The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Summary)
In the 1840s, a Scottish surgeon named James Esdaille performed over 400 major surgeries, including limb amputations, using only mental suggestion as an anesthetic. He would tell his patients they would feel no pain, and their subconscious minds accepted this suggestion so completely that they remained calm throughout the operations, slashing mortality rates from surgical shock. This isn't a historical anomaly; it's a demonstration of the raw, untapped power that resides within your own mind.
Your Subconscious is an Unquestioning Servant
Your subconscious mind does not reason or argue. It accepts whatever your conscious mind impresses upon it as truth and works tirelessly to manifest that reality, whether the idea is positive or negative.
The placebo effect is a perfect illustration. A patient given a sugar pill but told it's a powerful new drug often experiences genuine physiological relief. Their subconscious mind accepts the idea of healing and proceeds to create it, demonstrating it doesn't care about the objective reality of the pill, only the belief behind it.
You Must Feel It to Create It
Simply repeating affirmations is not enough. To truly influence your subconscious, you must generate the feeling of your wish fulfilled. The subconscious mind responds to emotion, not just words.
A young woman who longed to be married was advised to stop just wishing and start feeling married. Every night, she would imagine a wedding ring on her finger, touching it and feeling its solidity, until the feeling of being happily married became a quiet, confident conviction. Shortly after, she met and married a man who was a perfect match for her.
Your Mind is Your Greatest Healer
The subconscious controls all your body's autonomic functions and holds the blueprint for perfect health. By repeatedly feeding it with ideas of health and perfection, you can activate its profound healing intelligence.
Murphy tells the story of his own recovery from a malignant sarcoma. Refusing to accept a fatal diagnosis, he repeatedly affirmed: 'It is finished and done in the Divine mind.' He constructed a vivid mental image of his body as whole and perfect. His faith and persistence impressed this new blueprint onto his subconscious, and in his own account, the cancer dissolved completely.
Never End the Day on a Negative Thought
The moments just before sleep are when your conscious mind is most relaxed and your subconscious is most receptive. Using this time to dwell on fears or grievances is like planting weeds; using it to affirm your desires is like planting a garden.
A businessman was consumed with worry over a lawsuit that threatened to ruin him. He was advised to stop replaying the worst-case scenarios. Instead, every night before sleeping, he imagined his lawyer telling him the case was amicably settled. He lulled himself to sleep with the feeling of relief and gratitude. Within a few weeks, the case was resolved out of court, exactly as he had imagined.
