“The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.” - Sigmund Frued
Freud, the first psychiatrist, recognized that our conscious minds have company.
Alert on the sunny deck of conscious thought, we sail always surrounded by a deep sea of subconscious thoughts and impulses.
The subconscious mind operates by its own rules
We feel completely in charge, yet how often the subconscious mind stealthily steers and even undermines our best intentions!
Take fear of success, for example.
The conscious mind is willing to make sacrifices, work hard, and carefully chart a course toward a golden island of success. Every conscious detail has been considered.
Only one obstacle, the dragon of the subconscious mind, has the power to scuttle the voyage to success
Even our vocabulary reflects the subterranean nature of this powerful obstacle with words like “undermine” and “subvert.”
We large brained humans all have within us a tiny brained dragon. That dragon of the subconscious craves, fears, avoids, ignores, and wants to lollygag.
The Dragon is not all bad.
Many of our most deeply felt and admirable impulses also find their origin in this strange creature that frolics and schemes well below the sunlit surface of rational thought and logic.
Although Freud’s objective was a complete understanding of the subconscious mind, most of us would settle for a way to keep the Dragon from stomping on our plans.
I am no psychologist but have devised a method to make my subconscious Dragon an ally instead of an obstacle to success.
The method is remarkably simple: I train my inner Dragon. Oh, it’s still extremely powerful and quite wild. But it can be trained.
How do you train your inner Dragon? Just like any other animal. Treats.
When you work hard to accomplish a goal, give yourself a treat. Do NOT reward yourself before accomplishing the goal and especially not if you fail.
A treat can be anything — ice cream, an electronic device, a day off, whatever. You know best.
Your subconscious Dragon knows all about treats
In fact, if your subconscious were completely in charge you would spend your days pursuing nothing but cheap thrills and sinful pleasures. Your Dragon is very self-indulgent. It indulges itself in childish shirking of responsibility and fear of the unknown, even when that unknown is success.
Make a plan to reward success
When you launch a project or undertake a stint of hard work, tell yourself that when it’s over, you will get a treat. Be very specific about the treat. Visualize it. Anticipate it. Roll it over in your mind.
Trust me, your Dragon is paying close attention.
Then set to work.
The unthinking beast has incredible power when harnessed and directed toward a goal. In fact, your Dragon is stronger than you, and possesses incredible stamina and unswerving persistence. With your Dragon as your ally you will rarely lose. Without its cooperation, you will rarely win.
You will never tame your dragon but you can train it.
Hi there,
I found your website by reading comments on http://www.parttimeted.com
Your subject line caught my attention, especially being that I am a Fire Dragon according to Chinese Astrology. I see you were using a different context of Dragon, but found this article to be interesting nonetheless.
One of the most rewarding and difficult of tasks is to “know thyself” – I’ve found that self-discovery is not only a cathartic process, but one of liberation as well as one which may help one to succeed beyond their imagination.
Fantastic job of illustrating the point with your analogies, this was an enjoyable read!
Best regards,
Cat Alexandra
Twitter: alexandra_cath
Thank you for your kind words, Cat. You breath a fire of inspiration into my writing.
Administrator recently posted..6 Reasons to Be Extra Thankful
Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Absolutely true! We can’t really fight ourselves but we could absolutely improve our self-discipline. In this way, we could achieve success without depriving ourselves with needed relaxation mood of our body. For sure, it could be difficult at first but will surely pay off in the long run.
Maria
Maria Pavel recently posted..CNA Certification
Maria, I would say if we are disciplined and we know that we are working in the right direction then success is with us.
The main problem I face in discipline, I try to keep myself in discipline but sometimes I think it is very difficult to keep yourself in discipline, when you get used to any habit then it would go forever, so why not we should have positive habits for success?
Hey Astro,
I train my dragon by keeping my thoughts focused on the things I want to bring into my life. That way he is busy working on those solutions instead of meddling with the things that are already working well in my life. I guess I could also get that done by throwing the dragon a treat from time to time.
Ted recently posted..Free Content For Your Blog or Website
Twitter: Part_TImeTed
Hey hey, Ted, great comment. Yes, the Dragon seeks rewards of many kinds, including the excitement and future fruits of success (however you define them). It’s when success depends on boring, repetitive, hard work that the Dragon gets distracted or frightened or whatever the heck the subconscious mind selects from its strange menu. By keeping the reward in front of you, really focusing on what the Dragon might want, including lighting expensive cigars with hundred dollar bills, you are offering it a future treat. Do you wake up early in the morning ready to kick ass and take names on your latest project? That is a sure sign that the Dragon is already on your side!
(dofollow)
AstroGremlin recently posted..CommentLuv Enabled Gold Mine
Hey, Denis nice Disney reference! Acknowledging the subconscious mind is part of being honest with ourselves, isn’t it? Thanks for the comment!
(dofollow)
AstroGremlin recently posted..You Don’t Know Your Best Ideas
Beautiful post. I had encountered this simile of the Inner Dragon before, but how you present it makes it very powerful: Train your dragon. Indeed, trying to avoid or ignore what we fear to look in the eye will only make us return to the same point time and again.
Your post reminds me that it is so important to be honest to ourselves. Sometimes it seems to be harder even then being honest to others! Facing that we have this inner Dragon will help us recognize this Beast even it it has dressed up as Belle. Next we can take the mind Dragon to dance and put it in places where it is most helpful.
I’ll bookmark your blog, thanks!
Denis Rosendahl Huber recently posted..A Personal Story About Trusting Yourself
Twitter: DenisRHuber
Thanks for the comment, Richard! Folks should check out your site. It’s special.
(dofollow)
AstroGremlin recently posted..Leave More Comments with Dragon Power
Great Analogy. We are our greatest obstacle to success. The sooner we realize and then take control of our own subconscious and our own fears, the sooner we can overcome those obstacles and move closer to success.
Richard recently posted..10 Ways Save Money Raising Your Kids
Twitter: richescorner
Glad you enjoyed it, Verna! I will now celebrate this success with a pint of rocket fuel for my craft.
(dofollow)
AstroGremlin recently posted..9 Largely Ignored Superheros
This post was a hoot! I love the notion that we have an inner gremlin or dragon as you suggest that we can harness – you are right though, he’s a bit of an imp always trying to distract us from the main purpose – your idea of bribing him – I always tell myself, ‘OK, finish this task, that coffee is waiting’ – I didn’t know I was training my dragon, but I guess I am!
Verna recently posted..The Best Strollers For Big Kids Are Jogging Strollers