How to tackle subconscious blocks

I suspect that most of my struggles actually reside within my conscious mind, rather than being deep-seated issues in the subconscious. I suppose there might be some truth to the concept of the subconscious, but I feel a significant portion of that discourse serves merely to mystify the psyche and exploit those who are perhaps a bit too trusting. In my view, the majority of the problems people face are located right there in their conscious awareness.

Alright... so I guess I have to ask: how do you even define a problem? I can't really point to one specific moment, or some life-altering event, or anything like that... It’s more like someone just wiped out all the actual memories, but left these heavy, bad feelings lingering behind where they used to be.... I don't know how else to put it...

Kimberly Johnson4 said:Alright... so I guess I have to ask: how do you even define a problem? I can't really point to one specific moment, or some life-altering event, or anything like that... It’s more like someone just wiped out all the actual memories, but left these heavy, bad feelings lingering behind where they used to be.... I don't know how else to put it...

So how many actual events do you really remember? Write down every single year on a piece of paper, from birth until now. Ask older relatives or people you used to hang out with to tell you about things that happened during those years; they might remember stuff you forgot or were too young to process. For every event—good or bad—jot down a few notes about how you felt then versus how you see it now. You'll see a pattern emerge.
As for defining the problem specifically: you analyze yourself in relation to certain pillars. Look at your life areas: home and family, career, finances, friends, romance, health and physical state, etc. You interact with others through these areas, but start by looking at yourself within each one. Check your feelings in those areas, your desires, your obstacles, your thoughts. What did you want to achieve but didn't? What did you want but couldn't do? If conditions were perfect, what would you be doing? What was forced upon you because there was "no other way"... basically, ask yourself questions and write down the answers, the thoughts, and the emotions. Then look at the people you deal with and analyze those relationships—like, how do you feel when that person is around?
Wherever you hit negative thoughts or bad feelings in any area of your life, that's where the problems live.
Later, you can break every life area down into past, present, and future. What happened, what is happening, and what you assume will happen + what you want; not just concrete events, but your emotional and mental state regarding all of it.
Regarding "erasing negative memories"—how realistic is that, really? Alcoholics, pill addicts, and drug users do that subconsciously. You can't delete memory, but over time you can change your own perspective and the impression an event leaves on you. It's a slow process.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:Alright... so I guess I have to ask: how do you even define a problem? I can't really point to one specific moment, or some life-altering event, or anything like that... It’s more like someone just wiped out all the actual memories, but left these heavy, bad feelings lingering behind where they used to be.... I don't know how else to put it...

That's just deep-seated subconscious stuff. I actually have a client in therapy right now dealing with the exact same thing. We worked through it and saw massive shifts—the person even looks better, physically. But the real kicker? We still can't pinpoint what the actual trigger was. It's a total mystery.

Nothing weird about it, honestly. You just need to find a therapist who specializes in this kind of thing and actually clicks with you. 🙂

So, I guess I really am a case in point 😢 ...
Man... looking back, one specific moment changed pretty much everything. I can't quite pin down the exact details because I was wasted as hell, which led to me making some seriously bad calls... then one thing after another... almost like a pattern while I was drinking... though I was always the life of the party even before that. I still drink now and I'm still the fun guy, but occasionally these outbursts of aggression just... happen. And honestly, that changes things, I think...

Kimberly Johnson4 said:So, I guess I really am a case in point 😢 ...
Man... looking back, one specific moment changed pretty much everything. I can't quite pin down the exact details because I was wasted as hell, which led to me making some seriously bad calls... then one thing after another... almost like a pattern while I was drinking... though I was always the life of the party even before that. I still drink now and I'm still the fun guy, but occasionally these outbursts of aggression just... happen. And honestly, that changes things, I think...

If that’s how you want to play it, we’re all outliers😉

Kimberly Johnson4 said:Alright... so I guess I have to ask: how do you even define a problem? I can't really point to one specific moment, or some life-altering event, or anything like that... It’s more like someone just wiped out all the actual memories, but left these heavy, bad feelings lingering behind where they used to be.... I don't know how else to put it...

Honestly, that's actually a pretty solid way to frame the issue.
Just pay attention to those physical sensations—your body remembers everything, even if your mind doesn't, and eventually, those memories will resurface.

Kimberly Johnson4 said:Alright... so I guess I have to ask: how do you even define a problem? I can't really point to one specific moment, or some life-altering event, or anything like that... It’s more like someone just wiped out all the actual memories, but left these heavy, bad feelings lingering behind where they used to be.... I don't know how else to put it...

Maybe try actually writing down what's bothering you?

What kind of bad feelings are we talking about? When do they hit, and how? Like, how exactly are they getting in your way?

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 👍

Approaching psychedelics with the mindset of seeking a fast, easy escape can trigger slow-burning, complicated issues... but hey, do whatever you want...

Hmm... if you actually put some thought into it, you’d probably realize certain past events have hit you harder than you care to admit. Or maybe they haven't.

I can give you my take... I've been wrestling with all sorts of limiting beliefs and baggage that kept me stuck for years. I tried meditation and specific breathing techniques—the kind designed to bypass the conscious mind and scrub the subconscious clean. I even went through regression therapy, which shed light on a lot of things, including the core issues I was fighting.

Now... as much as it helped, it wasn't all sunshine. Working on the subconscious without involving the analytical mind—without any actual processing—can get messy when all that suppressed junk starts surfacing. Honestly, after the regression, I felt incredibly strange; it took forever to digest the new info, but that wasn't even the worst part. It gave me a completely different perspective on life, time, people, and problems—both mine and everyone else's. Which was great, except I got pretty lost in it all. The world started looking... weird. In a way, I lost my grip on the "reality" we're all supposed to function in. Plus, I had no idea what to do with the experience or how to heal the raw wound that was blocking me. Neither the regression practitioner nor the people teaching the breathing and meditation techniques gave me anything intellectually satisfying—it was mostly just, "keep practicing." Who knows what would've happened if I had? I got too lost in it and eventually just quit.

The other thing I should mention is bioenergy therapy. While I was feeling that lost, I started sessions with someone close to me, and that actually brought me back down to earth. I did 11 sessions—about 45 minutes each—once a week. But the best part was what happened *between* them. Around the second or third session, my head finally cleared. As time passed, I became more aware of the fears and beliefs holding me back, rearranging my past experiences... It worked almost like psychotherapy, except I was doing the work solo. It felt like actual therapy sessions; a problem would just pop into my head out of nowhere—triggered by daily life—and I'd analyze it, look at it from a new angle, and clear it out. Every day, I felt myself getting stronger. I built up my confidence and finally dumped the old garbage. A lot of stuff I’d totally forgotten resurfaced, too. For me, personally, that was the real path to freedom.

I definitely wouldn't recommend drugs or any of that alternative magic nonsense. It can get incredibly dangerous, just like what this user described while trying to investigate her "past lives":

feralhound55 said:Hmm... if you actually put some thought into it, you’d probably realize certain past events have hit you harder than you care to admit. Or maybe they haven't.

I can give you my take... I've been wrestling with all sorts of limiting beliefs and baggage that kept me stuck for years. I tried meditation and specific breathing techniques—the kind designed to bypass the conscious mind and scrub the subconscious clean. I even went through regression therapy, which shed light on a lot of things, including the core issues I was fighting.

Now... as much as it helped, it wasn't all sunshine. Working on the subconscious without involving the analytical mind—without any actual processing—can get messy when all that suppressed junk starts surfacing. Honestly, after the regression, I felt incredibly strange; it took forever to digest the new info, but that wasn't even the worst part. It gave me a completely different perspective on life, time, people, and problems—both mine and everyone else's. Which was great, except I got pretty lost in it all. The world started looking... weird. In a way, I lost my grip on the "reality" we're all supposed to function in. Plus, I had no idea what to do with the experience or how to heal the raw wound that was blocking me. Neither the regression practitioner nor the people teaching the breathing and meditation techniques gave me anything intellectually satisfying—it was mostly just, "keep practicing." Who knows what would've happened if I had? I got too lost in it and eventually just quit.

The other thing I should mention is bioenergy therapy. While I was feeling that lost, I started sessions with someone close to me, and that actually brought me back down to earth. I did 11 sessions—about 45 minutes each—once a week. But the best part was what happened *between* them. Around the second or third session, my head finally cleared. As time passed, I became more aware of the fears and beliefs holding me back, rearranging my past experiences... It worked almost like psychotherapy, except I was doing the work solo. It felt like actual therapy sessions; a problem would just pop into my head out of nowhere—triggered by daily life—and I'd analyze it, look at it from a new angle, and clear it out. Every day, I felt myself getting stronger. I built up my confidence and finally dumped the old garbage. A lot of stuff I’d totally forgotten resurfaced, too. For me, personally, that was the real path to freedom.

You might just end up piling on new, even more dangerous problems that you won't be able to handle when they finally hit.

Speaking from my own experience, psychedelics are a total double-edged sword.
Back when I was dealing with some health issues about two years ago, I tried mushrooms and ended up having this incredibly intense trip; it felt like I’d regressed back to being just an animal—before I ever evolved into a human being. There was this primal, wild excitement and a sense of absolute freedom that’s honestly hard to put into words... Then, out of nowhere, I hit this religious epiphany about the creation of the universe, realizing the whole complexity of DNA and the existence of God. After that, I genuinely felt like I died and was reborn... Man, I couldn't pull myself together for days after that one; my ego just completely dissolved. I lost all grip on what was actually real because I felt like I was traveling through some other dimension entirely. It was terrifying, honestly. I know for a fact I haven't been the same since. Reality just doesn't feel quite as "solid" anymore.
Later on, I experimented again with LSD and mushrooms, but the vibe was different; I didn't get those heavy visual hallucinations, just this overwhelming sensation of being pure energy... I totally forgot I even had a body... I didn't necessarily find "answers," but rather realized how much more there is for people to explore over the next few centuries or millennia while searching for truth. When you expand your consciousness, it’s like the doors to the universe and all these deep insights just swing wide open. You can almost relive experiences from the past... The universe is just infinitely massive and constantly in motion—life is basically a dream, and our bodies are just physical manifestations of love and passion. Everything is in constant flux, never stopping... It flows and shifts constantly, kind of like the ocean or clouds drifting by... There’s no beginning and no end; it’s always been this way and always will be. Like some sort of cosmic loop. Lately, I’ve been questioning reality pretty often, and honestly, it feels like a rabbit hole that leads nowhere. I catch myself wondering who I really am and why I’m even here? But hey, I’m finishing up my degree soon, and once I graduate, I’m heading down to South America to see a shaman and try ayahuasca to push my boundaries even further... and maybe write about it... Maybe I'll grab another spiritual breakthrough that helps me see my role in this life more clearly. 😁 Anyway, chasing the wave is an interesting ride. It’s got its ups and downs... It really just depends on where you are, who you're with, and how you handle being alone with yourself.

ruggedlynx30 said:Speaking from my own experience, psychedelics are a total double-edged sword.
Back when I was dealing with some health issues about two years ago, I tried mushrooms and ended up having this incredibly intense trip; it felt like I’d regressed back to being just an animal—before I ever evolved into a human being. There was this primal, wild excitement and a sense of absolute freedom that’s honestly hard to put into words... Then, out of nowhere, I hit this religious epiphany about the creation of the universe, realizing the whole complexity of DNA and the existence of God. After that, I genuinely felt like I died and was reborn... Man, I couldn't pull myself together for days after that one; my ego just completely dissolved. I lost all grip on what was actually real because I felt like I was traveling through some other dimension entirely. It was terrifying, honestly. I know for a fact I haven't been the same since. Reality just doesn't feel quite as "solid" anymore.
Later on, I experimented again with LSD and mushrooms, but the vibe was different; I didn't get those heavy visual hallucinations, just this overwhelming sensation of being pure energy... I totally forgot I even had a body... I didn't necessarily find "answers," but rather realized how much more there is for people to explore over the next few centuries or millennia while searching for truth. When you expand your consciousness, it’s like the doors to the universe and all these deep insights just swing wide open. You can almost relive experiences from the past... The universe is just infinitely massive and constantly in motion—life is basically a dream, and our bodies are just physical manifestations of love and passion. Everything is in constant flux, never stopping... It flows and shifts constantly, kind of like the ocean or clouds drifting by... There’s no beginning and no end; it’s always been this way and always will be. Like some sort of cosmic loop. Lately, I’ve been questioning reality pretty often, and honestly, it feels like a rabbit hole that leads nowhere. I catch myself wondering who I really am and why I’m even here? But hey, I’m finishing up my degree soon, and once I graduate, I’m heading down to South America to see a shaman and try ayahuasca to push my boundaries even further... and maybe write about it... Maybe I'll grab another spiritual breakthrough that helps me see my role in this life more clearly. 😁 Anyway, chasing the wave is an interesting ride. It’s got its ups and downs... It really just depends on where you are, who you're with, and how you handle being alone with yourself.

Interesting... Sounds like you were having a massive identity crisis while you were experimenting... and now it's just gotten deeper... Just so you know, once you go off to play with shamans and start writing about it, you can pretty much kiss a normal social life goodbye. But hey, I'll be eagerly waiting for those first essays and spiritual travelogues you write. 👍

Ryan Wood98 said:I suspect that most of my struggles actually reside within my conscious mind, rather than being deep-seated issues in the subconscious. I suppose there might be some truth to the concept of the subconscious, but I feel a significant portion of that discourse serves merely to mystify the psyche and exploit those who are perhaps a bit too trusting. In my view, the majority of the problems people face are located right there in their conscious awareness.

👍

In my opinion, the "subconscious" is just where we stash minor stuff that's a little harder to grab onto—maybe even just some core memories from when we were toddlers, like under three years old,

for example,

I once saw this documentary about a woman who got lost in the chaos of World War II when she was just a tiny kid—like, only two years old!
She had no clue who her family was or where she came from; she ended up growing up in an orphanage and all that.
Once she grew up, she started having this weird habit—this "scribbling" thing—where whenever she had a pen and paper, she’d instinctively draw one horizontal line and then three vertical ones right on top of it.
Turns out, after she finally tracked down her biological family, it was discovered that they actually have a symbol over their door—three apple trees—that was burned into her memory! She couldn't link it directly, though; it just popped up from that "out of control" zone.

So, I honestly feel like the subconscious is such a massive, sprawling concept. It’s actually pretty tough to pinpoint exactly how our brain activity ties into critical thinking when we're trying to tackle a problem.

You could argue that those "aha!" moments happen right when our internal way of weighing things starts to shift. That's why I think it’s actually smart to just pick a side when you're facing an issue. Isn't neutrality just a fancy way of avoiding the confrontation? If you stay too neutral, you might just end up creating even more confusion.

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?

I would suggest an individualized approach... though, unfortunately, the circumstances that necessitate such "balancing" are usually quite unpleasant. In serious cases, having the influence of someone from your surroundings can be a great help, provided they are dedicated and experienced... which, based on my own experience, is rarely the case. 😵Quite the opposite, really. The idea of fighting fire with fire seems to me to be a rather difficult approach; or rather, you cannot cure brain damage by causing more brain damage. 🙂

In fact, no matter how flexible an individual might be, their problems—or the causes behind them—certainly are not. They are incredibly rigid. And if the people around them try to "help" with these issues, my experience suggests it often just leads to more inflexibility, resulting in even greater complications within the existing problem. 😬

God, the fallen ones... ☕ may they rest in peace. I hold them in respect, even if that respect doesn't mean much to me anymore, though clearly, it still means something. 🕺

Lawrence Bailey77 said:I would suggest an individualized approach... though, unfortunately, the circumstances that necessitate such "balancing" are usually quite unpleasant. In serious cases, having the influence of someone from your surroundings can be a great help, provided they are dedicated and experienced... which, based on my own experience, is rarely the case. 😵Quite the opposite, really. The idea of fighting fire with fire seems to me to be a rather difficult approach; or rather, you cannot cure brain damage by causing more brain damage. 🙂

In fact, no matter how flexible an individual might be, their problems—or the causes behind them—certainly are not. They are incredibly rigid. And if the people around them try to "help" with these issues, my experience suggests it often just leads to more inflexibility, resulting in even greater complications within the existing problem. 😬

God, the fallen ones... ☕ may they rest in peace. I hold them in respect, even if that respect doesn't mean much to me anymore, though clearly, it still means something. 🕺

An individual approach really is the better way to tackle certain issues. Sometimes, these problems aren't even as massive as the people around us try to make them out to be.

When you look at things from different perspectives, the whole situation changes. There's an old saying, "ispeći, pa reci!"—think before you speak. That logic applies perfectly to solving subconscious issues too.

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?

I’d argue that you might just be struggling with your current circumstances rather than your subconscious. 🙂
Maybe try analyzing your actual life for a second—your career progress, your friends, your relationship, your connection with your parents... just think about where things could be improved. It seems pretty trendy lately to blame the subconscious for any kind of stagnation or life hiccup. You see gurus on every corner offering advice on "clearing" or "reprogramming" the subconscious, and people fall for it because, honestly, it’s easier to blame some hidden mental mechanism than to take actual responsibility for their own decisions and their own lives.

Why are you so set on connecting with your subconscious anyway? I suspect there’s plenty to work through within your conscious mind alone. And if you’re absolutely certain there’s an underlying issue to solve, maybe skip the drugs and the cheap self-help books and just find a decent therapist. 🙂

I have a question for the group... We’ve all been there: something incredibly beautiful happens, or perhaps something devastatingly bad, and you find yourself riding that wave of intense positive or negative energy. You want to freeze time—either to live in that peak moment forever or to completely escape yourself just to forget the pain. But eventually, the intensity fades. It settles into the subconscious, leaving you with nothing but a hazy memory of how it felt, while the actual sensation remains frustratingly out of reach. If we're talking about a negative experience, what can one actually do to recapture that feeling and resurface those repressed memories (assuming we don't want to just recreate the exact same traumatic situation)? Is hypnosis actually an option for something like this, or is there a better way?

he he, I mean, let's be real—everyone deals with some level of neurosis. It's just part of being alive, isn't it?