UNDERSTANDING YOUR MIND
by Joan King

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now That we are a couple of weeks into the New Year, you have probably given up on your New Year's resolutions. Trying to make the resolutions work is like playing golf only with your conscious mind. It only lasts until your will power weakens and your old way of behaving or playing returns.

Sports psychology is only part of the equation to improve your performances. Psychology is working with the conscious mind. Trying doesn't make things work. In your subconscious mind, "trying" is forcing something to happen because you think you "should." When you play at your best you are accessing your subconscious mind.

Since this is the "off-season" for golf for most of the country, let's take this time to learn about how your mind works, and how it interacts with your physical body. This will also help with any other sports you are participating in during the winter.

As I see it, there are several distinct parts to your mind; the unconscious mind, the super-conscious mind, the conscious mind, and the subconscious mind.

Unconscious Mind:
Your bodily functions, such as your heart beating, lungs taking in oxygen, or organs working are all part of your unconscious mind. It also controls the different systems in your body such as the strength of your immune system. If you think of your mind as a computer, the software for these functions was already installed at birth.

Super-conscious Mind:
This is the part of your mind where you can access a higher state of awareness. When that happens, you move beyond your conscious, thinking mind and access what some call the super-conscious mind. This is where you open up to eternal thoughts coming from within, accepting the higher spirit within you that allows your thoughts to be limitless.

Like I do, you probably have a picture of Albert Einstein, with his white hair disheveled and standing on end, writing mathematical equations on a blackboard when he discovered the formula for energy, E=mc˛. In actuality he was sitting at his desk doodling on a piece of paper when the equation came through him from an outside source. He had tapped into the resource of his super computer, the super conscious mind.

Conscious Mind:
You are in your conscious mind right now as you are reading this. It is where you probably spend most of your time during the waking day. This is the part of your mind that solves your everyday problems. The conscious mind is a vast array of electrical currents of your thoughts which are activated by your intellect and ego.

The conscious mind solves problems by analysis, using criticism, judgment and rationalization. A good analogy would be that your conscious mind is like Spock on the old TV show Star Trek. Spock was a very logical, analytical, non-emotional person. The conscious part of your mind is also where your will power is housed. On the golf course you look at the situation, analyze it, and figure out a way to hit the shot. You make hundreds of decisions about club selection, weather conditions. distance, course conditions, and so on. But if you stay in this part of your mind to swing the golf club, you can be paralyzed by analysis.

The part of your mind that criticizes and judges your performance usually moves you away from your goal. Golfers think in terms of good and bad shots, right and wrong ways to swing the club. This kind of thinking gets you bogged down in negativity, spending your energy on what is wrong. You become motivated from a place of fear, of not being good enough. Instead you need to trust your inner feelings, visualization, and hearing senses for feedback.

The conscious mind rationalizes the outcome to give us a reason why we performed the way we did. Golfers will blame many different outside interferences for why they missed a shot. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it is never original. You just repeat something you have heard from someone else and use it as an excuse. The real truth is you missed the shot because you accessed a certain program that is running in your subconscious.

We are all familiar with will power. It doesn't last. When you are on the practice range hitting the ball well and you say to yourself, " I am really going to play well today," how long do you think that will last? How long do you think it will be before your will power weakens and you sabotage your performance with old habit patterns?

Your conscious mind is only capable of what we call a working memory. It can only access the memory that we need everyday to function in the world. Where we really live is in the level below the conscious mind, called the subconscious mind.

Subconscious Mind:
When you first started to learn to play golf, your used your conscious mind to learn the basics. It took thinking and practice of the different skills. In time, the skills became habitual and became a part of your subconscious programming. This is the process you used to learn everyday skills such as walking, eating, typing, or driving a car.

Your subconscious mind is your personal computer for creating what you want in your golf game and in your life. When you were born, it was basically unprogrammed except for the functions to run your body. Every day you practice or play, you add information gathered through your senses to be stored in your internal computer. These thoughts are now producing the results in your golf game. The subconscious mind makes us into the type of golfer that it perceived us to be based on the programming that has been put into it.

Your subconscious programs are responsible for your successes and failures. It does not matter if the subconscious believes it to be true. It can only operate on the programming that it has been given. If you consistently think and act as if you are successful, then you will develop a subconscious program that expects success and will make it happen.

Know that every day you create programs in your subconscious mind by your thoughts. This part of your mind does not analyze or judge. It accepts what you believe to be true without questioning it. Like your computer, GIGO, garbage in, garbage out.

The Duality of Mind
The conscious mind is like the captain of a large ship. He directs the ship's operations and tells the crew members what to do. They do not know where they are going. They just obey and follow orders automatically. They do not talk back or argue with the captain, they just carry out the orders. In this way your conscious mind is the captain and master of your ship (your body, environment, affairs). Your subconscious mind (the crew) takes and acts on the orders that you give it based on what your conscious mind believes and accepts as true.

Your conscious mind is like the tip of an iceberg. It comprises only a small part of your total mind. It is like the iceberg because you are aware of your outer or conscious mind, but where you really live is in the larger, hidden, subconscious part.

Think of your own mind as a garden. You are a gardener planting seeds (thoughts) in your subconscious mind all day long based on your habits and the way you think. Your subconscious mind responds to one of the cosmic laws of the universe. As you sow, so shall you reap.

Begin now to sow the seeds (thoughts) of success, goals, confidence, consistency, or whatever you desire for your golf game, into the garden of your mind. You will have a wonderful harvest come Spring. Your subconscious mind is the fertile soil that will grow all kinds of seeds, good or bad. It is important that you take charge of your thoughts to bring forth the results that you want.

Use the creative imaginative part of your subconscious mind to see yourself performing successfully every time you think of yourself playing golf. As the captain of your ship, only give the right orders (positive thoughts and images) to your subconscious mind. See your goals as already achieved. Picture the winning result. Feel how good it feels to be a winner.

Positive Mental Imagery tapes and CDs have been composed to create positive, empowering programs in your subconscious mind for different aspects of your golf game. Order now (www.pmi4.com/cart) and program yourself and your golf game for happiness and success next summer. Improve in the comfort of your home during the winter. Be ready to play at a confident, consistent level when the golf courses open up in the Spring.

"Visualize the goal and don't let anything negative interfere with what you are trying to accomplish." ---Arnold Swartzenegger

Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performance!

© Copyright PMI 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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Testimonials:
"I listen to your "Concentration for Consistent Golf" every day. The messages come into my mind naturally, not only on the golf course but in other things I do. I have become more relaxed and more positive on the golf course and in my ability to hit the shots I want. I feel like I can play better, believe in myself and just do it." -Arla Mertz, Amateur Golfer

"I bought several of your CDs and they are wonderful! I can relax easily now. I am able to carry the positive messages with me throughout my round. My handicap has gone down 4 and is continuing to go down. My distance and accuracy have improved noticeably. I recover easily from mistakes and don't worry anymore. Thank you!" -- Ken Brown, Amateur Golfer

Entrain Your Heart & Brain for Peak Performance!

© Copyright PMI 2005. All Rights Reserved.

*****

Improve your golf game NOW by listening to PMI self-hypnosis CDs & tapes in the privacy of your home. Order today at www.pmi4.com/cart

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One on One: Call 828-696-2547 or contact Joan today to ask about personal coaching by phone. Learn what is missing in your game to achieve your peak performances.

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If this monthly ezine has been helpful to you, please forward it to your friends so they can have more fun playing the game of golf while lowering their scores. Download previous PMI newsletter issues by logging on at www.pmi4.com

If you have a question or need help with your mental game, email Joan at POSITIVE MENTAL IMAGERY, info@pmi4.com Also, please share with us how this website information has helped you improve your performance.