Our thoughts and feelings determine our actions. And our actions determine our results. If we want different outcomes in life – more success, happiness, wealth, health, better relationships – we need to change our thoughts and feelings. But what generates them on the first place? What are our thoughts and feelings the by-product of?
Thoughts and feelings are the visible symptoms that, like the tip of an iceberg, have their roots in a much larger sub-surface foundation. That below-the-surface foundation is our subconscious mind—thoughts, notions, feelings that we are not aware of that create who we are for ourselves and give rise to the visible results. The conscious mind–that what we are aware of—is the tip of the iceberg.
Our subconscious is in charge and we’re often not sure where it’s charging toward
Our most powerful notions about ourselves and life reside in our subconscious mind. They give rise to who we are, to the results we get in life, and to why we want these results on the first place.
There are two problems with this:
- They are limiting.
- We are largely not aware of them.
Our instinctual map of who we need to be to navigate the world is formed in early childhood in response to our self-protection mechanisms. As children, we are reliant on caregivers for our survival and as such, we instinctively adapt to what we sense they require from us in exchange for their care and protection.
To survive as children we construct narratives about what we should or shouldn’t be, feel and do; and how the world and people are. They help us protect ourselves and navigate the world, but they are often the result of painful experiences and as such limiting—we may feel that we are not as good or as important as a sibling, that the world is unsafe, that we are different to other people.
And because these narratives reside in our subconscious, we are largely not aware of them—they are often a blind spot. In other words, our subconscious is in charge and we’re often not sure where it’s charging toward. In the words of Carl Jung, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Using the brain’s neuroplasticity in our favour
By virtue of our brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity, our subconscious notions are self-reinforcing. The repetition of limiting thoughts deepens the neural pathways of the brain and strengthens these limiting patters. We literally think ourselves into being.
But we could make the brain’s neuroplasticity work in our favour by becoming aware of the subconscious narratives and changing them.
The Seven Levels of Symptoms model: reverse-engineering our subconscious narratives
One way of uncovering our limiting narratives is by reverse-engineering the things that trigger us. Our feelings, emotions and thoughts are symptoms of these deep-seated constraints. Deconstructing what triggers us can help us reverse-engineer these limiting narratives and remove the constraints.
Step 1: For a week, record everything that triggers you:
- What is the trigger? This can include events, things that other people do or don’t do, your states of mind, moods, thoughts, feelings.
- What does it trigger? Recent studies show that all our feelings fall into four basic categories: fear, anger, happiness and sadness.
- What is the intensity of the feeling? (low, medium, high).
Step 2: At the end of the week, for each item on the list, starting with the high-intensity ones, ask yourself “What is this a symptom of?”. To explore the causse/effect relationships and get to the real root cause, ask the question seven times going deeper with each answer.
The results we get in life are an extension of who we are. Who we are is an extension of our subconscious beliefs. Our true essence is boundless, limitless, pure potentiality but as a result of childhood experiences we live in limiting narratives. Revealing these subconscious constraints changes the way we think, feel and act, and can help us live a better life. The Seven Levels of Symptoms model is a simple but powerful tool that you can use to reverse-engineer your thoughts and feelings and get to the real root causes of the things that manifest in your life.