Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-7939-6

 

Introduction

This book is a fascinating read and provides much information on how our minds, both conscious and subconscious, interact, work, and affect our physical health, mental health, welfare, success in life, and how we can influence, not just our own lives, but that of others.  There are many practical actions, and many examples of affirmations put forward that we can use ourselves.  Much of what Dr. Murphy speaks of covers the operation of our physical minds and bodies.  However, he goes much further in explaining how our subconscious minds can also help us to develop and grow spiritually.

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Dr. Murphy was born in the nineteenth century, and this book was first published in 1963.  He was certainly ahead of his time in terms of recognising the subconscious mind, but also in determining how it works and can be used in our own development.  Much work and research still need to be done for us to fully understand the subconscious mind if, in fact, we as humans can ever fully understand it.  It says much about Dr. Murphy’s writing that he is still held in such high esteem over sixty years after this book was published.

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What is the Subconscious Mind?

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What is our subconscious mind?  It is very clear what our conscious mind is.  It is the mind that we are aware of and is active while we are awake.  However, our subconscious mind never rests.  Amongst other things, it controls all the vital processes and functions of our bodies - it keeps our heart beating, and our lungs breathing, so it is essential to our staying alive.  But our subconscious minds do so much more.  What else?  The fundamental and simple message of this book is that “as a person thinks in his/her subconscious mind, so he/she is”.  But what does a person think in their subconscious mind?  Dr. Murphy consistently throughout the book explains how our conscious thoughts and attitudes, along with our behaviours and experiences, feed our subconscious minds.  If we have the same thoughts and attitudes over time, these will become lodged in our subconscious and will affect our health, our conscious thoughts and actions, our interactions with others, others perception of us – in fact all aspects of our lives, and even the lives of others.  So much of the book covers how we need to concentrate on positive conscious thoughts, and affirmations or prayers, in order to feed and energise our subconscious minds.

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On page 1 of the book, Dr. Murphy says, “There is a storehouse within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly.”  That storehouse is the subconscious mind.  That is what the book attempts to show us - how to extract those virtues from our subconscious minds.  As a gardener myself I liked the analogy of “as you sow in your subconscious mind, so shall you reap in your body and environment.”

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Dr. Murphy explains how our subconscious minds frame our view of the world.  For example, if we are full of anger and that is what our subconscious mind is resonating or presenting to us then we will subconsciously go through our days finding more things about which to be angry.  We will not see positive situations.  We will not even be aware of them when they occur.

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Using the Subconscious Mind to help ourselves

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In essence, what Dr. Murphy is saying is that, at all times, our subconscious mind is working and steering us through our daily activities.  It is like a fuel that is driving us but is also a fuel that is feeding us, and like anything that feeds us can have a positive or negative effect on our well-being.  However, as mentioned earlier, what our subconscious feeds us is determined by what is stored in our subconscious.  All of our thoughts, attitudes, behaviours, actions, and experiences, provide input for our subconscious.  If we believe and accept that, then it is truly empowering for each of us as we can influence and choose what we feed and present to our subconscious.  We can choose positivity or negativity.  Life and the world will provide much negativity, but we can be proactive and provide positivity.  That empowers us.

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I accept that there are people in the world who are not is a position to choose what they feed to their subconscious minds.  Those living in extreme poverty, war or famine situations, abusive relationships and so on may not be able to do so.  However, for many of us we can do so.  So, what can we do?

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In a world full of bad news, social media that presents so much negativity to us, and much conversation in our own lives that is negative, we must be proactive to balance that with positivity.  While we cannot, and should not, shut ourselves away from the real world, or we should not ignore the terrible tragedies across the globe, we should look after our own well-being.  In terms of our use of social media, we need to be careful.  All the negativity that we read about is providing fuel for our subconscious.  Remember that many social media providers and contributors are not interested in informing us but rather want to be controversial so as to get more “clicks” and therefore more revenue.  A constant stream of negativity affects us physically, mentally, and spiritually.  It affects us subconsciously over time, without us even being aware of it.  We should proactively find positive stories to balance the negativity.  In our own lives, we can follow the *Ikigai principle, of finding the extraordinary in our daily lives – in the ordinary.  We could keep a **Gratitude Diary.  Both of these practices enable us, encourage us, even force us to find positivity in our lives.  In conversation with family and friends, we should try to ensure that there is some balance and that we are not being permanently negative.  Also be ***positive and choose happiness and positive emotions in our daily lives.

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How our Subconscious Minds impact on others

Dr. Murphy explains how physically, or neurologically, we operate at an energy level.  This energy is working within us, and is fuelled by our subconscious mind, but is also something that we resonate or present to the outside world.  Dr. Murphy would say that we interact with others directly through speech, touch, and so on, but also indirectly subconsciously.  How does this manifest itself?

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There are people, probably who we all know, who when they enter a room or when we are in their presence, exude a sense of calm, or a sense of positivity or grace or power.  However, there are others who exude a sense of negativity, or anger, or other negative emotion.  We can feel such emotions just being in their presence.  Dr. Murphy says that it is, in effect, communication taking place at a subconscious level between that individual and ourselves.  So, the aura or presence that is felt by others when we meet them is majorly impacted by whatever our subconscious is presenting to the world.  Therefore, that is another reason for us to feed our subconscious with positivity so that we present a positive image to the world.  As mentioned in my post **** "Mother Nature - Summer in the Vegetable Garden", let us be “energy enhancers” not “energy vampires”.

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Other topics covered

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There are many other topics covered in this book, which I will not discuss in any detail in this post.  I may come back to some of these in later posts.  These topics include:

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• The power of the subconscious to self-heal or, conversely, to cause self-damage – if our subconscious is filled with negativity then our main emotional state will be negative and that will adversely affect us physically, mentally, and spiritually.  However, if our subconscious is filled with positivity and belief then it can, in some cases, aid a healing or recovery process after an illness.  Dr. Murphy would say that this is an explanation as to how the “placebo effect” works.  Belief in the treatment or recovery process is key to such effects.

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• Indirect contact with others – I mentioned above how we can be influenced by or influence others when we are in their presence.  Dr. Murphy also speaks of how we can influence others without being in their company.  For example, how we can provide support, comfort, and love, from afar, through what some may call prayer.

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• How we can use our subconscious to help us achieve our desired goals – just as I expressed above how we can feed our subconscious to help us to be positive, Dr. Murphy explains how we can feed our subconscious with our hopes and ambitions.  He says that through affirmations and consistent messaging our subconscious will allow us to identify opportunities and present steps to allow us to achieve our goals – a promotion, a partner, increased wealth and so on.  In these cases, we need to envisage the end result, feel the emotions that will bring, and continuously feed our subconscious in this regard.  Then, over time, our subconscious will “work out” the steps to take in order to reach our goal.  If this works, it is a wonderful tool or practice to aid us.  Dr. Murphy says that if our thoughts are clear and positive, and our belief (faith) in this practice is strong, then there is no end to what we can achieve.

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• The subconscious network – as mentioned above, Dr. Murphy presents the concept of the “subconscious network”.  We are all part of this, and we can interact with others subconsciously.  It is like a great subconscious internet to which we are all linked.  In this way we can send messages, goodwill, and support to others anywhere in the world.  This is an amazing concept.  I do not claim to understand it fully and I need time to process this myself.

 

Conclusion

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While there are some concepts that need further consideration and thought, Dr. Murphy explains the basic workings of the subconscious mind in terms that are understandable and plausible.  Our subconscious minds are essential and powerful tools for us to live but also to grow and develop.  Dr. Murphy consistently points out that we must control our conscious thoughts and attitudes as these feed our subconscious minds.  If those thoughts, affirmations, and/or prayers are positive then we can benefit from the infinite power of our subconscious minds.  There are many techniques and examples of affirmations in the book to help the reader feed their subconscious mind positively.

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I have not covered all of the key points of the book in detail but I hope that you get a sense of the fantastic power of our subconscious minds, and, especially, that you understand that if we take the proactive steps necessary to feed our subconscious with positivity then we are empowering ourselves to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Be empowered.

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References

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* Ikigai - Recognising the Extraordinary

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**  When I am simply grateful

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***  I choose to be happy

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**** Mother Nature - Summer in the Vegetable Garden

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