THE ANALOGY OF THE HORSE and its rider used to describe the subconscious, and conscious mind is my favorite and one I learned from a fellow coach. If you will, imagine that your subconscious mind is the horse that moves you from one place to the other, and your conscious mind is the small rider on top of this large animal.
You work as a team, and you are in control by the use of the reins, but once you trust your horse to take you where you want to go, you do not need the reins. The horse learns what you like to do and see, and the path usually becomes a worn-out trail.
The smart people say you barely use your conscious mind, and I do not disagree. Can you imagine what it would be like if, every day, you had to wander about your alarm clock, the bathroom, kitchen cabinets, and cell phone to do repetitive tasks?
Aren’t you glad the horse takes over the first day or so after you drive your car, use your computer, get to work, the grocery store, and the many other things you do?
Isn’t it nice that you can be “asleep at the wheel” most of the time?
You only have to “wake up” or take the reins when something is wrong, new, or something changes. Otherwise, you can trust your subconscious mind to be responsible for getting you through your day.
What you need to know is that the horse may be the vehicle, but you are in control of its behavior.
As small as you are, and even when you think, “I’m born this way”, you still control the reins. You can change any behavior you want to change, even when the horse is stubborn.
If you choose to believe otherwise, you are giving control over to whatever you taught your subconscious mind to think as the “right way” to be and do.
If you can see your mind like a computer with hardware and software that allows it to function, imagine if you will, that it did not come with anti-virus protection.
As a result, it was able to receive data, sound data, and corrupted data, in the form of words, which got sorted into the proper places whereby you could expect certain results.
Can you see that it might take years before you audit the data to see that something might be wrong with the hardware and software?
If you fail to see that your mind might be corrupted, you will have to make something, or someone, or everything, or everyone out there wrong.
As I mentioned earlier, the test for truth is simple. If what you believe is true, it must always be true. And if what you think is true ever fails to be accurate, go back as far as you can remember to find where your “truth” came from. I will give you some examples.
If you are an over-achiever, where did you first learn that being an over-achiever was the right way to go on your journey through life? You indeed were not an over-achiever when you were two years old. At that time, you were most definitely an under-achiever and wholly dependent on caregivers.
Was it a person who told you that being an over-achiever was good? Did you see a mother or father working long hours as if they were Superheroes and decide that you would be like them?
Or did you see the opposite, as a very successful neurosurgeon, who struggled to devote time to any love relationship, explained to me when I asked why he chose his profession?
“I never planned to be a doctor, but I knew I wanted out of the poverty my mother raised me in.”
If it is true that being an over-achiever is right for you, it must always be suitable for being an over-achiever. Any over-achiever will tell you that it is only ideal for a season and that some of the costs are anything but good.
If it is true that over-achievers are born this way, it is true that no over-achiever has ever, or will ever, change his behavior.
If it is true that you are a felon, was it true the day before you earned that label? If you robbed a bank, raped or killed someone, had inappropriate sex with a minor, stole a car, dealt illegal drugs, burned a building to the ground, or hacked into government computer files and sold classified information to a foreign country, is it possible that your greater crime was corrupted data in your mind?
Go back and see if you can find where you strung words together that led to the criminal behavior.
As the other children in elementary school exclaimed what they wanted to do when they grew up, did you say something like, “I want to be the world’s best felon”?
While it is unlikely that happened, it is probable that somewhere along your journey, you had gathered enough data to believe that you could, or had to, take what belonged to someone else, and not get caught. You trained your Horse. With your best thinking.
If getting caught seemed worth the price to pay, why did you believe that?
If looking good, fitting in, or saving yourself from the pain of Shame and Humiliation, is it true for you today that you know how to look good and fit in?
If it is true that you can save yourself from the pain of Shame and Humiliation, it must always be true.
If it is not always true, the data in your subconscious mind is corrupt.
If it is true that felons are born this way, no criminal has ever or will ever change his behavior.
To sum up this conversation, allow me to suggest that an excellent place to start uncovering the faulty beliefs delivered to your subconscious mind is with your complaints.
What do you wish could be different for you?
What makes you angry about your circumstances?
What or who robs you of energy or keeps you stuck in the Vicious Cycle of rinse and repeat?
When, where, who, or what causes you to feel lonely?
The Horse belongs to you, and even though you may have dropped the reins, you can recover the power you lost.
God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.—2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)
I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.—Jesus (John 14:27 MSG)
Philipians 4:8, Isaiah 26:3, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Proverb 4:23, Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24, Romans 7:23, Matthew 15:11, Proverb 3:5, Isaiah 43:18-19
As always, it is my intent and hope that my words may encourage you wherever you are in your journey.
What lies do you believe about yourself?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below or go to the group tab above to share your own experience. It only takes a minute of your time, and your words may help others.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.–Jesus(Mark 4:23)
