Sigmund Freud is the one who popularize this concept. He divided the human mind into 3: the conscious (10%), subconscious (50 – 60%), and unconscious (30 – 40%) minds.
What’s the difference?
Conscious Mind
There are varying answers for this, but the most easy to understand one is that, it is what we are aware of, what we know.. It can physical or non physically. I can be aware of my environment, my breathing, my thoughts, my feelings, my mood, my sensations..
On top of that, the two most powerful functions it can do are
- Its ability to direct your focus.
- Its ability to imagine that which is not real
Ability to direct your focus is straightforward. It is our ability to shift our focus. Eg. we can shift our focus from work to play, from the noisy environment to the person talking in front of us.
One example on the ability to imagine that which is not real is visualization. Eg, when we walk into our new empty house, we have the ability to imagine having a sofa against the wall, a table by the side, etc. Those of which are not real at that point.
It also scans and ‘decide’ where the information goes to, subconscious or unconscious.
Subconscious Mind (aka Preconscious mind)
In strict psychological sense, this is whats "operating or existing outside of consciousness".
Preconscious are the thoughts which are unconscious at the particular moment in question, but which are not repressed and are therefore available for recall and easily 'capable of becoming conscious'— Sigmund Freud
In simple terms, it is a “storage” of accessible information. There may be some information that we are not aware of in the present moment, but we can direct our awareness to it when we want to do so.
For example: We can brush our teeth without focusing on it (sometimes we call it multi tasking). Are we physically present brushing our teeth, yes. But our conscious mind is probably thinking about what’s the work to get done, what’s for breakfast, etc. But at any point, if we need to focus on brushing our teeth, we can use our conscious mind to shift the focus.
Another example: I previously tripped near the door because of uneven ground. My conscious mind will pick that up and store it in the subconscious. So the next time I walk pass the door again, I become more careful.
Unconscious Mind
The most interesting of the 3. It is where our memories and past experiences are kept. It is also said to be what's forming our dreams.. and cause.. -drums rolls- Freudian slip! (Some say this is cause by subconscious. I am seeing that it can be both.)
It is said that our behaviour, thought processes, memories, interests, and motivation may be driven by these unconscious forces. “Automatic responses” etc comes from that. It is derived from our memories and experiences that formed who we are, what we do.
The difference between this and the subconscious is those of which in this mind are forgotten or it is repressed due to trauma. When the event occur, our conscious mind (back then) will decide if it goes to sub or unconscious mind. When it is being stored in our subconscious, and we act upon that, it may seems like an automatic response, but we know why we do so if we were to recall it. Eg If I try to figure out why I am more careful when I am walking near the door, I will be able to.
But in the unconscious, it occur automatically and it is harder to recall why. The word here is "harder". We may not be able to access the information as easy as those we have in subconscious mind, but there are many ways like channelling, hypnotherapy, other therapies, or even an occurrence of another trauma that can bring the information to surface.
3 minds but so what?
It is no big deal if it does not affect anything. But these 3 minds have amazing link to growth and personal development.
In short..
conscious mind – what we know.
Subconscious mind – what we do not know clearly at this point in time, but we kind of know it is somewhere.
Unconscious mind – what the shit is that? Aka what we do not know at this point in time.
There are debates about our subconscious and unconscious mind have the power to drive our thoughts, speech and actions. But another argued that if our conscious mind have the ability to focus, then it is our conscious mind that give the power to the subconscious and unconscious.
We can spend more time debating that or we can spend more time discovering more things in the subconscious and unconscious.. I choose the latter.
Relating it to personal development:
My conscious mind picked up a repeated pattern – I need to sleep with lights on. My conscious mind dive deeper into finding out why. So I started retrieving memories and information.
Possible scenario 1 – I recalled I was locked in a dark room when I was younger so that cause the fear. With that information, my conscious mind takes over, work on it, I can now sleep with lights off.
Possible scenario 2 – I am unable to recall why. I choose to seek external support to surface it. And I manage to recall. Conscious mind takes over, work on it, I can now sleep with lights off.
Possible scenario 3 – I am unable to recall why. One day, I was accidentally locked in a dark room again. Memories are triggered and I recalled the experience when I was younger. Conscious mind takes over, work on it, I can now sleep with lights off.
Of course this is a very simplified flow of event. In reality, when we discover a belief in our subconscious/unconscious that does not serve us and we want to change it, whats rooted usually require our conscious mind to 'work' rather hard before we can come to acceptance to either remove or learn to live with it. Here we have a choice, to uncover more sub and unconscious, making it a conscious choice to direct our lives or continue to let it direct us without our awareness.