Chapter 15 - The Subconscious Mind And Your Present

What kind of a day is this for you? is it good, bad, or indifferent?

If it is "good," you would like to have more like it, because you are enjoying life. If it is "bad," you wish it would get over with. If it is "indifferent," you wish something would happen to change it. You are quite familiar with this variegated pattern of the days, as they come along, aren't you? In fact, this is "life" for you, because life exists only in the present, only in the present moment, only in what you are doing, and feeling, and seeing right now.

What is the secret of why this present moment of "life" is good, bad or indifferent? This "why" should not be a secret, if you want all days to be good days. So let's put the present under a microscope, so to speak, and take a careful look at it.

Face the present squarely

Turn now, so that you are squarely facing the present. Concentrate on this day, this hour, this moment. Concentrate on your life as it is at this present moment.

You will find that this is a bit difficult to do. It would be difficult for anybody. Even though this is the only time when there is "life" in your history, you find it difficult to concentrate on the present alone. You have already "lived the life" that is in your past, and there is no "life" yet in your future. "Life" exists only in the present moment, and this is the most important moment. Yet the "present moment" never seems to possess a distinctiveness all its own. It is always conditioned by what has happened in the past, and by that persistent expectancy for the future.

Much of the time you are consciously aware of this conditioning by the past, and the expectancy of the future. This is the case at this moment, as you concentrate on the present. But, you are subconsciously aware of this "triple-play" reaction 100 per cent of the time. Subconscious activity is constantly proving that the present is directly influenced by the past and that the future is being predicated by the combination of the past and present.

That will of yours

There is just one factor in your being that is concentrating on the present exclusively. This is that will of yours, sitting at that "control panel" in your conscious mind. This will is directing you to act, react, feel and be what you are at this present moment. Yet you know that this will is constantly influenced by your subconscious and that your subconscious is basing its power on what has already been stored there. Furthermore, because your subconscious is always eagerly anticipating change, and is always ready and willing to help changes come about, your will is influenced by this atmosphere of anticipation. Thus you find it difficult to concentrate on the present alone, because your will is subconsciously influenced by that three-way pull of "past, present and future."

There is a practical, everyday value to this natural function of your subconscious. It is that your whole life and your whole person are constantly being kept in focus, subconsciously. You can take advantage of this by creating a conscious awareness of the whole picture through self-influence. That, in effect, is what you did in the "past history" you wrote in the last chapter. Keeping all these facts in mind, let us create a conscious awareness of the true picture of your present.

Your past and your present

Put that analysis of the past years in front of you again. Imagine that just off the bottom of the paper, on the table or desk, is a spot that marks the present. Imagine that a separate line is now connecting every separate item in both columns, with that "present" spot. You have a picture of many lines converging at one point. This is a realistic picture of the influence of your "past" on your "present."

This convergence on that spot is symbolic of the constant potential for subconscious influence on what you are doing at any time that is labeled with the "present" in your life. In Chapter 2, you will recall, we defined the four actions that are always affecting your life. These are physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual actions. You know that subconscious influence is the major influence that directs your actions in all of these four categories. These four actions add up to create the kind of a "present" you are living. You know that subconscious influence is governed by what has already been stored in your subconscious mind. Therefore these converging lines, from your past to your present, are dramatically indicating two truths. Your whole life, that you are conscious of in this present, has been largely shaped by your past history. And the kind of a person you are, at this present moment, has been largely determined by your actions in the past.

You can define the effects

Looking objectively at the past history, and considering the lines converging on the present, you can readily define the effects of some of this influence. If there is a negative item on your list that affected your vocational interests, and if you did nothing to overpower it with a positive action, then it has remained on the threshold of your conscious mind ever since. You have the fear that circumstances might repeat themselves and that negative subconscious influence could cause you to have a repeat performance of the negative action. This subconscious negative influence is retarding progressive action in this present time in your life.

Fortunately, positive subconscious influences remain on the threshold of your conscious mind, also. Those positive influences, which are projecting themselves from your past, are looking for an opportunity for repeat performances, too. Your conscious hope is that such opportunities will present themselves.

The determining balance

What kind of a person you are and what kind of life you have, at this present moment, is determined by the balance between positive and negative subconscious influences, influences that were determined by what you did in the past.

Put simply and directly, you are today what you have done in the past.

But there is one notable exception to much of this, for you. This exception applies to you because of what you have done, and what you are doing, under the guidance of this book of yours. This exception is that you have formulated a plan and you are putting it into practice. This plan gives you control of the subconscious influences that are being recorded today. And this means that you are acquiring the skill of overpowering negative or retarding subconscious influences by deliberate self-influence to create positive influences.

This notable exception means that as you have accepted responsibility for your past, you have also accepted responsibility for your present, and that you have declared to yourself that you are ready, willing and able to accept responsibility for your future, a future with a predetermined pattern to it.

In Sum

What you are, and how you live your life, is determined by the influences which stem from the past.

These influences you are now able to control.

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