UNEXPECTEDLY I FEEL BLUE – THE POWER OF UNCONSCIOUS MIND

(versión española: "De repente me siento triste. El poder de la mente inconsciente")

Unexpectedly I feel blue. It hits me without prior notice. I just came into the elevator of this old fashioned hotel in Madrid and a painful feeling of missing my father captures me.  When I was a child he brought us to Madrid for a week off school to have the chance to visit the city. That was a memorable experience.

Something connected these two moments somewhere in my brain and triggered this recalling of Dad, who trespassed a few years ago. My father was honest man, with lots of  humane values.  Though apparently a serious and distant man (he was a respected lawyer), he was a child in his heart, with an immense need to be loved and respected. When I remember him I do feel he is still alive in the heart of those who loved him and who were loved by him.

It is surprising to observe how the mind works. How apparently trivial situations connect with a gush of content (information, emotions, values) that lies inside of us. And this comes out unexpectedly, with a high capacity to alter, move or motivate us, altering our present reality (which is the only reality existing).

It is amazing to see how many things we keep inside of us. In fact, our system (body & mind) registers and keeps information about all the experiences that we have along all our life; and do it regardless of us being conscious or not about that information or experience. Neurobiologists seem to agree in the fact that our unconscious mind registers our life experience constantly in huge amounts of information much bigger than our conscious mind can notice. And this information is stored in our cells (body & mind) and constantly processed and used by our internal mechanisms in an unconscious manner. Scientists like Dr. Joe Dispenza remind us that our mind is 5% conscious and 95% unconscious, as the biggest part is like hidden  “programs” that run inside of us. Other scientists have researched and described biological mechanisms that explain some relevant aspects of this, like the Somatic Marker of Damasio. He describes how all decisions are marked by non conscious emotions before they reach the frontal lobe of the brain and become a conscious thought. Following this, we can say that even our conscious thoughts are tinted unconsciously.

The fact is that the unconscious mind reaches far beyond what our memory of conscious mind can reach, both in terms of content  (explained before) and in many more aspects as, for instance, in terms of age. We know that we can not consciously recall mostly nothing before the 3 years of age, but all those experiences, even before birth, are registered in our unconscious mind and, thus, they also affect our present life and decisions.

In general terms, we tend to ignore the power of the unconscious mind. It is like we deny its existence because we can not think consciously about it. We are not aware that we are ruled (or at highly affected) by the unconscious in the vast majority of our experiences and decisions. The unconscious is like the rehearsal aide that, unnoticed, whispers us what to do at each scene of our life. It is also a place where we find explanations, conflict resolution, pain relief and even healing. But, above all, it is a rich source of personal resources, motivation and wellbeing that remains mostly unused.

In the field of leadership management and organizational change there is a huge opportunity for experience and development. Bur as far as the business world and leadership management keeps attached mainly to the rational conscious world, all this value and opportunities will remain unexploited. Luckily, there are more than a few conscious leaders that have understood the full potential of the mind and apply it with good success!!!