The Critical Area of the Mind: A Real-Life Example

(This blog was originally posted on January 13, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

This afternoon, I sat in the waiting area while my friend finished a meeting. While I flicked through a copy of Us Weekly, a man approached the reception desk and asked one of the assistants if it was possible for him to speak to someone in the accounting department. The receptionist smiled politely and suggested he sit down while she went to check if the employee he needed was available to talk to the customer. When she returned a few minutes later, it was to apologize: the gentleman he wanted to talk to was in a meeting. Could she have “Mr. Jones” call the customer later?

The man smiled slightly, nodded and walked out of the office, probably disappointed but he didn’t seem very surprised. He didn’t have an appointment; at this time of year it would be very unlikely to squeeze in an impromptu meeting with an accountant. Guess what? This kind of solicitation and rejection occurs many, many times each day between the conscious and subconscious areas of the mind.

The “heavy” that sends the conscious mind’s desired new beliefs or behaviors away is called the Critical Area of the mind. This very small region of the mind is divided equally between the Conscious Mind and Subconscious Mind. Its responsibility, as it were, is to maintain the comfort (homeostasis) between these areas of the mind.

As I have explained in several previous blogs (Why Being Comfortable Feels Uncomfortable, Intuition, Because…That’s What You Like), your behavior is dictated by the subconscious mental script that is created very early in your life. This script is created by the multitude of positive and negative message units that the SCM processes and interprets as pain or pleasure during your early childhood. A positive experience, such as your pet dog licking your face in greeting, is classified as “pleasure.” A negative experience, such as burning your hand on a hot stove, would likely be classified as pain. However, even a message unit that is initially perceived as negative or “painful” can become recognized as “pleasure”, such as returning to or remaining in an abusive relationship because it is familiar or comfortable.

Conversely, if your dog bites (instead of licks) your face, or you decide to stand up to or even leave an abusive partner, the Critical Area of the mind is likely to reject the new message unit that the conscious mind is processing. Rejecting this new information is the Critical Mind’s job: If the information is unfamiliar, it is uncomfortable and therefore unwelcome: What do you mean, Fido bit me? He doesn’t bite! It was just a love nip. Or, I can’t leave my partner; I have nowhere to go! Since this information challenges the known subconscious mental script, it is unlikely that you will accept this information and change your behavior right away.

Now, let’s put this model in the context of what the interaction I observed this afternoon when someone asked to meet with “Mr. Jones.” The receptionist (Critical Area of the mind) checked with the gentleman in question (processed the message unit) and reported that Mr. Jones was busy. Since the client was also not an expected appointment (unknown to the subconscious mind), she sent him away (rejected the message unit). You might also recognize this process when you check the Caller-I.D. application on your phone and decide whether to pick up the call or let a message go to voice-mail.

For more information about the role of the Critical Area of the mind, I invite you to read my blog titled, Why Are New Ideas Scary?

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017

Why Are You Still Carrying It?

(This blog was originally posted on January 11, 2016)

Photo by Sara Fogan

Many years ago, a yoga instructor read a story at the end of class that continues to resonate with me. The tale goes something like this:

Three monks set out on a walk to a monastery. Each monk is carrying a heavy load of clothing and other goods to donate to the poor. In addition, each one has taken a vow of silence, so they cannot pass the time talking during their journey. They come across a fast-moving river, where they see a young woman struggling to cross the water. She is losing her balance trying to keep her parcels dry, at risk of slipping into the water and drowning. One of the monks puts his belongings on the ground and goes into the river to help the stranger get across safely. He may have spoken to her at some point, just to reassure that he would help her get across the river to the other bank. Or, maybe he did not; but he was a gentle person with a kind heart, and the woman instinctively knew she had nothing to fear. Since he was very strong, it was easy to pick her up and carry the woman and her belongings the rest of the way across the river to the opposite shore. Once she was safely deposited there, the monk returned her bow to acknowledge her gratitude and crossed the river again to finish the journey to the monastery with his colleagues.

When they started walking, the first monk could immediately sense the other men’s great disgruntlement and frustration. Their strides and posture told him that they were very unhappy, maybe even angry, and he wondered what could be wrong. Finally, one of the other monks stopped and turned to glare at him. He said: “What did you think you were doing? We have taken a vow of silence! We have sworn to avoid the company and contact with women! And what do you do? You stop to help a maiden cross a river!”

“You touched her and you spoke to her,” the third monk exclaimed. “You broke your vow of silence and your promise not to have contact with the opposite sex! How dare you?”

The first monk sighed thoughtfully. Yes, he had done those things; but the woman was at risk of drowning in the fast-moving current. What else could he have done, except try to save her?

“Yes,” he said. “I did those things. But I put her down three miles ago. Yo­u are the ones who are still carrying her.”

This tale reminds me that it is usually a waste of time, energy and emotion to dwell on an event that has happened in the past. That action is over. There are rarely opportunities for a do-over. Often, we must make a split-second decision how to behave, think or even what to say in a conversation. Each of those decisions will be contingent upon the context in which they occur. As Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., liked to say, we all do everything exactly the right way at exactly the right time. That is because our existing subconscious knowns, which are created by previous experiences and beliefs, have programmed our subconscious mental script that dictates how we will behave in that situation. Perhaps if the river’s current had not been so fast or the woman had not been burdened with packages to carry, the first monk may not have stopped to help her. Whatever earlier-life experiences the first monk had or the beliefs he held about the value of a vow of silence or celibacy versus the importance of saving a woman’s life, dictated his decision to rescue her. And who knows? If that monk had not decided to rescue her, maybe one of his other companions would have done so instead.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017

Why Do You Look So Familiar?

(This blog was originally posted on January 19, 2016)

Photo by Sara Fogan

It is human nature to draw comparisons between things (and even people) we see in the world around us. How many times have you looked at someone and said, “He reminds me of so-and-so”? Have you ever mistaken a large tree stump or branch as an animal or even a prowler lurking near your house before realizing what the object actually was?

Sometimes I wonder why these inanimate objects take on shapes or images that are so familiar to so many people. Psychologist Carl Jung wrote about collective metaphors and believed that humans all over the world shared images and meanings regardless of their background or geographic location. Hypnotherapist and Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., might consider these images subconscious knowns, created by information that is shared from one generation to the next to help make sense of the world. Our suggestibility—how we learn—facilitates this process.

For example, this Good Morning America segment featured a special-interest report about a rescue cat named Kory, whose physical features seem to eerily resemble those of Adam Driver. For those who don’t know or recognize the name, he is the actor who portrays Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Apparently an animal shelter originally posted the kitty’s photograph on-line just to attract potential adopters for the stray. Their strategy worked, big time. Internet browsers quickly noticed and commented about the physical similarities between Kory the cat and the Star Wars bad guy. Now Kory the Cat’s new Forever Family know him by his new moniker:  Kylo Ren. I wonder if the cat would have received so much love and attention quite so quickly if someone had not pointed out this resemblance to other Star Wars fans out there. How much of their interest was in adopting an adorable adult cat versus the idea/fantasy of having a cuddly, real-life, feline representation of the blockbuster film living in their home?

Last week, someone posted a photograph on Facebook of an image she had seen while taking pictures of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). The picture featured an image of a running wolf. The woman didn’t even need to include text with her post to explain the shape she had seen. Since it was shared on a Facebook page that is dedicated to wolves and wolf conservation, no explanation was needed, anyway. We all knew what the shape represented, and many people commented that they had seen/recognized the wolf right away. I certainly had. Again, though, I had to wonder: was the shape a Jungian icon that our collective subconscious minds immediately recognized? Or, did we recognize the wolf image because we saw it on a specific forum that is dedicated to honoring wolves?

On other occasions, people have shared pictures of clouds that took on the shape of a dolphin or orca (killer whale). Just a couple of days ago, someone posted a picture of a sunrise where rays of the sun perfectly intersected at right angles, just like a cross.

While I have never yet seen anything so impressive in a cloud formation or sunrise or sunset, I have noticed a lot of repetition in the shapes and forms of various objects that seem to occur naturally in the environment. Case in point: A couple of years ago, the chocolate-chip cookie dough formed the shape of a heart while it baked in the oven. Or, so it seemed to me. This shape probably came about because I inadvertently cut the cookie when I slid it off of the tray. I was so impressed by this image that I took a picture of it (and the symbolism of its shape) to keep for posterity. When I bake, I like to think and tell people who enjoy my treats that the secret ingredient that makes them so yummy is that I bake them with love. In this case, my secret ingredient took on a literal form.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017