How Our Minds Work - Part 2
 
The Conscious Mind
 
     The conscious mind is where you are right now.  When you are awake you are consciously aware and when you fall asleep it’s the conscious mind that sleeps or turns off.  (Note that the subconscious mind is always online).  The conscious mind is in control when you are awake.  It is your reality.  This is where your daily thoughts and opinions reside, it’s the rational you.
 
Analytical & Problem Solving
 
     The conscious mind is analytical and solves problems.  Have you ever had discussions with yourself with one part talking to another?  It’s like when that alarm clock goes off on Monday morning and there is a part of you that really doesn’t want to get out of bed but there is that other voice inside that tells you to get going so you won’t be late.  This part of the mind sometimes gets in the way during a hypnosis session.  I am asking the subconscious mind questions but the conscious mind wants to answer, this answer will be wrong if coming from the conscious part of us.
 
Short-term Memory
 
     The conscious mind is also where your short-term memory resides such as, “Where did I leave my car keys?”  It recalls phone numbers, people’s names, and other things stored on a temporary basis.  I’ve worked with people who have had strokes and their short-term memory was terrible.  Interestingly their long-term memory was perfectly intact (subconscious mind).
 
Willpower
 
     Your conscious mind also is where willpower resides.  Please note that willpower was never meant for long-term change, its only function is to supply short-term mental adrenaline towards any goal.  People rely on this for losing weight, smoking cession, and habit breaking, but when it doesn’t work out it gives the person a great opportunity to feel bad about him or herself.  Willpower is a thought, as long as you can keep that thought front and center in your mind at all times it’ll work great for you…  good luck!

The Critical Factor / Our Critical Facilities
 
     The last thing we’ll talk about regarding the conscious mind is something called your critical factor, or your critical facilities.  This is the part of the conscious mind the hypnotist needs to get around to induce the state of hypnosis.  You can think of this part of your mind as a filter.  It filters what goes into your subconscious mind and what doesn’t.  We develop this filter between the ages of five to six years old.  Before this part of your mind developed everything that was told to you went directly into your subconscious mind and became you, absolutely no barriers.  Everything was accepted as your reality.  What your parents, your friends, and strangers said.  What you saw on TV or heard on the radio.  All of this went into your subconscious mind and became a part of you.  Every child who has not developed this critical factor yet, is in effect, in hypnosis at all times.  “Hypnosis is the bypass of this critical factor in the conscious mind.”
 
     Think of this filter as residing between your conscious and subconscious mind.  The job it performs is to evaluate all incoming data and it either accepts these suggestions/ideas or rejects them based on the previous programming that already exists.  The determination of what is accepted is not based on whether something is positive or negative, or good or bad for you.  The determination is based on whether the suggestion matches what’s already been programmed.  If someone says, “You’re smart”, and that’s consistent with your programming, the critical factor allows it to go in.  If it’s not consistent because you’ve been programmed to feel that you’re a stupid person, the critical factor rejects this statement and consequently keeps running on past programming.  So the power of hypnosis becomes evident at this point.  Get around this filter/watchdog and change that preliminary programming!
 
     I recall working with a woman regarding weight loss and her mind took her to a few very significant events in her life.  In one of these events her mother was praising her for riding her bike so well but then added – “Especially with those chubby legs.”  Another event that took place a year later was at a family get-together where her uncle had a few snide comments about her fat body, after which everyone laughed.  It all went right in there - into that subconscious computer and then the critical factor has been reinforcing that programmed body shape ever since.  All these years she has been trying to lose weight and when she does the alert goes out, “Gain that weight back so I can successfully maintain the body shape that I know is correct for me!” 
 
     Here is what happed in this woman’s mind regarding this weight problem.  She has been 100 pounds overweight for years.  She has been on diet after diet, losing weight using drastic measures only to gain all the weight back and sometimes even more.  Then she found a diet that actually worked for her!  She dropped 30 pounds and was feeling pretty good about herself.  She was fitting into smaller sizes and actually being able to fit into some of her old cloths.  Then it happens.  Somebody says “Hey skinny, looking good…  have you lost weight?”  Then that critical factor kicks in and stands up and takes note at that comment.  It says, “Wait a minute, this is inconsistent with the programming!  I cannot accept that comment - she’s lost how many pounds?  Emergency alert, emergency alert!  We have to get her fat again!”  And then what happens?  She ends up digging into the refrigerator and eating through the contents of the cupboards for weeks.  Now she feels bad about herself, “I was doing so well, what’s my problem?”  Then you know what happens next… you guessed it.  Now it’s time to kick herself.  “Why not just keep eating now, it’s hopeless - I’ll never get down to my goal size, I’m such a loser.” 

Excerpt from the book Hypno Healing by Tim Bartley
http://ThoughtBecomesReality.com