Melodie Chrislock

The new year seems to be a time to reflect on our dreams and goals and the changes we’d like to make in our lives. But change has two faces. There are the changes we design and plan for and the changes that seem to descend on us from out of nowhere. The changes we make out of our conscious choice give us a sense that we are powerful creators in the scheme of life. We see our free will in action. But the changes that seem to come from circumstances and conditions beyond our control can be unsettling. These changes can make us feel that we are just the pawns of fate or karma with little choice in our own lives.

Most of us know both these realities. Sometimes our free will works and the changes we want come into our lives, but sometimes they don’t and we feel helpless. What has happened when life seems to have other plans and we can’t create the reality we want?

Many of us with spiritual understanding might say that when our dreams don’t work out, it’s because it is just not our dharma. We accept that our higher self has other plans for our growth and learning, and we may be right. But is this always the truth?

Others may feel that their goals fail because they are not in line with God’s specific plan for them, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” But this idea can also leave us looking to God or Guru to save us and take over our responsibility as a parent would. There is good reason some think of themselves as children of God.

We live in a culture that holds us responsible for ourselves physically and materially. We go to school and get a job and that’s supposed to be what responsibility looks like. But there is so much more to our lives that we don’t really know how to be responsible for. Many of us have come to believe that we create our own reality, but Creating Reality 101 was not offered in the schools most of us attended. And it may have been taught poorly at home by our well-meaning parents struggling to make their lives work.

When a culture doesn’t understand something, all kinds of superstitions develop around it. When it comes to creating our world we hear these little warnings. We mustn’t think this thought or feel this emotion or say this word… or it might sabotage our dreams. When our best efforts fail, in our confusion we blame ourselves, others or even God Itself.

To be spiritually responsible for ourselves, first we have to understand how we create. This leads us into a part of ourselves we usually know very little about, the subconscious. What is the subconscious anyway? Some use the term subconscious mind, but I think this is misleading. We aren’t just speaking about subconscious thoughts. Some use the term to mean the part of the brain that runs all our automatic physical functions. But the subconscious is so much more. It runs our lives in ways we are often completely unaware of. It’s that powerful part of us that manifests our reality. Our subconscious can seem so outside our conscious control and so powerful that we see it as God. One of the most profound human misunderstandings is the confusion between our higher self or Soul and our psychic self or subconscious.

Imagine the subconscious as a computer, like Hal in the movie 2001. It’s constantly storing all our physical, emotional and mental experience from this life and it appears to store past lives as well. But it doesn't just store all this experience...it acts on it to create our lives.

You could call the subconscious our psychic body. And in some systems of understanding it would encompass all of the subtle nonphysical bodies including the astral, causal, mental and etheric bodies. Some would include Soul itself in the subconscious, just because most of us are not conscious of ourselves as Soul. But it’s been my experience that the Soul self stands outside the subconscious, waiting to guide us if the subconscious is open to it. If the subconscious is full of fear and ego and old limited programming, Soul’s communication is blocked. It can’t guide us in our human state of consciousness and our subconscious self pretty much runs our lives.

With the advent of computers, I think it is much easier to understand the subconscious, because just like our Macs and PCs our subconscious is programmable. In fact, so much of our personal programming is done before the age of seven, when our brains operate in a trance like state, that by the time we get to exercise our free will, we’re already working with some limits. Unless we know how to reprogram our own subconscious we can be stuck with the beliefs and patterns and habits stored in the subconscious for a lifetime.

Over the summer I encountered a new process for changing subconscious patterns and beliefs. The process is called Psych-K and was developed by Rob Williams. Since the early nineties I’ve been looking for ways to reprogram my subconscious beliefs. Psych-K is an amazing discovery, elegant in it’s simplicity and effect. The Psych-K system is compatible with any spiritual practice. It also recognizes that some beliefs should not be changed since they are important for our spiritual growth.

If you’ve never thought about it, it may seem odd or scary or even wrong to think about changing the subconscious. Why would you want to reprogram your subconscious anyway? Consider how much of your experience is stored as old misunderstandings and fears that you don’t even consciously believe any more. Could these beliefs block you from expressing and living your spiritual ideals?

Try this exercise. Write down what you believe in a few important areas of your life: spiritual beliefs, beliefs about money, relationships, health, time, death, etc. Take another piece of paper and write down an honest appraisal of your life in these areas. Is what you consciously believe manifesting in your life? If what you believe and what your life looks like don’t match up, your subconscious may not be in agreement with what you think you believe. Remember it’s what we believe deep down and with the whole of us that comes to pass. Your life is the test of what you really believe subconsciously.

I’ve long known that my computer-like subconscious self had its own agenda and that its beliefs could be a barrier to my true self, Soul, expressing its limitless wisdom and love and power in my life. Wouldn’t we all choose to be guided by our highest Self rather than our darkest fears?

On February 27th and 28th we will be sponsoring the first Psych-K workshop in the Monterey Bay area. We hope you’ll join us in exploring and changing your subconscious patterns and beliefs. Click here for details or to register for the workshop. PSYCH-K workshops are held all over the world, visit psych-k.com for a workshop near you. Their instructors will also travel if you have a small group that is interested in a workshop.