The Growth Mindset Book Podcast: Mindset Mastery Chapter by Chapter

Transform Your Life with Conscious Thought Choices

• Michael Fox • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Ready to unlock the secrets of your mind's incredible potential? Discover how understanding the dual roles of your conscious and subconscious mind can transform your life. Imagine your mind as a garden, where every thought is a seed that can flourish into a life of positivity—or negativity. Learn the art of conscious thought selection and how to nurture the right mindset for achieving your goals and dreams.

Through the stories of Joe and Mary, you'll see firsthand how our thoughts shape our realities. Joe's negative mindset traps him in a cycle of dissatisfaction, while Mary harnesses the power of positivity to cultivate joy and gratitude. Both serve as vivid examples that highlight the immense impact our internal narratives have on our life's experiences. By taking charge of your thoughts, you too can overcome challenges and start creating the life you desire.

It's time to tune in to the power within yourself. Examine the influence of daily information consumption—from media to social interactions—and discover how it affects your subconscious. By consciously choosing positivity and avoiding negative influences, you can transform your life from the inside out. Join us on this journey of self-discovery and empowerment, and let's celebrate the small steps we take toward a brighter future.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back for episode two. I got some really good feedback from a number of people and I'm always going to try to implement that feedback in the show so that it keeps getting better and better. So if you have feedback, if you'd like to see certain things done in a certain way, if you'd like me to add certain things, throw it out there as feedback. It doesn't mean I'm necessarily always going to do it, but the fact that you're sharing it with me I will absolutely take it into consideration. So two pieces of feedback I got from the last show were one when I'm reading the book, make sure to mention that I'm back to the book, and then when I'm doing commentary, say here is the commentary. So I'll go back and forth that way, so it's not confusing as to whether I'm giving commentary or whether I'm actually reading from the commentary. So I'll go back and forth that way, so it's not confusing whether I'm giving commentary or whether I'm actually reading from the book. Number two was just take a pause. From time to time I have a tendency to get really excited about what I'm teaching because I believe in it from the bottom of my heart. So at times I start going on, and on and on and on, because I'm so passionate about it. I will try to give a bit of a pause from time to time, as I'm doing the show as well. So remember, if you have any feedback, please submit it to the show. That said.

Speaker 1:

Show that said, let's jump over to the book the Duality of Mind. You have one mind, but your mind possesses two distinctive characteristics. The line of demarcation between the two is well known to all thinking men and women today. The two functions of your mind are essentially unlike. Each is endowed with separate and distinct attributes and powers. Now some commentary on what we just read.

Speaker 1:

What does that mean? So there are two parts to the mind, and this is really important. There is the conscious mind, which is the thinking part of the mind. It's when we have thoughts. I may wake up in the morning and start to think about my day. I've got to do this, I got to hurry up because if I don't move faster I'm not going to make it on time. And then I have that meeting. And then, after that meeting, I have the client that I've got to meet in the office. That's all done in the conscious part of your mind. It's your ability to think.

Speaker 1:

When someone is talking to you and you're not necessarily paying attention, you're thinking in your mind. That is using your conscious mind. You're thinking about the next thing that you're going to say. Mind, that is using your conscious mind. You're thinking about the next thing that you're going to say. That's using your conscious mind. So when we're taking time to think about a situation, that's using our conscious mind. That's one part of our mind. The other part of our mind is the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is a deeper level of our mind.

Speaker 1:

The beauty of the subconscious mind is it does what it's instructed to do. So, again, that can be a good thing or a bad thing. The subconscious mind, when instructed to be worried about that upcoming meeting or be worried about how much money I have in the bank, our subconscious mind doesn't question anything. It accepts everything we plant into it. Again, it's like having a garden and I take a seed and I plant it in the garden. If I take a corn seed and I plant it in the garden, the garden is going to grow corn. That's just the way it works. And it's the same thing here. Whatever I choose to plant into the subconscious mind, that will grow. So, again, if I choose to plant seeds of worry, seeds of doubt, seeds of fear, that's what's going to grow in the subconscious mind. That's what's going to grow in the subconscious mind.

Speaker 1:

The subconscious mind acts like a genie. If we go up to a genie, we have the genie lamp and we open the lamp and the genie appears. Whatever we ask the genie, the genie will grant our wish. The genie will help us create what it is that we want and so choose the subconscious mind. It is that we want, and so too is the subconscious mind. Whatever I choose to plant into my subconscious mind, the subconscious mind isn't going to say, michael, that's not a good idea to plant that, because that's negative. It's going to say your wish is my command. So we must realize we have this power inside of us and we're in control, in the sense of we choose the seeds that we're going to plant in that garden. So if we know this to be the case, we want to consistently be placing seeds of kindness, love, compassion, happiness, peace, health, wealth, prosperity, all the positive thoughts that we can put in there. That would be the best thing that we can do, because the subconscious mind is going to grant us more of the same.

Speaker 1:

If we're not aware of this, what ends up happening is we go on autopilot and when we're on autopilot, unfortunately a lot of the time we take negative thoughts and we plant those negative thoughts into the subconscious mind. And then the subconscious mind says oh, you want more negative? Sure. You want to be worried about money? Sure, here's more reasons to be worried. And you want to be worried about your business? Sure, no problem, here's more reasons to be worried.

Speaker 1:

Our control is how am I choosing to use my thoughts? Am I choosing to use them as positive? Am I choosing to use them as negative? And whichever way I choose, the subconscious mind will say your wish is my command. I will give you more of the same and I want to reiterate this piece. To reiterate this piece, our subconscious mind, as mentioned in the first podcast, is responsible for all the systems in our body our heart, our lungs, our liver, our pancreas, our digestive system. Everything that happens in our body automatically is controlled by the subconscious mind. So if it is able to handle all those systems by itself, wouldn't we want to take seeds of things that we want and plant it into the same system that handles all of these other systems in our body and trust that if it can handle all those other systems, perhaps when I plant a seed of something that I want in my life, I'll trust that it's going to give me ideas, it's going to bring people into my life. It's going to come up with all different ways for me to get what I want. So we have the choice and our choice is do I choose to plant things I want or do I choose to plant things I don't want? If you don't pay attention, it will automatically go into autopilot and most of the time you're going to be planting negative things, things that you don't want.

Speaker 1:

Now let's go back to the book. Each is endowed with separate and distinct attributes and powers. The nomenclature generally used to distinguish the two functions of your mind is as follows the objective and subjective mind. Again, another word for that is the conscious and the subconscious. Objective is conscious, subjective is subconscious. The conscious and subconscious mind, the waking and sleeping mind, the surface self and the deep self, the voluntary mind and the involuntary mind, the male and the female and many other terms. You'll find the terms conscious and subconscious used to represent the dual nature of your mind throughout this book. Here are some commentary Again. Conscious and subconscious can be called many different things, but for us, throughout the book, let's just stay focused on the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is the mind that we have control over, and the subconscious mind is the mind that handles everything else for us. Whatever we plant in it, it will accept as true and it will give more of the same to us. Back to the book, and I love this next paragraph the conscious and subconscious minds.

Speaker 1:

An excellent way to get acquainted with the two functions of your mind is to look upon your own mind as a garden. You are a gardener and you are planting seeds. Seeds can be known as thoughts in your subconscious mind all day long, based on your habitual thinking. As you sow the subconscious mind, so shall you reap in your body and environment. Commentary this is what we were just talking about. The seeds that we're planting in our subconscious mind are thoughts. Are they positive thoughts? Are they happy thoughts? Are they joyful thoughts? Are they caring thoughts? Are they loving thoughts or are they worried, doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, tight thoughts? Whatever we plant, the subconscious mind does not care. It will give us more of the same.

Speaker 1:

Back to the book. Begin now to sow thoughts of peace, happiness, right action, goodwill and prosperity. Think quietly and with interest on these qualities and accept them fully in your conscious reasoning mind. Continue to plant these wonderful seeds or thoughts, in the garment of your mind and you will reap a glorious harvest. Your subconscious mind may be likened to the soil which will grow all kinds of seeds, good or bad. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Each thought is therefore a cause and every condition is an effect. Here's commentary. Every condition is in effect. Here's commentary. Let's look at two different examples of everyday life that you might experience. So let's look at Joe.

Speaker 1:

Joe wakes up in the morning and he knows he's supposed to go to the gym at 8 am. He gets up and he starts thinking to himself I really don't feel like going to the gym, I'm tired, I have other things I can do, I don't want to go. Plants those seeds in his subconscious mind. Subconscious says okay, I'll give you whatever you want. So he doesn't go to the gym. Now he starts thinking thoughts why do I always do this? I always know what I should be doing, but I never do what I know I should do. That gets planted in his subconscious. Then he goes to work. He gets to work and he has a meeting at 930. Right before the meeting he's thinking I really don't want to be here, I have to see an I-boss, I have to see that other person that I don't like and I really can't stand it. They're always looking for ways to criticize me and point out things that I'm not doing right. He goes into the meeting. The subconscious mind says oh okay, I'll accept whatever you plant in there.

Speaker 1:

His experience when he goes to the meeting is people are critical, people are coming at him. He's not happy and it goes just like he had planned in his mind. Later that day he thinks about a fight that he had with his wife the night before and he thinks she's so ungrateful. I really don't like being around her. Sometimes I wonder why I'm in this relationship. I'm really not happy with her. He goes home and he experiences more of the same. He's writing his own story. He's using his words. He's using his thoughts to create what he's about to go, experience that will become his life. Because he was responsible, because he was having the thoughts, he put those thoughts into his subconscious mind. His subconscious mind said yep, here you go, more of the same, and that cycle continues over and over and repeats over and over. Because if we don't take advantage of our conscious mind, our thinking mind, and choose which thoughts we're going to plant in the subconscious mind, then our life will unfold exactly as we planned it to be, by either the words that we're speaking or the thoughts that we're thinking. So just notice how much control you really do have if you use the power of your conscious mind to plant the right seeds.

Speaker 1:

Now let's look at another person Mary. Mary wakes up and her plan is to go to the gym and she thinks oh, I can't wait to go to the gym. I had such a good workout the other day. I'm really excited to get back to this. I've been losing weight, I've been looking good, I've been feeling good. These are the seeds that she's planting in her subconscious mind. So she goes to the gym and has a great workout and feels really good. She gets back from the gym and she's about to go to work and she has a meeting that morning and she says today I have the opportunity to make a difference in my job, in my business, with all the people that I'm around, and she's excited about it. I'm excited about the opportunities that I have today. Those are the seeds she plants in her subconscious mind and then she goes into work and she has a great meeting because she planted those seeds in advance. Next she thinks about her husband and she says I am so lucky, I am so grateful, I'm so grateful to have such a caring and compassionate person in my life. I really appreciate and I'm grateful for all the things in my life seeds that she's planting in her subconscious mind. Her experience will follow suit. When she goes home, she will experience gratitude in her house and in her relationship. Why? Because these are the seeds that she's consistently planting in her subconscious mind.

Speaker 1:

So again, you have so much power. We just have to choose to use that power. And the way that we use the power is by choosing the thoughts that we're going to think and the words that we're going to speak, because those two things are going to be planted into the subconscious and create our experience. The repetition that I'm using do you see why I'm doing it? I want you to hear this message over and over, because once we really get this, we're going to have awareness in our life of the words that we're thinking about and speaking on a consistent basis and when we catch ourselves using words that are negative, we're going to switch those out and we're going to change them and we're going to plant seeds that we want, not the seeds that we don't want, because if we plant the seeds that we don't want, we're going to have more of what we don't want in our life. Making sense Great.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back to the book. For this reason, it is essential that you take charge of your thoughts so it brings forth only desirable conditions. When your mind thinks correctly, when you understand the truth, when the thoughts deposited in your subconscious mind are constructive, harmonious and peaceful, the magic working power of your subconscious mind will respond and bring about harmonious conditions, agreeable surroundings and the best of everything. Agreeable surroundings and the best of everything. When you begin to control your thought processes, you can apply the powers of your subconscious to any problem or difficulty. Let me repeat that again when you begin to control your thought processes, you can apply the powers of your subconscious to any problem or difficulty. In other words, you will actually be consciously cooperating with the infinite power and omnipotent law that governs all things. Commentary we are in complete control.

Speaker 1:

In the past may have pointed the finger out there and blamed other things, other people, for why we are feeling the way that we feel, why we're experiencing the life that we're experiencing, and what I'm telling you is that you can do that all day long and unfortunately, that's not going to change anything. Actually, all that that will do blaming, complaining and make excuses is going to bring more of that negativity into your life, because that's the law. That's how the subconscious mind works. So what do we want to do? What do we want to do on a consistent basis? We want to consistently be paying attention to our words and our thoughts.

Speaker 1:

So if you're feeling sad or you're feeling down, there's only one reason for that negative feeling, and that would be the thoughts or words that you just planted in the subconscious mind. So let's say you're feeling sad about something that someone recently said to you. You may have been replaying those thoughts over and over in your mind, and when you're replaying those thoughts over and over in your mind, those are being planted in your subconscious mind and so it becomes a mind loop. Your mind starts to loop over and over with the negative thoughts, negative feelings, negative thoughts, negative feelings. Why did she do that to me. Oh my God, I feel really down. Why are they always like this? Oh my God, I feel really worried and anxious. The only reason that you are feeling a negative feeling is because of your habitual way of thinking, because, again, most people aren't aware how they think. They're just on autopilot, they're just allowing their thoughts to continuously go.

Speaker 1:

And here's the thing If we can just catch ourselves when we're not feeling good, it will be a great indicator that our thought process is off and we're planting negative seeds in the garden. And all we have to do at that point is I'm noticing that I'm not feeling good. I'm going to completely shift the way that I'm thinking, and if you do that, you will feel great. And if you don't do that, you're going to continue to feel the same negativity that you've been feeling all along. You have the power, you have the strength, you have the ability to do this. It's just no one ever taught us that in school. No one ever said this is how your mind works and this is how you can use it to your advantage. So now that we are learning the rules, we have to take responsibility for our life. We have to take responsibility for this new process, because now we understand that our thoughts and our words will create our experience, because it's a law. So it wasn't necessarily our fault that we were feeling negative and feeling down and feeling feelings that we didn't want to feel, but now it is, because now we're aware of what's going on and we have the tools to be able to shift it. And the way that we do that is by just shifting the thoughts that you're thinking and the words that you're speaking.

Speaker 1:

Let me give you another example. I have a client. I'm talking to him. He's feeling pretty down. I say what are you thinking about? And he says well, I looked at my numbers and my numbers are off in comparison to other people that I work with. So he was comparing his number to someone else's number. I said to him what's the only thing that you have control over? And he said well, I have control over the actions. And I said what actions are they? And he said I have the ability to make calls and follow up with people and get in front of more people. I said that's right, those are the actions that you have control over. So if you continue to think about the person over there, what will be your experience, and the experience will be more of that negativity. But I said, if you just use your control now and you focus on the thing that you do have control over, which is I have the ability to start making phone calls right now, and you start making those phone calls and you stay focused on how can I help this person that I'm actually speaking with right now, what will your experience be? And, of course, he said well, yeah, that would change everything. I said, great, well, let's do it, and I want you to tell me in a couple hours how you're feeling. So he instead chose to focus not on comparing, but on what he had control over, which is to think positively and to take actions. In that way, thinking positively was how can I help this person that I'm going to speak with? And then, speaking and taking the action that he needed to do, he sent me a message a few hours later saying Mike, that was amazing, that really made a huge difference for me. And why do you think it made a huge difference? Because he started to plant new seeds into his subconscious mind and therefore, his experience completely changed.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back to the book. Look around you, wherever you live and you will notice that the vast majority of mankind lives in the world without. The more enlightened men are intensely interested in the world within. Remember it's the world within, namely your thoughts, feelings and imagery, that makes your world without. It is therefore the only creative power, and everything which you find in your world of expression has been created by you, in the inner world of your mind, consciously or unconsciously.

Speaker 1:

Commentary when you go to a party, what is the consistent thing that will happen? When you have a group of people talking? What I've found and tell me if you found this for yourself people have the tendency to start talking negatively about other people that aren't there with them. They may say something like oh did you see Mary? She always causes problems and I can't stand being around her. She's so negative. What is that person planting? Is that person planting seeds of positivity or negativity? Clearly it's negativity. Everyone in that group that's listening to that conversation. Are they planting seeds of positivity or negativity in their mind? Obviously negativity. So what will that group of people be consistently experiencing now? Because they're consistently planting negative seeds in their mind. They're going to be consistently experiencing more of the same and until they're willing to make a change to what they're planting in their subconscious mind, their experience of that negativity in their life will not change.

Speaker 1:

How about this? You go into someone's house and they have Fox News or CNN or MSNBC playing and it's just repetition of this negative news and that is coming into your mind and you're hearing the stories about rape, about a fire, about an accident, about a murder, and it keeps coming into your mind. Are you planting negative or positive seeds in your mind? Obviously you're planting negative seeds. If you allow that TV to be on and you don't block it out somehow, what's going to happen to your experience and your feeling in your world as it is right now? You're going to feel negative. How about you're sitting in the car and you're listening to a really sad song about a breakup, about how someone cheated on someone else, and that is going right into your mind, planting seeds into your subconscious mind. What do you think your experience may be as you move throughout the day? What do you think your experience will be when you think about relationships?

Speaker 1:

Is it possible that if you hear something in a song over and over which tells you consistently that people are cheating on other people, that you may have distrust for relationships and people. Why would that be? Because these seeds are being planted into your subconscious mind over and over and over and over again. When the news is planting stories over and over in your mind, negative things that are happening in the world, the president, is this politics? Is this? Whatever the message they're trying to get across? When they say that message over and over and over again, what do you think is being planted into your subconscious mind? The people in the media, the people in marketing, they are well aware of how the subconscious mind works.

Speaker 1:

The difference now is you're starting to learn what is actually happening, how they on the outside world are trying to control you on your inside world by planting in these seeds into your subconscious mind. Are you starting to get this? Does this make sense? I really want you to make sense. If it doesn't make sense, go back and listen to it again. And if it still doesn't make sense, listen to it again, because if you hear it enough times, this will make sense. I'm going to repeat it over and over. You're going to eventually say Mike, why do you keep saying this over and over? And I'm going to say to you the reason that I'm doing that is because I want this message to be in your subconscious mind. I want you to be aware consistently that the only reason you're not feeling good is because you've chosen to allow something, someone or your own thoughts to take over and program your subconscious mind. Get it. You have control, you have power, you have the strength, you are able to do this. It just takes practice.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back to the book A knowledge of the interaction of your conscious and subconscious minds will enable you to transform your entire life. I want to read that again Knowledge of the interaction of your conscious and subconscious minds will enable you to transform your entire life. In order to change external conditions, you must change the cause. Most men try to change conditions and circumstances by working with conditions and circumstances To remove discord, confusion, lack and limitation. You must remove the cause, and the cause is the way you are using your conscious mind, in other words, the way you are thinking and picturing in your mind. Commentary you have the power. You have this ability. You're learning it.

Speaker 1:

Now that you have the strength and wisdom now to apply this in your life and to start changing everything in your world, all by changing the way that you're thinking, the way that you're speaking, the way that you're not allowing yourself to tune into the news, you're not allowing yourself to listen to those sad songs, You're not allowing yourself to be in a group and allow them to talk negatively. If you do this and you step aside from those situations, you will stop planting those negative seeds and you will stop experiencing your world as being negative. You have all the power. You have all the control. The way that you change, it is internally. You change it by the way that you think and the way that you speak. It's not going to change by waiting for someone out there to change. The only way it changes is if you do the work. You have the power, you have the strength, you have the wisdom and you can do anything that you want. How do I know this? Because I've done it with so many people. I've watched people literally change completely by just applying this information in their life on a consistent basis.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back to the book. You are living in a fathomless sea of infinite riches. Your subconscious is very sensitive to your thoughts, your thoughts from the mold or matrix through which the infinite intelligence, wisdom, vital forces and energies of your subconscious flow. The practical application of the laws of your mind, as illustrated in each chapter of this book, will cause you to experience abundance rather than poverty, wisdom rather than superstition, peace for pain and joy for sadness, light for darkness, harmony for discord, faith and confidence for fear, success for failure, and freedom from the law of averages. Commentary things that you do not like experiencing anxiety, frustration, anger, upset, fear, worry, depression. All of those things can be completely shifted if we start shifting the seeds that we're planting into our subconscious mind. It is that simple. If you were to take what we just said and literally apply this in your life every single day, your entire life will change. We must change the inside, our thoughts and our words before we're going to see a shift on the outside. So if we spend a lot of time talking negatively about other people, you better believe that our experience of the world is going to continue to be negative. We must shift it immediately, because whatever we're consistently planting through our thoughts and our words into the subconscious mind will create our experience of the world.

Speaker 1:

I want to leave us on this note. I feel like what we cover today is really significant, really important. It's something that you should listen to again and again and again. I want to say this one last thing before we go. It may again seem like this is a challenging thing to do. Well, mike, how am I going to change my thoughts? I have so many thoughts in a day. You know what.

Speaker 1:

It reminds me of this story that I heard there was a little girl and she was on the beach and she had seen all these starfish wash up on shore. So what she would do is she would find one and she would take it and she'd throw it back into the water. And there was a man and he was walking down the beach and he noticed this girl from a distance and he saw her keep picking something up and throwing it into the water. And he got closer to her and he said little girl, what is it that you're doing? And she said, well, all these starfish washed up on the shore and I'm taking one and then I'm throwing it into the water and I'm picking another one and throwing it up into the water. And he says, well, there's so many, they're all over the beach, how are you going to be able to make a difference? And she picked up a starfish, she looked at him, she threw it into the water and she said I just made a difference to that one.

Speaker 1:

So when we're thinking we have to make a huge change in our life because we're having all these thoughts that are all over the beach, and how can I, how can I change all these negative thoughts? Here's the answer Like the little girl did, by picking up one starfish and throwing it into the water, you pick one thought and change it to a positive, and then you pick one thought and change it to a positive, and then pick up another thought and change it to a positive, and over time you will make a huge difference in your life. It is the practice of doing that that will make you a master. Get it, got it Good, please.

Speaker 1:

Your assignment until the next podcast is to practice this Practice noticing. What am I thinking? How am I feeling? Oh wait, I'm feeling negative. Great, I need to change my thoughts and I need to change my words and start practicing changing those. And I guarantee you, if you do it, you will get the results.

Speaker 1:

The one thing I always say to my clients they'll tell you over and over If you do the work, you'll get the results. You cannot get results if you don't practice. You have to practice over and over and over, and, before you know it, that beach that had all those thoughts all over it will suddenly be shifted and you will have positive thoughts on the beach and you will have positive thoughts on the beach and you will have positive results in your life. I believe in you. I care about you. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm proud of you. If you need something, reach out to me. If you have questions, reach out to me. If you have feedback for how we can make this show even better, please reach out to me. And the one ask that I have of you is, if you haven't already, follow the show, follow this podcast and, most importantly, share it with others. Have a wonderful day and I wish you an incredible week ahead.

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Michael Fox

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