Counselling & Psychotherapy

Counselling Central London Psychotherapy – Consciousness, Unconsciousness - Counsellor Camden Psychotherapist
Role Of The Unconscious - "The Yet To Be Revealed"

Stream Of Consciousness When we wake up in the morning, it is as if our mind ignites and we begin to internally talk to ourseIves. We may have recognised last night's dream, or quickly turn to reflecting on yesterday's events or today's plans. We experience certain likes & dislikes, moods, emotions & thoughts, etc. This process happens throughout the day, some experiences we are aware of, and others not. We all have levels of consciousness, no matter what our intelligence.

Self-Reflective Most of us can recall moments of saying something like "I found myself thinking ........." or "I was watching it happen". We all have reflective moments - maybe through long distance travel or even in the bath, or on the park bench - listening & connecting to ourself, whereas other times we are out of touch with ourseIf. This observing part of ourseIves, who watches over us, can be experienced as being more conscious than the part of us that is unable to reflect, or realise what we are in touch with. The therapy can help enable us to become more in touch, conscious of ourself and those around us.

The Realm of the Unconscious The way we see the world is limited to our consciousness. Most of what we do is not controlled by our conscious mind. We have unconscious thoughts, beliefs, feeIings & behaviours. We all send & receive messages to ourseIf, most of which we are not aware of or come in coded forms. We also unconsciously receive messages & stimulus to & from others, which influences our thinking, and in turn affects our beliefs, feeIings & actions. Advertisers know this unconscious programming (and coded forms) well. As we become more selfaware and less pre-programmed, we can change our previously unrecognised responses, living less automatically, and being more alive, "in the moment" (See also Releasing Ourselves & Letting Go). Some people report this experience of becoming more conscious as a gradual awakening & a sense of their own "presence" and that of others.

Conscious & Unconscious Intentions We all have conscious & unconscious intentions, which we also bring along to the therapy. (For example we may not be fully aware of envious or jealous feelings and become rivalrous with someone without knowing why.) These can be explored in counselling or psychotherapy.

Listening To The Evolving Unconscious You may have reached a stage in your Iife, where the difficulties you have ignored now need attention. Often deep down, we know the real underlying concerns we need to address, yet sometimes we don't until they unravel & reveal themselves over time, or during the process of therapy. Some of our initial issues we come with may be familiar to us & have lifelong patterns, as if their messages carry echoes from our past, reverberating into our future. My role also includes facilitating space to listen to & wonder what might be communicated beyond your presenting issue - this can be discovered together in the therapy process.

Underlying Symptoms It is common for people to come to therapy with a range of issues - those of a more immediate nature alongside underlying concerns, indicating that emerging unconscious issues also need attention. At some point during the therapy process we may discover that we have very different needs to the ones we thought we had at the beginning. Issues we bring to counselling & psychotherapy may carry messages - pointers, which may be a wake up call or turning point for us - our unconscious side (unknown, to be discovered aspects of us). The process of therapy from this perspective views our issues also as symptoms, which need paying attention to. In therapy there is an opportunity, for both of us, to wonder together about the meaning of any difficult or painful events, and what might need to be learnt, healed or integrated.

What We Ignore In Us We all tend to overlook or ignore aspects of our personality - maybe our sense of our body, certain feeIings or emotions, some of our thoughts & creative imagination, aspects of our sexuality or our spiritual side. The therapy may include exploration of how aware & alive we are in our bodies, how we notice & utilise our mind, how we experience & express our range of feeIings, as well as aspects of our sexuality & sense of the spiritual - whatever this means to us.

Impact Of The Unconscious Our unconscious impacts on us when we are both asleep (e.g. dreaming) & awake (e.g. our imagination). Some aspects or parts of ourseIf go unnoticed, and take time to percolate into to our consciousness. Losing our sense of time, because we are so engrossed or engaged in an activity, waking up in the morning & drifting off to sleep at night are experiences of movements of consciousness. Psychotherapy can help shed light on your unconscious thoughts.

Consciousness Follows Experience Through our actions we have an experience, which creates more consciousness. These experiences present us with an opportunity to reflect. This inner-reflection can highlight aspects of us that now need paying attention to, which we have previously been unaware of. The therapy can help with our unfolding consciousness.

Unconscious Reactions Often when we are in fast reaction ("I found myself..."), we may not be aware of our conscious intentions or struggle to think straight. As we slow things down & reflect it may become clearer to us which part of us inside was in reaction. Counselling & psychotherapy can help us explore our awareness in our body (physical sensations), emotions, thoughts & actions.

Evolving Consciousness Our consciousness evolves, for example, looking back on our childhood we become aware of how we often unconsciously reacted, and often become aware of this much later. Back then we weren't as wise as we are now. When we were younger, the child in us was not conscious, and although we are more conscious now, the child inside us may remain largely unconscious. At times we live as adults through our unconscious child, who can't fully remember their past, yet repeats it in adulthood (often experiences, which we were unable to integrate and didn't seem to make sense back then). Like evolving wisdom this process of knowing (consciousness) and not knowing (the unconscious), does not stop when we reach adulthood. We have all slipped into ways of behaving, that we have regretted. It's only after hindsight & reflection that we realise that we could have chosen a different path. We can be wiser after the event. This new wisdom may be about our evolving consciousness. For example parents only learn how to be parents, by being parents, and they are much wiser (conscious) after the event. As we become aware of how we have been seeing the world and ourseIf, our consciousness evolves. Some people report evolving consciousness as knowing a little more about ourself today than we did yesterday, as our continuous interactions with everything that happens around us creates continuous meanings. Some of these meanings we create consciously, and others unconsciously, yet both influence our actions. As we become more conscious, we may question what's important to us & our priorities may change. The psychotherapy explores how you think & feeI, what matters to you, the conscious (known) & unconscious (unknown) parts of yourself.

Integrating What We Ignore Throughout our lives we are in a process of becoming more conscious. The psychotherapy may take into account, and help integrate, what might be emerging from our hidden dimensions - our overlooked unconscious aspects, things we keep at the back of our mind that we may not be aware of and our "shadow". (Our "shadow" is what we repress, and don't own, usually because it is unacceptable. This "dark side" includes our instincts, any depression, anxiety, anger, alongside our spontaneity, creativity, love.) This integration of what we ignore may deepen and enrich our lives.

Source Of Our Motivation As the world impacts on us (we have experiences) - if we act unconsciously, we are reacting, and our will is unconscious. As we act, not caught in reaction, our will is conscious. In order to bring about change, I also aim to understand what lies behind your current difficulties, paying attention to your will or resolve (source of motivation) - in both its conscious & unconscious form. Important decisions we make are often not conscious ones. When these unconscious motivational forces (our will) are evoked & are at work, we react in unaware ways, almost blindly. Some people describe the will as the opposite to inertia. (See also Accessing Motivation, Acting On Our Will)

Fresh Insights The psychotherapy may therefore explore your awareness (of the source of your motivations) and help to determine your conscious & unconscious choices & decisions. Who inside of us, and what exactly is driving us, can be important enquiry for some. Fresh insights & challenges may emerge in how you take responsibility, so you live the Iife you consciously choose.

Bridge Between The Unconscious (Unknown) & Conscious (Known) Our conscious seIf can't know about our unconscious seIf (nor can our unconscious know our unconscious), so my role as a therapist is not only to listen to what you are saying literally, but also to explore how you also communicate through your body, imagination, dreams, fantasies, symbols, words, metaphors, etc., as a means of finding out more about you, as your experience of consciousness unfolds. (see also Self Awareness & Reflection)

Consciousness Beyond Us Expanding consciousness can be experienced as something "other" coming in. And some people may want to explore not only their personal consciousness (the physical, mental & emotional), but also consciousness beyond themselves (what some people call the spiritual realm of consciousness) – what's foreground & what's background (for details see Living To Our Full Potential).

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