ConsciousóUnconscious
You’re not conscious of your body most of the time – in fact awareness is only the tip of the iceberg. You breathe, regulate your temperature, and digest food without thinking (unless, like now, your attention is drawn to it). Your mind works in much the same way – you’re not conscious of everything (imagine all the memories you have being remembered at once!) – so your mind ‘edits’ what you can be aware of at any given time. The (majority) bit that you’re not conscious of is called the ‘unconscious’ by psychotherapists or ‘subconscious’ by psychologists/life coaches etc.
Being overloaded with data isn’t the only reason you edit what you’re aware of – you also do it to protect yourself from being overloaded by sensation. Painful memories can be forgotten, or repressed, so can desires that don’t match with your self-identity or moral code. Often these repressed memories or smothered desires will agitate away in your unconscious and ‘fuel’ your thoughts, feelings of anxiety/anger/sexual tension/love etc. Some people describe it like being in a pressure cooker, with their unconscious providing the heat.
© Chris Willoughby 2008-
