I Don't Want Subliminal Messages Entering My Mind

Subliminal Messages: A Brief Overview

Subliminal messages can work, particularly in visual formats. Subliminal can best be described as below the threshold of perception. This method dates back to 1957 with James Vicary's Popcorn Experiment. Around this time, James Vicary claimed to have found dramatic increases in the sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn when he flashed the phrases "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Eat popcorn" for 1/2000 of a second during a movie. It seems that subliminal messaging has some merit in the visual department. If you see something, it can influence what you decide to do or at least put the thought in your head. For example, have you ever been watching a show, a movie, or scrolling through social media and seen things you had never thought of? It puts something into your mind that was never there before, and many times you go try the new thing you just saw. It had a message for you, and it stuck in your mind. That is kind of the premise behind subliminal messaging—it's usually in the background or quick so you don't pick up on it, but your subconscious does.

The Science of Sound and Subliminal Messages

However, what we are talking about is sound. If you hear certain sounds, it makes you think of certain things. That's why they will use beach sounds to help calm a person or white noise. Sound machines have been around a while to help people sleep, but they are always sounds you can hear with your conscious mind. The thing that people really worry about are sounds you can't hear or words you can't hear but can still have an effect on you. However, science has proven that if something can't vibrate your eardrum and you can't hear it, it will not affect you. So basically, for something to work, it can't be so quiet you can't hear it. If you aren't hearing it, basically, it doesn't exist as a thought in your mind.

Self-Talk: A Different Approach

Self-talk is not subliminal messaging and differs a lot. While some self-talk has background noises, ours does not. We chose to try and take out all background sound so you could hear exactly what is being said, and there is no other influence. But, self-talk is something you do in your mind every day. When you are on your way to a meeting or interview you are anxious about, when you are meeting friends for an event, when you are at work and dealing with a rude person, or when you are by yourself and it's quiet with no one around. Here is the mind-bending part: most of us have self-talk that isn't good. We are hard on ourselves and say some pretty harsh things. It has been shown that almost 80% of the average person's thoughts are negative or damaging self-talk. That is an extraordinary number.

The History and Impact of Self-Talk

Some early studies of self-talk stemmed from the ideas of Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy, which highlighted self-talk as an important way to gain insight into faulty or irrational beliefs that influence emotion and behavior. We will talk in greater detail about Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Rational Emotive Behavior later. It's believed that self-talk dates back to the late 1800's. Self-talk is fascinating, especially the way it is done here. Learning a new language (beneficial self-talk) in the background by simply pushing play on a recording is phenomenally easy and effective. Replacing damaging self-talk with beneficial self-talk will make an incredible difference in your life and has made an incredible difference in many others' lives.

Ongoing Research and Benefits of Self-Talk

While self-talk research is ongoing and probably will be for a long time, because we continually find better ways of doing all sorts of things, we are quite good at adapting ideas and making them better. The Mayo Clinic experts say redirecting negative thoughts (damaging self-talk) toward the positive (beneficial self-talk) may lead to these things:

• Increased life span

• Lower rates of depression

• Lower levels of distress and pain

• Greater resistance to illnesses

• Better psychological and physical well-being

• Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke

• Reduced risk of death from cancer

• Reduced risk of death from respiratory conditions

• Reduced risk of death from infections

• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

How to Incorporate Beneficial Self-Talk

So, if after reading this you’re still thinking, “I could never do that,” how about, “Here’s my chance to try something new”? You’ve got this; it's easy. You just find great self-talk recordings, listen to them every day 2 to 3 times a day. It takes a quarter of a second to hit play on your device and listen to it. Keep it up high enough to hear it but not disturb the activities you are doing. You want to be able to hear it but not pay attention, just do whatever it is that you need to get done. Let it fade into the background and watch what starts to happen. It takes some time but not years like many other methods. It's simple and takes no time out of your busy schedule. So there you have it—the simplicity is real. As long as it is good, structured self-talk in the background, you are improving your life and your future.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks for reading and enjoy the changes. We are excited to hear what changes self-talk has made in your life. We are here for you if you need direction or have thoughts, ideas, or concerns. Feel free to contact us here or email us. Until next time, may you have great self-talk and improve every day. We do have a free daily self-talk called 365 Talk you can access to help your journey—see you next week!