How to tackle subconscious blocks

We all know it... most of the baggage we’re lugging around, all those issues we deal with daily, they’re buried deep in the subconscious. My question is pretty straightforward: how do you actually get rid of them?
In tons of different philosophies and cultures, there’s this idea that humans are spiritual beings. And when someone can't figure themselves out—when they're just miserable, angry, depressed, or just feeling off—we usually say they haven't settled things within themselves yet. Nowadays, people turn to religion, or booze, or drugs... basically anything that lets them let their guard down enough for that subconscious stuff to start bubbling up to the surface.
Easterners meditate, Americans drink, some pray, others go the shamanic route... every culture has its own way of trying to sync up the subconscious with the conscious mind, what I'd call some kind of grand realization. So, my question is... how do you actually connect with your subconscious? How do you make sense of those deep-seated feelings, figure out what's triggering all that negativity, and finally... how do you fix it?

Just because you stumble onto your subconscious doesn't mean you've suddenly solved everything. Sometimes, trying to fix stuff you've dug up isn't even necessary—honestly, you might not even need to be aware of half the junk you're digging through in the first place.

I honestly believe the best approach is mental reprogramming. To actually change anything, you first have to pinpoint exactly which limiting beliefs are holding you back. Simple meditation or basic exercises can help you identify those negative patterns. Once you know what they are, you can use autohypnosis or autosuggestion to rewire them. But look, you have to be consistent. It’s just like hitting the gym three times a week or sticking to a clean diet—you won't see results without persistence. If you want to purge those subconscious roadblocks, this is how you do it. Also, don't sleep on your dreams; I highly recommend journaling them and actually analyzing what they mean.
Anyway, that's just my take. I'm no expert...

What’s your take on psychoactive therapy? You know, using psychedelics to mess with the subconscious... basically letting the conscious mind take over where the subconscious left off. Having those trips that actually lead to some real answers... Kind of like how certain indigenous groups in South America have used DMT, mescaline, or LSD for ages...
Meditation sounds pretty appealing too, but I honestly have no clue how you're even supposed to do it. Like, what state are you aiming for? How long does a session even last?... Just trying to figure out how to actually improve oneself, I guess...

Maybe try doing a little bit of research on how drugs actually impact the brain first, seriously. ☕
Once you've done that, you might want to look into finding a productive hobby to focus on.

Amy Grant45 said:Maybe try doing a little bit of research on how drugs actually impact the brain first, seriously. ☕
Once you've done that, you might want to look into finding a productive hobby to focus on.

God, I just love these deep, intellectual insights... 🙏

I don't know, personally I wouldn't touch mescaline even if a shaman offered it to me in the middle of the desert... what kind of answers are you actually looking for here?

Kimberly Johnson4 said:God, I just love these deep, intellectual insights... 🙏

Look, broad strokes or not, if you’ve actually dealt with some heavy-duty trauma—or even just suspect you have—dropping a psychoactive substance that could potentially rip those wounds wide open and turn them into some absolute horror movie nightmare is just irresponsible. It's scary, honestly. You're basically trying to solve a problem by making it much, much worse, which isn't really "solving" anything at all.
If you don't have any trauma and you're just looking to poke your subconscious for some fun recreational thrills, then this whole conversation is pretty trivial. But let's be real: I highly doubt that's even the case here.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:What’s your take on psychoactive therapy? You know, using psychedelics to mess with the subconscious... basically letting the conscious mind take over where the subconscious left off. Having those trips that actually lead to some real answers... Kind of like how certain indigenous groups in South America have used DMT, mescaline, or LSD for ages...
Meditation sounds pretty appealing too, but I honestly have no clue how you're even supposed to do it. Like, what state are you aiming for? How long does a session even last?... Just trying to figure out how to actually improve oneself, I guess...

Psychedelics don't "change" the subconscious
nor do they allow you to swap out the subconscious for one thing or another—that's all just nonsense...
We don't even have a clear grasp on how psychedelics actually function, and there are far too many varieties to generalize
From a purely operational standpoint, most psychedelics simply block a specific combination of receptors in the brain
which triggers a shift in neural activity—resulting in various effects depending entirely on the substance used
which is what people generally refer to when they talk about an "altered state of mind"

People simply extract whatever meaning they can from the experience, provided they manage to find any at all...
It’s easy to end up completely disillusioned if a person isn't truly alone with their own thoughts...

Meditation is actually quite straightforward
it boils down to a combination of concentration and breathing
the core method is simple, yet effective enough...
Repeating certain mantras, sounds, or similar routines can help facilitate that focus

However, this isn't some guaranteed fix for psychological issues—and if someone is already struggling with mental health, it would be ill-advised to use psychedelics, or even to meditate without supervision, in the first place
In fact, it could be genuinely dangerous for one's mental stability if they are psychologically fragile or dealing with repressed trauma, fears, and such...

No, it’s definitely not for some fun little hobby or whatever. Look at it this way... there's this weight on me, something fucking heavy that's just crushing my potential, but I can't even put my finger on what it is... and I have no clue how to make sense of any of it. I mean, life is good on paper, I'm happy enough, but there's this pressure building up inside me... I honestly feel like I'm right on the edge of a total mental breakdown. Better to nip it in the bud before everything just snaps.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:No, it’s definitely not for some fun little hobby or whatever. Look at it this way... there's this weight on me, something fucking heavy that's just crushing my potential, but I can't even put my finger on what it is... and I have no clue how to make sense of any of it. I mean, life is good on paper, I'm happy enough, but there's this pressure building up inside me... I honestly feel like I'm right on the edge of a total mental breakdown. Better to nip it in the bud before everything just snaps.

And what about psychotherapy? 🙂

Kimberly Johnson4 said:No, it’s definitely not for some fun little hobby or whatever. Look at it this way... there's this weight on me, something fucking heavy that's just crushing my potential, but I can't even put my finger on what it is... and I have no clue how to make sense of any of it. I mean, life is good on paper, I'm happy enough, but there's this pressure building up inside me... I honestly feel like I'm right on the edge of a total mental breakdown. Better to nip it in the bud before everything just snaps.

In my view, introducing psychedelics while in that specific state wouldn't prevent a mental breakdown—it would likely just trigger an agonizingly intense nightmare that lingers for hours on end.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:What’s your take on psychoactive therapy? You know, using psychedelics to mess with the subconscious... basically letting the conscious mind take over where the subconscious left off. Having those trips that actually lead to some real answers... Kind of like how certain indigenous groups in South America have used DMT, mescaline, or LSD for ages...
Meditation sounds pretty appealing too, but I honestly have no clue how you're even supposed to do it. Like, what state are you aiming for? How long does a session even last?... Just trying to figure out how to actually improve oneself, I guess...

From what I've heard, psychedelics temporarily dissolve the ego.
It would probably be wise to take them daily for medicinal purposes before heading into work—ideally at a job where you deal with tons of people, though maybe not if you want others to see into your subconscious.🤣
Good grief, are you out of your mind? 😲

Kimberly Johnson4 said:We all know it... most of the baggage we’re lugging around, all those issues we deal with daily, they’re buried deep in the subconscious. My question is pretty straightforward: how do you actually get rid of them?
In tons of different philosophies and cultures, there’s this idea that humans are spiritual beings. And when someone can't figure themselves out—when they're just miserable, angry, depressed, or just feeling off—we usually say they haven't settled things within themselves yet. Nowadays, people turn to religion, or booze, or drugs... basically anything that lets them let their guard down enough for that subconscious stuff to start bubbling up to the surface.
Easterners meditate, Americans drink, some pray, others go the shamanic route... every culture has its own way of trying to sync up the subconscious with the conscious mind, what I'd call some kind of grand realization. So, my question is... how do you actually connect with your subconscious? How do you make sense of those deep-seated feelings, figure out what's triggering all that negativity, and finally... how do you fix it?

Honestly, I think trying to tackle this on your own is completely irrational. There is a very real danger that you could "slip" over to the other side and find yourself unable to ever find your way back. If this is weighing on you this heavily, why not consider something like clinical hypnosis instead?
I suspect you might have read Castaneda; in his books, the concept sounds incredibly alluring and exotic, but please keep in mind that even if it weren't just literature, he had an exceptional guide to walk him through it. You don't have that safety net, and if you decide to go rogue and experiment with substances just to see what bubbles up from your psyche... well, I believe anything is possible. However, there is a massive risk that you could simply lose yourself in the process and end up causing far more harm than any potential good...

Westerners love to drown their sorrows... They just suppress everything—emotions, problems, you name it—instead of actually dealing with them. Those defense mechanisms aren't there by accident. It’s how our grandparents handled things, and they managed to make it to old age without losing their minds.

If you want to learn how to reprogram your subconscious, look into NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) or hypnosis. That’s where you’ll figure out how your brain actually encodes info—like why you feel bummed out for no reason sometimes, or how to just choose to be happy whenever you feel like it.
Look, I don't want you hunting for help everywhere, so I'll give you the gist.

1. You have to get how mental states work. Take sadness or happiness... they're just states. And every state has its own "three parts": mind, heart, and body... or thoughts, emotions, and behavior (like your gestures). For example, if you're feeling sad, your thoughts are all gloomy; you can't really think about anything else except through that sadness. Your emotions follow suit, obviously, and your body speaks the same language too (your face looks sad, your posture slumps, you're looking at the floor)... basically, every state has those three components... and whatever state you're in, that's how you perceive reality... like you're wearing "sadness glasses" and that's all you see...

So, how do you manage these states?

The interesting part is that when you change even one of those three pieces, the rest shifts too... like, if you're sad (thoughts, emotions, posture)... just change your posture. Stand up straight, smile, stretch out... and automatically, your thoughts and emotions will shift too...

Every different state triggers a reaction where your body pumps out different hormones... People who always seem happy? They just learned how to train their bodies to release those "happy" hormones.

And like my colleague mentioned, your subconscious is like a muscle; the more you work it, the better it performs.

Your subconscious remembers things pretty damn well, and its biggest enemy is change (it loves sticking to habits)... so if you want your subconscious to actually help you with something, you first have to train it to act that way...

P.S. I wouldn't recommend drugs. Sure, they might make you "aware," but they'll just end up numbing you just as fast.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:We all know it... most of the baggage we’re lugging around, all those issues we deal with daily, they’re buried deep in the subconscious. My question is pretty straightforward: how do you actually get rid of them?
In tons of different philosophies and cultures, there’s this idea that humans are spiritual beings. And when someone can't figure themselves out—when they're just miserable, angry, depressed, or just feeling off—we usually say they haven't settled things within themselves yet. Nowadays, people turn to religion, or booze, or drugs... basically anything that lets them let their guard down enough for that subconscious stuff to start bubbling up to the surface.
Easterners meditate, Americans drink, some pray, others go the shamanic route... every culture has its own way of trying to sync up the subconscious with the conscious mind, what I'd call some kind of grand realization. So, my question is... how do you actually connect with your subconscious? How do you make sense of those deep-seated feelings, figure out what's triggering all that negativity, and finally... how do you fix it?

Every state—emotional, mental, or just a general mindset—has specific symptoms and causes. People mostly focus on the symptoms by running to alcohol, pills, drugs, sex, or whatever distracts them and numbs the pain. The symptoms fade temporarily, but the underlying problem stays exactly the same, so it just keeps coming back.
The goal is to find the causes. Even though these causes live inside us, they are actually forgotten or suppressed experiences.
Every single experience, any event we’ve lived through, gets recorded—both the good and the bad. Those negative ones create long-term mindsets that we desperately want to escape. It's necessary to analyze everything from birth until now: the experiences, the people involved, exactly what happened, how we felt, how we reacted, and the lingering emotions from those situations that still drive our current moods or behaviors.
It isn't quite as deeply buried in the subconscious as people think. Bringing awareness to these events and ourselves within them won't solve everything instantly, but it is absolutely the starting point and the foundation for fixing the root causes of dissatisfaction.
This kind of work is best done with someone else—a trusted close friend or a psychologist. If you're doing it alone, you need to take notes over a long period so you can look back later and approach things more objectively.

Kimberly Johnson4, like you wrote in your post, some people drink, some pray, and some take pills. Most are just running in circles because they are fleeing from themselves and their own needs. Just like the body uses physical pain to signal that something is wrong, the psyche has its own mechanisms to divert attention when there is actual work to be done.
Sometimes, certain issues stem from current situations, relationships, or jobs. In those cases, you have to change your life at the root and move away from the source of frustration if necessary.

So, I’m a guy, just to get that out of the way... mostly because after cycling through a million nicknames that were already taken, I figured life is just brutal—life is a bitch.

Whatever. I was looking for something quick and easy, you know? Not some two-year marathon of therapy sessions... but honestly, it's starting to feel like there really isn't such a thing as a quick fix. Still listening 👍

Look, hypnotherapy can be a quick fix, provided you don't stumble onto some hack who's just trying to milk you for cash 🙂

Kimberly Johnson4 said:So, I’m a guy, just to get that out of the way... mostly because after cycling through a million nicknames that were already taken, I figured life is just brutal—life is a bitch.

Whatever. I was looking for something quick and easy, you know? Not some two-year marathon of therapy sessions... but honestly, it's starting to feel like there really isn't such a thing as a quick fix. Still listening 👍

God, if there were easy formulas and simple solutions, everyone would have their issues sorted out instantly. There wouldn't be any discontent or suffering left in this world...
How long it takes to solve something depends on where you're at... and how fast your body and mind can actually let go of those things... You can't force it. Sometimes things just need time to mature...
Think of your psyche like a physical body with an injury or a wound. It needs time to heal.
As for which method you choose, it all comes down to your own internal leanings... To start, you really need to clearly define the actual problem. Just generalizing about "suffering" and "discontent" doesn't get you anywhere... Negative feelings are just symptoms of an underlying issue; they aren't the problem itself. Once you pinpoint the problem, choosing a method gets much easier.