Your Mental Superpower and the Soup Pot

By Marla Sanderson

“Great as the subconscious is, its tendency is set in motion by the conscious thought, and in this possibility lies the path to freedom.”—Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

When I first read about the power of the subconscious mind, I decided to do what I could to rid myself of self-destructive and limiting beliefs. I learned ways to program, deprogram and reprogram my subconscious.

As I transformed some of the hidden junk housed in this mysterious place, my life blossomed into a great adventure. Fears and doubts fell away, and the doors to a multitude of new experiences opened wide.

I don’t pretend to understand the workings of the subconscious, but I think of it as an open pot of soup. Anyone can come by and throw something in. It could be a tasty chicken or an old shoe—healthy ideas or self-doubt. The soup doesn’t care.

What’s delivered to us in life reflects the whole pot. Some good, some not so good. Some intentional, some accidental, some destructive. All thoughts are creative, experiences are convincing, and the subconscious just takes it all in.

There are not really two minds (conscious and unconscious); but, rather, two functions of one mind. For simplicity, let’s call the conscious mind Henry and the subconscious, Lucille. Like all “couples,” things go better when they cooperate.

To change Lucille we feed her more good thoughts than bad, and life gets better. This has to come from Henry, and he’s got a lot to do. We don’t have to look too deeply to see that his ability is nothing short of amazing.

Henry spends most of his time dealing with and sorting out the events of the outer world. He operates the body, makes decisions and plans whatever needs to be planned. He never stops. He decides when and what to eat, who and what to like, and what to do next.

When too many things vie for his attention, Henry gets stressed. When things get messy, he loses control. When plans don’t go right, his self-respect suffers.

Henry performs his outward duties nonstop, but has something to say about almost everything. He reacts, rationalizes, fantasizes, judges, pontificates and worries over anything that gets his attention. He doesn’t say a word out loud, but Lucille is always listening.

Henry’s greatest weakness is that he is undisciplined. In fact, for a conscious mind, he can often be downright unconscious! Amid all his activity, he often forgets to use his mental superpower.

Lucille just keeps filtering life experiences based on whatever is in the soup pot. Left alone, she’ll provide similar situations made from the ingredients on hand. She has no power of discernment.

But Henry does. His ability to think—and even more so, to choose what to think—is his creative superpower.

So if Henry wallows in self-doubt, guess what? Lucille picks it up and things get worse. That reinforces Henry’s self-doubt. If he chooses a positive outcome, things get better, and that reinforces his power.

Your beliefs, thoughts and imagination shape your life. They can work for you or against you. Henry can let whatever falls into the soup run the show or he can take charge. He can use thoughts, beliefs and imagination as tools to make things better.

Obviously, you are the one who can make permanent changes and break unwanted patterns. You can take charge of your thoughts and keep them positive. You can make your “self-talk” supportive and uplifting. You can take control over your soup pot. Once you get the habit, there’s only one thing left between you and happiness.

You have to be willing to do it.

In the next few issues, I will explore these tools and how we might use them (or lose them) to transform our lives.

Rev. Marla Sanderson has been a student of spiritual practice for more than 35 years. She began as Assistant Director of The Next Step, a psychic and spiritual community in a New Mexico ghost town. She’s been a workshop leader, teacher, practitioner, and minister of Living Love, and the Science of Mind. She recently founded the New Thought Global Network, a virtual “church” that offers inspiration anytime, from anywhere. The site showcases many powerful Science of Mind and New Thought speakers and writers, and intends to expand these teachings to the world. Check it out at www.newthoughtglobal.org.

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