Subliminal messages – what are you telling yourself?

While we do our best to stay positive, motivated and engaged, the world around us constantly feeds subliminal messages our way. From the music we listen to, to the conversations we have with ourselves and others, everything contributes to an unconscious message that we feed ourselves. And while we might be focusing on positive thoughts consciously, it’s the unconscious that we need to be more mindful of.

What is the message you’re telling yourself daily? This blog is designed to help you consider the everyday elements that contribute to what you feed your mind, and by identifying these hopefully you can take action and train your unconscious mind to listen to the right message as well as your conscious mind.

Music

As Plato said, ‘music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.’ The type of music you listen to matters when you’re trying to train your brain. Try listening to the sound of silence at 5am before going to the gym… It just doesn’t work.

If you’re trying to be a badass business bitch, but all you listen to is songs about heartbreak and victimisation, you’re subconsciously feeding your brain a message that’s not serving you. Not that we’re saying there’s anything wrong with certain types of genre’s, but if you’re trying to step up you need to make sure every message you’re giving yourself aligns with your dreams. So make sure, the music you listen to makes you feel powerful, strong and like you can accomplish anything.

Tip: Listen to the lyrics in the music you listen to. If the lyrics don’t align with the message you’re training yourself to hear, shift it out of your playlist and listen to it during times you’re not hyping yourself up. Only listen to songs that make you feel on top of the world when you’re about to tackle work, gym or a task that needs your motivation and attention.

Conversations

The type of conversations you have reinforce certain sides of us. By engaging in gossip, you’re subconsciously telling yourself and others that it’s ok to gossip with you, but the same goes for engaging conversations about encouragement, goals and dreams. Becoming more aware of the topics you talk about will help you better understand yourself, especially the negativity you’re allowing to bring to yourself and others.

By choosing to only speak about positive and goal driven topics, you’re changing the subconscious message to say ‘I will only speak about positive things’. This will make a monumental difference to not only yourself, but those around you as well. Positivity is infectious, and by choosing to take a stand for the message you’re sending yourself, you’ll create the best sort of change for yourself and your relationships. It all starts with you. Choose your conversation topics more carefully.

Tip: Choosing positive conversation topics is not about taking the high road and avoiding conversations that you deem negative. This is not a licence to disengage and become high and mighty. It’s about choosing a life that fulfils you and those around you by being authentic. Steer conversations, don’t dictate them, into a positive exploration of the topic rather than a negative tone. This is easier to do than change the topic.

Our thoughts

The internal monologue of our mind needs constant attention. It’s easier said than done to “stay positive”, and checking negative thoughts can be exhausting when you first start. And even after years of practice, you can fall back into negativity. Life has ups and downs. It’s not about telling yourself these won’t happen, it’s about training your mind to understand that it can weather the storm.

Our favourite saying at Prolific Education is “your mindset is your only challenge”. We love this saying because by believing that it takes all the stress of the other hurdles and challenges that may come your way. As long as you focus on mindset, and make that as strong as it can be, every challenge becomes an opportunity in disguise. But first, your mindset needs fine tuning. And only you can begin that shift.

Tip: It’s not about stopping the negative thoughts altogether; that’s impossible. Instead, when you notice you’re thinking negatively about something, acknowledge the thought, and make a mental shift and make yourself think the way you want to about the situation. Make a big deal about thinking positively about the situation. Over time, the positive will then become your default.

Meditation

Meditation is the perfect device to help connect your conscious and unconscious mind to the way you want to think. It’s used by entrepreneurs and business owners around the world to shape their reality, visualise and control their mind to serve them. Meditation is scientifically proven help rewire your mind and body when done consistently for an hour a day every day.

Joe Dispenza’s guided meditation, and studies on the matter are an extraordinary exploration of mind. We highly recommend following his meditation rituals, and committing to incorporating meditation into your daily routine.

Tip: Youtube has hundreds of guided meditations available, as well as Spotify. Otherwise, subscribe to dedicated meditation apps like Headspace or Calm, or follow designated people like Joe Dispenza or Jay Shetty.

If you’ve got a great tip on how you curb the subliminal messages that come your way, let us know! We’d love to hear them by commenting below.