What is an example of subconscious?

meaning of conscious

before we get to know what subconscious means lets first know the meaning of conscious. Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. So consciousness first is a state and it involves the mind. So when you are aware of your environment and of yourself, its when we say you are conscious. SO after you have come to conscious about been conscious and consciousness, we can now get to know what subconscious means.

Meaning of Subconscious

subconscious can simply mean the state of not been aware of your action which are taking place but it has influence on your actions and the way you feel. In other words is the part of the brain which runs in the background without you full awareness and it responsible for controlling all the body activities which operates without you been fully aware. According to Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970), subconscious is the part of consciousness that is not currently in focal awareness. The word "subconscious" represents an anglicized version of the French subconscient as coined by the psychologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947), who argued that underneath the layers of critical-thought functions of the conscious mind lay a powerful awareness that he called the subconscious mind. Here an important question rises which involves the difference between subconscious and unconscious.

Difference between Subconscious and unconscious

It's kind of confusing between subconscious and unconscious. according to Sigmund Freud first used the term "subconscious" in 1893 to describe associations and impulses that are not accessible to consciousness. He later abandoned the term in favor of unconscious.

Sigmund Freud noted that,
"If someone talks of subconsciousness, I cannot tell whether he means the term topographically – to indicate something lying in the mind beneath consciousness – or qualitatively – to indicate another consciousness, a subterranean one, as it were. He is probably not clear about any of it. The only trustworthy antithesis is between conscious and unconscious."
In 1896, in Letter 52, Freud introduced the stratification of mental processes, noting that memory-traces are occasionally re-arranged in accordance with new circumstances. In this theory, he differentiated between Wahrnehmungszeichen ("Indication of perception"), Unbewusstein ("the unconscious") and Vorbewusstein ("the Preconscious"). From this point forward, Freud no longer used the term "subconscious" because, in his opinion, it failed to differentiate whether content and the processing occurred in the unconscious or preconscious mind

Sigmund Freud explained very well the differences on the two terminologies which are used in psychology. He preferred to use unconscious because subconscious sailed to differentiate whether content and the processing occurred in preconscious mind. so lets see the examples of subconscious.

Examples of subconscious activities which you always do

here is an example of a real life situation of the operation of the subconscious mind. I found this example in the quora so it will help you understand how subconscious operates. Here is the example.

You lose your keys and you are looking for them all over the house.

But you can't find them.

So,you are getting frustrated and upset.

You tried hard to think, but you just can't recall where they are.

Then you sit down and something distract you.

Then, in that moment you remember,"The keys are right on the desk in over the TV"!!

What happen there?

You were consciously trying to remember where you keys where and couldn't,but then you mind focused on something else,while your subconscious mind keep working on looking for you keys.

Get it?

Most of us in this kind of situation we will just say "now i remember where i put my keys" and that is the operation of your subconscious mind. it keep working without knowing and influences your emotions and actions. another good example is when you just come across your friend and he/she is singing a certain song which you all know about, And after few minutes you will find yourself singing the same song in you mind or even singing it out loud.

Here is a good example of subconscious mind which i just read it from quora, yeah i know your subsconscious mind is telling you already that I like reading things in Quora and its true, people share interesting things in there. Ok! here is the example its in a form of a story.

Scene 1.

I was sitting in my friend's room chatting. News came that this year a new company will be coming to the campus.

I opened training and placement portal on my friend's laptop to check the details like salary and exam date.

As the login screen popped up, I realised I don't remember the password. I cursed myself for being so careless and forgetful. Then returned to my room as the account was already logged in in my laptop.

Scene 2:

Aptitude test was about to start for the above mentioned company. We were sitting in computer lab. Test was being delayed due to some internet issues. Somehow the internet on my system was working fine. So, to pass the time I started reading a post by “Wait but why” on neuralink. That post was very interesting. I am a great fan of Elon Musk so I was liking it even more. I was totally immersed in that post.

The invigilator asked all of us to download our resumes as we will be needing them to upload on the test portal before the test begins.

I was reluctant to leave that blog post for anything. But it was the matter of placements so I half heartedly logged in to TPO portal, downloaded my resume as I wanted to go back to my article as soon as possible. It was only after I finished the article I realised that it has been 2 hours and test hasn't been started yet.

Then I noticed the resume which I saved earlier on the desktop. Then, at that moment, it dawned on me how the hell did I downloaded my resume. I didn't even remember my password. I was shocked beyond words. I tried my best to remember password again but I still am unable to recall it.

Such is the power of subconscious mind. I know the password is in there somewhere in my brain but I don't know how to access that part of my memory!

Do you have a unique Subconscious mind experience, I will love to hear your your story or experience it will help me and you understand the subconscious mind more. Leave a comment below