I Am Your SM and I Own You.

Allow me to introduce myself. You may think you know me, but I guarantee you, you don’t. I am your subconscious mind and I own you.

That’s right; you can talk about free will, free choice, master of your destiny, whatever cliche you want to use, but the fact is, if I’m not cool with whatever it is you want to do, it’s not going to happen.

Why? Because I am of more than 75% of what you consider “your mind”. Your logic, your decision making process, your thoughts, what you “think” you want, that’s less than 20% percent of your mind. So guess who has the upper hand?

Remember that time you tried to quit smoking? It didn’t last very long, did it? That’s because I like when you smoke. You’ve been smoking since you were 15, you feel good when you smoke, keeps you thin, calms you down, why on earth do you think I would want to change that?

Or how about when you decided that this time you were going to stick with that diet. You really thought you could go to that party and not mack down on chips and leave those cookies on the table. Wrong. To me, food is love, baby. Food is comfort, security, home, Grandma, happiness. And when the going gets tough, your SM gets hungry!

Let me give you a peek into how I work: I don’t like change!! I don’t like new!! I like things to stay the same, I like what is known and familiar. Can you blame me? And make no mistake, I WILL sabotage your best efforts to change things around. Sorry! But don’t be mad at me! I’m just doing my job!

I’m part of the package, don’t you know? Standard equipment. In fact, I’ve got news for you. I’m on your side! That’s right, my job is to look out for you, protect you and keep you from the big, bad, scary unknown. I absolutely loathe the unknown and the unfamiliar!

But I gotta hand it to you, sometimes you make it really easy for me to have my way. For example, that budget you were trying so hard to stick with so you could pay down those credit cards? Well, every time you sit in front of the television I get hypnotized by all the latest crap you could be spending your hard earned money on. You know you don’t need it, but so what? I do!! (Oh, and all those junk food commercials…I’m loving it!)

See, through repetition and with the help of the best and brightest on Mad Avenue, I’m convinced that if you buy, buy, buy you’ll look sexier, get smarter, have more fun, laugh more, be cooler, have more friends, and life will be wonderful all the time! Fiscal constraint? What’s that?? Just shut down your thinking process, sit in front of the master manipulator, and let all those advertising messages flow right in to the control center, which, by the way, is me.

Alright, I suppose I should give you some good news: You’re in charge! I’m the genie and your wish is my command.  If my drive to stay the same is keeping you from your goals, dreams and desires, it’s only because you’re allowing that! I’m just responding to how you choose to program me. Keep showing me the same thing over and over again and eventually, that’s where I’ll go. Kinda like your dog.

You know how you always say “what a pain in the neck”? It’s like, your favorite expression. Well, I assumed that’s what you wanted since you were always talking about it so I gave you a pain in the neck. Happy? Your is.

Wonder why you’re angry all the time? Just keep listening to news and talk radio that is confrontational, divisive and designed to piss you off! Hey, it’s my job to give back to you whatever you put in front of me. So don’t blame me, luv, I’m just following the directions.

You say over and over “You can’t trust anybody!” Great! I’ll keep bringing those untrustworthy people into your life to support that belief.

You know, I really do see myself as a Rolls Royce, but you treat me like an old beat up bicycle, not really caring what direction you steer me in, going over curbs and cliffs, leaving me exposed to the wind and rain. We could be riding on the road to excellence but instead, we’re skidding through the gutter of useless worries, mindless distractions, and getting thrown by all the “what if” potholes.

It’s a shame, really, that you don’t care for me the way you should, letting any and all influences at me, regardless of their quality.  Because I think that if we worked together, we could do some awesomely cool stuff. Like when you got your degree when you had no idea how you were going to do it. Or when you became successful in business after they all said you were finished. That’s what I’m talking about.

My feeling is that a mind totally focused, both conscious and subconscious working together, is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, but what do I know? However, on those occasions when you really knocked it out of the park, you were focused on what you wanted to create. You kept giving me over and over the results that you wanted. You imagined what it felt like, looked like, tasted like, sounded like. You didn’t allow the seed of doubt to sprout and infect your grand plans.

I love garden metaphors! A guy once said that all we have is the seed and the soil, and that’s all I am. I may own you, but will you take ownership of me?

Love you,

Your SM