每日原则: 要明白，意识与潜意识在不断斗争

和动物一样，我们决策的很多驱动因素都是潜在地发生的。人类做出很多关于如何行动的决定，但动物并不会“决定”飞行、捕食、睡眠与争斗，而只是遵循来自其大脑潜意识区域的指示。我们大脑里的潜意识区域也会向我们发出同样类型的指示，这种指示有时有合理的进化意义，有时也会损害我们。潜意识里的恐惧和欲望通过爱、恐惧、灵感等情绪，让我们产生各种意图和行为。这是生理性的。例如，爱意就是脑下垂体分泌的各种化学物质（如催产素）产生的。

尽管我一直认为符合逻辑的讨论是找到事实真相的最佳途径，但在学到了这些关于大脑的新知识后，我开始明白我们大脑很多区域的行为并不符合逻辑。例如我了解到，当人们提到自己的“情绪”（比如说“我觉得你对待我不公正”）时，他们通常指的是源自大脑情绪性、潜意识区域的信号。我还明白了，尽管我们大脑的一些潜意识区域具有危险的动物性，但另一些潜意识区域比意识区域更聪明，反应更快。我们的灵感大爆发往往就是从潜意识区域“喷出”的。我们经历这些创造性突破的时刻，通常是在放松、不试图与它们所在的大脑区域（通常是新皮层）沟通的时候。当你说“我刚刚想到了什么事”时，你就是注意到了你的潜意识正在告诉意识一些东西。加以训练，就可能开启这个通信流。

许多人只看到意识而不知道将其与潜意识连接的好处。他们认为，想出更多东西的方式是不断往意识里塞东西，让它更勤奋地工作，但这样做往往适得其反。尽管看起来有些违反直觉，但清理你的头脑可能是取得进展的最佳途径。

知道了这一点，我现在明白了，为什么我通常在放松（如淋浴）时产生创意，以及冥想如何有助于打通这种联系。因为这是生理性的，所以我真的能感觉到，创造性的想法在从其他地方流入我的意识。弄明白这回事，感觉真是太好了。

但也要谨慎行事：我已经养成习惯，当我的潜意识给我想法和提示时，我不是马上按照其行动，而是先用我的理性意识去分析它们。我发现，这么做除了能帮助我分清哪些想法是有效的，我为什么会对这些想法产生特定的反应，还能让我的意识与潜意识之间的通信变得更多。把这一过程产生的结果写下来是有帮助的。事实上，我的《原则》就是这么写出来的。

本条想要告诉你的最重要的东西是什么？注意你的潜意识：为什么说它既可能伤害你也能帮助你？如何清醒地思考潜意识产生的东西？也许在其他人的帮助下，通过这么做，你会变得更快乐、更高效。

Earlier in an earlier Principle of the Day, I introduced the concept of the “two yous” and explained how your higher-level you can look down on your lower-level you to make sure that your lower-level you isn’t sabotaging what your higher-level you wants. Though I’ve often seen these two yous in action in myself and others, it wasn’t until I learned why they exist that I really understood them.

As with animals, many of our decision-making drivers are below the surface. An animal doesn’t “decide” to fly or hunt or sleep or fight in the way that we go about making many of our own choices of what to do—it simply follows the instructions that come from the subconscious parts of its brain. These same sorts of instructions come to us from the same parts of our brains, sometimes for good evolutionary reasons and sometimes to our detriment. Our subconscious fears and desires drive our motivations and actions through emotions such as love, fear, and inspiration. It’s physiological. Love, for example, is a cocktail of chemicals (such as oxytocin) secreted by the pituitary gland.

While I had always assumed that logical conversation is the best way for people to get at what is true, armed with this new knowledge about the brain, I came to understand that there are large parts of our brains that don’t do what is logical. For example, I learned that when people refer to their “feelings”—such as saying “I feel that you were unfair with me”—they are typically referring to messages that originate in the emotional, subconscious parts of their brains. I also came to understand that while some subconscious parts of our brains are dangerously animalistic, others are smarter and quicker than our conscious minds. 

Our greatest moments of inspiration often “pop” up from our subconscious. We experience these creative breakthroughs when we are relaxed and not trying to access the part of the brain in which they reside, which is generally the neocortex. When you say, “I just thought of something,” you noticed your subconscious mind telling your conscious mind something. With training, it’s possible to open this stream of communication. 

Many people only see the conscious mind and aren’t aware of the benefits of connecting it to the subconscious. They believe that the way to accomplish more is to cram more into the conscious mind and make it work harder, but this is often counterproductive. While it may seem counterintuitive, clearing your head can be the best way to make progress. 

Knowing this, I now understand why creativity comes to me when I relax (like when I’m in the shower) and how meditation helps open this connection. Because it is physiological, I can actually feel the creative thoughts coming from elsewhere and flowing into my conscious mind. It’s a kick to understand how that works. 

But a note of caution is in order too: When thoughts and instructions come to me from my subconscious, rather than acting on them immediately, I have gotten into the habit of examining them with my conscious, logical mind. I have found that in addition to helping me figure out which thoughts are valid and why I am reacting to them as I do, doing this opens further communication between my conscious and subconscious minds. It’s helpful to write down the results of this process. In fact that’s how my Principles came about. 

If you take nothing else away from this chapter these next series of principles, be aware of your subconscious—of how it can both harm you and help you, and how by consciously reflecting on what comes out of it, perhaps with the help of others, you can become happier and more effective.