel so stuck, ineffective and victimized, in spite of the fact that their conscious intentions are focused upon success. So we come to the ultimate question, how can the subconscious mind be reprogrammed?
BL: To change a behavioral tape, you have to push the record button and then re-record the program incorporating the desired changes. There are several ways to do this with the subconscious mind.
First, we can become more self-conscious, and rely less on automated subconscious programs. By being fully conscious, we become the masters of our fates rather than the victims of our programs. This path is similar to Buddhist mindfulness.
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