May 2022

“Your subconscious mind works continuously, while you are awake, and while you sleep.” — Napoleon Hill

On average the brain weighs 3 pounds with 100 billion neurons; our brain determines how we experience the world. However, most of the brain is not consciously utilized; it is active but on autopilot.

Subconscious ^{[ suhb-kon-shuhs ]}

adjective

1.existing or operating in the mind beneath or beyond consciousness: the subconscious self. Compare preconscious, unconscious

2.imperfectly or not wholly conscious: subconscious motivations.

noun

3.the totality of mental processes of which the individual is not aware; unreportable mental activities.

 

The word subconscious represents an anglicized version of the French word coined in 1889 by the psychologist Pierre Janet, in his thesis, Janet argued that underneath the layers of critical-thought functions of the conscious mind lay a powerful awareness that he called the subconscious mind.  In the strict psychological sense, the adjective is defined as "operating or existing outside of consciousness".

The idea of the subconscious as powerful or a potent creative agency has allowed the term to become prominent in New Thought and self-help literature by notables Emerson, James Allen, Napoleon Hill, Wattles and Haanel, in which investigating or controlling its supposed knowledge or power is seen as advantageous. Take the movie Limitless as a modern-day example. In the New Age community, techniques such as autosuggestion, affirmations and subliminal messages are believed to harness the power of the subconscious to influence a person's life and real-world outcomes, achieve monetary success even curing sickness.

Your subconscious never rests and is always on duty because it controls your autonomic systems-beating heart, circulating blood and digestion.  The subconscious mind influences conscious living. Your internal life and thoughts, even unconsciously, eventually becomes your reality.  The project is to direct your subconscious mind to create the outcomes you seek. Your task (should you choose to accept it) is to direct your subconscious mind to unlock connections and solutions to your problems and projects.  End your evening routine correctly. Here is my prescription. Three wins then a request.

Each night as I lay in bed before drifting off to sleep, I ask myself “what are my three wins for the day?” Each night I come up with three such victories-small or large. 1. Returned all client telephone calls. 2. Arrived home on time and ate dinner with the family. 3. Filmed a video for my social media platform.  Sometimes the win is that I stretched or did push-ups or gave my children a compliment or behaved calmly in the face of danger. Other times it is signed up a new client, ate healthy or texted a friend. I will identify the smallest win and be happy about it. The more wins I identify the more successful I become. Even the most difficult day has many such wins. Onto the request…

“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” — Thomas Edison

It’s common practice for many of the world’s most successful people to intentionally direct the workings of their subconscious mind while they’re sleeping.  How?  Take a few moments before you go to bed to focus on what you are trying to accomplish. Specific is better. Thinking is the key and mentally noting your request is great; writing it down is probably better. More difficult if you are already in bed.  Ask yourself questions related to the focused request. Many requests at the same time diminishes your focus so I keep it simply to one. In any event if more bubble up, write them down. A written dream is a goal. A goal with action steps is a plan. Write down your thoughts, questions, and action steps on paper. Do this before you are under the covers. Once in bed, find your three wins then make your request. As you drift off to deep slumber the balance of your mind will be working for you on your behalf.

While you’re sleeping, your subconscious mind will get to work on those things.  First thing in the morning, when your creative brain is fired up, after the subconscious worked while you slept, write down the thoughts that have bubbled up about those things.  I get so many ideas from this method for the betterment of myself, my family, my practice, and the Bar. Now, the prescription I wrote works wonders but personally don’t always take the medicine. Sometimes, I am not as diligent as I should be with the requests and sometimes forget to document the wins but if I walk the path and mostly mark forward progress, I realize that there is no destination at all just the path itself. Insights and clarity are the result of this practice. And practice is what you must do. Like exercising a physical muscle the subconscious mind must be put through its paces. Work at it and the creative benefits will be amazing.

“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” — James Allen

As attorneys we are no strangers to deep thinking, problem solving, research and clarifying arguments. Think about your own life with the same rigor. Mentally focus on a request and subconsciously think of a solution. The insight will pop into your head as you wake up or as you are in the shower or on your drive to work. Mental creation precedes physical creation. There is a blueprint before a building.  Your thoughts are the blueprint of the life you are building one day at a time. When you learn to focus the mind as you lay down to sleep on three wins and a request; your conscious and subconscious work for you and cause the conditions in your daily living to achieve your goals.

__________

Thanks for a great year. Much obliged to all who assisted me in service to the Bar; too many to mention by name but you know who you are. You have my undying support and I am a good friend to have. The support and outreach to me personally and to the Bar Association has been wonderful. The involvement of membership through our meetings, CLE programming and in person events has been amazing. I look forward to the Presidency of Adam Orlow who will take us to unprecedented heights. No doubt he will use the past year as bedrock and build upon it. President Orlow with the Board shall look at this year and improve upon it. We increased outside funding-he will expand it. We diversified -he will expand on that proposition. We had fantastic rapport with the Courts -that will continue to flourish with additional Judicial support and presence. We had more CLE’s and Committee Meetings than ever before and we plan to grow our programming. We had a few in person events-there will be many more. Ever upward.

Thank you for letting me be the President of the QCBA; a long-standing goal and career highlight. I leave on this note. There is only winning and learning. Wins come in big and small shapes. When we don’t win, we learn. I won and learned a lot this year. There is an ever upward spiral -when I win, it feels good, and I like to win and when the win is just out of reach, I learn. I like to learn because it helps me win next time. Please adopt that that vocabulary.

Live in the magic. One moment at a time; one day at a time; all the time. No moment can be taken for granted.

- Frank Bruno, Jr.