The unconscious mind represents our core self, while the conscious mind acts as a filter, helping us adapt thoughts and behaviors to fit societal norms. These filters are shaped by early life experiences and decisions we’ve made, guiding our responses to situations like honesty or personal risk. Over time, these filters stack and create habitual thought patterns that impact how we interact with the world. When certain filters restrict us due to trauma or limiting beliefs, they can lead to emotional conflicts and overthinking.

Through techniques like NLP and psychotherapy, we can revisit and modify these mental filters. By re-evaluating these beliefs, individuals can challenge outdated responses and shift behaviors to align better with current values and needs. Adjusting these filters not only transforms personal perspectives but also enhances our ability to engage openly and effectively within society.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:05 – Intro to the Question of Conscious vs. Unconscious Mind

00:50 – Unconscious Mind as the ‘Real You’

01:33 – Role of Filters in Thought and Behavior

02:44 – Example of Filters in Action

03:59 – Stacking of Filters Over Time

05:20 – Modification of Filters through NLP and Psychotherapy

07:47 – Childhood Trauma and Filters

09:19 – Role of Limiting Beliefs as Filters

10:50 – Modifying Filters to Improve Interaction with Society

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:05] All right. So I’m going to be out tomorrow. I’ve got a thing at the tag facility. But I want to do one of the questions I got, which is, I think also impossible for me to do. So I will. But, I mean, I think it can be fun to try. The question I got was, when I talk about like the NLP stuff and psychology and stuff, I mentioned the unconscious or the subconscious mind. What exactly is that? All right. So, I mean, I’m going to try to explain something that apparently Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and Dr. Peterson have not been able to explain very well to you. So. Ten minutes. All right. All right. So the unconscious mind is familiar with the concept. That’s where we’re start. If you’re not familiar, the concept art to explain the concept later. But the concept of the unconscious mind, what that actually is, is the unconscious of the subconscious mind is you. That is really the you. The filter that we put on it that we call the conscious mind. Those are your filter systems. And so what happens is that as you think a thought and then bounces off all of these filter systems and then gets jaded and altered back like so, the original thought is here, bounces around, comes out here, the conscious minds very important it what it’s what allows you to deal with society and kind of conform to a general flow of functional ideas.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:33] So whichever comes in, these filters are basically decisions you’ve already made. And so what that is so you’ve got a decision left, right? Yes. No. Do the thing. Do not do the thing. So those are your choices. And so what happens at an early age is you start to learn from trial and error or from other people. You respect that which of these two choices you should make, right? So you should be like, hey, when this choice comes up, always go right. Don’t go left. Like block off, left, always go right. So an example of this is lying, you know, So should you lie? The answer to that is no. Do we lie? Yeah. But should we lie? No. The answer is no. So what ends up happening is that when you have a thought like, you know, something happens like, I could lie, the idea is that that is in place and it bounces you off. Says Do not lie. Now, if you choose to break through that barrier and go through that anyway in a very deep functional filter, you end up with an emotional response. So with lying, if you choose to lie, you end up feeling guilty about it because you understand your core that that was a violation of that filter. Okay.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:44] And so that’s that’s how these filters work. So what ends up happening is you stack all these super important filters on top of the not so important filters as you go up. And then that kind of shapes your what we would consider your way of thinking. So and you can deal with this a lot of times people especially who overthink things will end up having as a thought comes up and then it pinballs around inside your hat, right? So it’s like, yeah, ego laughs like, we don’t want to go left because of these things. And it bounces you over here, music over here, this way. Like, we don’t go that way for this reason. And so it bounces around and ends up, okay, we’re going to go ahead and do this thing. So that’s how those things work. So the idea is that, you know, we have placed this conscious way of thinking this this, you know, axiomatic rules set of our own creation on top of who we are. So it filters the subconscious filters, who we are. So our conscious mind is filtering our subconscious mind. And the goal is that we get a more functional human being for society. So we drive society forward or we we interact within society in a manner that is more beneficial to not only ourselves, but society as a whole.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:59] So that’s the idea. The problem is, is that these filters are either learned by human beings or learned by emotional reactions. And so you might understand that not every one of these filters is where it should be, right? We might say don’t go left when lots of times you should go left. But we got traumatized by something earlier on in our lives. And so the idea of going left was at that time, maybe not today, but at that time very, very bad. And we were very scared. We were very unhappy. We were very damaged by the choice we took to go left, right. And so we’ve been like, I don’t want to do that ever again. And so we put a filter there to kind of block that function. And so some of those filters need to stay there because something happened to us, we got hurt and we’re like, I don’t want to go back through that pain. Whether it’s I jumped off this thing and broke my ankle, I shouldn’t jump off high things, right? Proper, a proper filter. Don’t jump off things. You might break your ankles. Great. You know, or I trusted this person. They hurt me. And so I should never be in a relationship again. Not necessarily the right filter to put in place. So you can go back through. And the idea of an LP, the idea of psychotherapy, the idea of all these things is that you can go back and be like, Hey, I’m going to talk to the subconscious mind.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:20] I’m going to talk to the subconscious, subconscious mind that put the filter in place and we’re going to discuss the validity of that filter and then either remove it entirely or we’re going to tweak it or alter it, or we’re going to, you know, change to the other side or do whatever, right? So that’s kind of the idea of the conscious, subconscious mind. And that’s. People say, Well, your subconscious mind is kind of like a 4 or 5 year old. Yeah, that’s, you know, if you really start thinking about when are you finally conscious enough as a person to start putting filters in place to restrict or alter your personality or your actions to become, you know, what we want to do? Like, so, you know, a child who acts well, keeps themselves are having the self-control to not do the things that society finds abhorrent or, you know, against the ease of the flow. Right. And so by putting these filters in place and helping put your children’s children soldiers in place, you change how they act and who they are. And so that’s what those filters are. And that’s kind of the difference between the conscious and the subconscious is the is the conscious mind is the way that we filter who we are to then produce a better human being.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:34] So the filters aren’t good or bad, which is most things in the world. They get a lot of, you know, morality judgment on them, but they’re not necessarily good or bad. They just are what they are. And so. Going back through and helping to reframe those. Look at this situation from a different angle that you were not. For whatever reason. And there’s a giant amount of reasons and this is topic to get into for hours. For some whatever reason you weren’t able to see at the time. And so you put a filter in the wrong spot or you tightened it down too much type of thing. So that’s where a lot of the where all screwed up thing comes from because, I mean, think about that from, you know, your core, your most important values, your most important filters are the ones you set the longest ago. Which is why childhood trauma is a big, big, big, big, big deal for adults because you set filters a long time ago and your choices are then predicated on the filters you set when you were younger. So if you had something highly traumatic happen to you and it was like, don’t go that way. And there’s a lot of choices that live down that path that you’ve already shut off that filters.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:47] So you’re not going to do any of the things over here. Well. That’s going to change you a lot. So, you know, that’s that’s why these early childhood traumas are so important to, you know, recognize and then rectify. But that’s kind of the that’s kind of the idea. It’s the best I could do in a stream of consciousness in under ten minutes. So if that doesn’t help you at all, I totally understand. Because because every little piece of that, the filter system, the who you are, the how society places these things on us, how we choose to have these things put on, whether we choose or not. Like there’s a gigantic on a rabbit holes that are all through through. This is what makes psychology fun. But that’s the premise of denial. So, well, in psychotherapy, the whole deal in NLP is just a a more recognized. We just want to talk to the unconscious mind. Like we don’t want to deal with the logical consciousness function of it. We just want to deal with the unconscious mind. Figure out what’s going on and then, you know, bring light to the where the filters are and see if they disappear under, you know, as you walk through the unconscious mind through. Like a semester. I explain that. Through a program. So like, here’s the idea. Walk through it like this. Do you still see it the same way you used to say it? You’re like, No, I see it totally differently now. Great. How do you feel? I feel a lot better. Yeah, because that that filter was blocking all things from. From working.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:19] So that’s what they do with, like, the negative emotion release. That’s what they do with parts or limiting beliefs or things like that. So limiting beliefs is a great filter idea. It’s, you know. You did something, you got embarrassed, you got hurt, you had something happen to you. And so you’re like, okay, I’m going to block this piece off and I’m not going to allow myself to think or do these things. And limiting beliefs you could talk about for an hour or two. But, you know, they’re not there. Again, they’re not negative or positive. It’s just once you decide something, then you’re kind of shut off the options from the other side, Right? So a lot of times as they. Political. You know, a lot of people are either Republican or Democrat and they get really tribal in this. And so, you know, regardless of which side they’re on, the other side’s wrong. Like, they won’t even they wouldn’t even logically go in to the topic. It’s just that side’s wrong. That’s it. And so that’s that’s how some of the times these these things get really, really, really sad. And we don’t even think about the downstream ramifications of stuff. But that’s kind of the idea. I’m sure that was more confusing. It was helpful.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:29] But just remember the idea that our filter system is something that we’ve created between us and society. We’ve accepted that end and that not all of those filters are in the right spot and that there are techniques like an LP, there’s some, you know, hypnosis stuff, obviously psychotherapy. We just sit and talk to people about examining and then modifying these filter systems to change the way we look at the world, the way we think about the world. And by changing that, we can change who we are and the way we act. That’s kind of and that way we feel. And that’s kind of how that one plays out. So sorry if it was confusing, but that was the that was the question I keep getting when I’m talking to patients are here. So if you have any other questions, some questions at Chalmers on WSJ.com or just drop in in the comments. Thanks for your time.

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

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