Your unconscious mind is one of the most powerful forces within you.
It runs your body, stores your memories, and influences your emotions, beliefs, and behaviours. It’s also responsible for many of the patterns that keep you stuck—whether it’s anxiety, poor health, unhealthy relationships, or struggles in your business.
But here’s the good news: when you understand the 20 prime directives of the unconscious mind, you can learn to work with this incredible part of yourself.
Using tools like hypnotherapy, timeline therapy, and breakthrough breathwork, you can release what no longer serves you, rewire your beliefs, and create lasting transformation.
Let’s dive into these 20 directives so you can start creating change at the deepest level.
Prime Directive 1. The Unconscious Mind Stores All Your Memories
The unconscious mind functions like a supercomputer with limitless storage capacity, storing every experience you’ve ever had—whether big or small, good or bad—at a cellular level. Every moment, every emotion, every interaction is recorded and kept safely within the unconscious mind, even those memories you can’t consciously recall. For example, you might not remember a specific event from your childhood, but your unconscious mind holds onto the emotions and experiences from that time, influencing your behavior and reactions today. These stored memories shape how you perceive the world and interact with others, often without you even realizing it.
What’s more, your unconscious mind stores not just the events you remember, but also the emotions and beliefs tied to them. This means that unprocessed or repressed memories can continue to affect your life, even if you're unaware of them. These hidden memories may influence your habits, relationships, and decision-making. By accessing and working with your unconscious mind, you can begin to uncover and release these stored memories, allowing you to heal and move forward with greater clarity and emotional freedom.
Why it matters: Buried memories of failure, rejection, or fear might still influence your decisions. Hypnotherapy or Time Line Therapy™ helps access and reframe these memories, so they no longer hold power over you.
Prime Directive 2. It Is the Domain of Your Emotions
The unconscious mind doesn’t "think" in the logical, rational sense; it "feels." It is the domain where all of your emotions live, both those you are consciously aware of and those you have buried or suppressed. For example, in relationships, if you’ve experienced hurt or betrayal in the past, those unresolved emotions are stored in your unconscious mind. Even if you think you’ve moved on, the unconscious mind still holds onto that emotional charge, influencing how you react in new relationships or situations. Similarly, in business, feelings of inadequacy or fear of failure from past experiences can unconsciously drive your actions, even if you’re not consciously aware of them.
Because the unconscious mind is so closely linked to emotion, it’s also where you hold limiting beliefs and unresolved feelings that can impact your behavior. If you’ve suppressed anger, sadness, or fear, these emotions might continue to shape your choices, even if you don’t realize it. To heal and move forward, it's important to bring awareness to these emotions, allowing them to be processed and released. By understanding that your unconscious mind is the storehouse of both your conscious and suppressed emotions, you can start to make more empowered decisions and create healthier patterns in all areas of your life.
Why it matters: You can’t logic your way out of feeling anxious, sad, or angry. Tools like hypnotherapy and breathwork help you process and release these emotions safely.
Prime Directive 3. The Unconscious Mind Organises All Memory
Your unconscious mind organizes and stores all your memories in a “timeline” format, helping you differentiate between past, present, and future experiences.
When you recall a past event, you’re not accessing the raw event itself, you’re accessing your perception of it at the time, shaped by your beliefs and emotions. Interestingly, as your values and beliefs evolve, your perception of that same memory changes too. This is why “time is a great healer”—your unconscious can soften the emotional intensity over time.
Fascinating Fact: Have you ever noticed that certain triggers—like a song, a smell, or even a random feeling—suddenly bring a memory flooding back? That’s your unconscious mind linking stored memories to sensory cues.
Why It Matters: Tools like Timeline Therapy can help reorganise these memories, removing the emotional “charge” attached to old experiences. This allows you to move forward without feeling stuck in the past.
Prime Directive 4. It Represses Memories with Unresolved Negative Emotions
To protect you, the unconscious mind pushes overwhelming or painful memories out of your immediate awareness. This is especially true in cases of trauma, where the emotional pain is too much for the conscious mind to bear. For instance, if you’ve experienced trauma—such as abuse, loss, or a deeply painful relationship—your unconscious mind may repress these memories to shield you from the overwhelming emotions tied to them. This repression acts as a defense mechanism, keeping you from reliving the pain. However, even if you don't consciously remember the traumatic event, the emotions associated with it can still affect your behavior, decisions, and relationships.
In some cases, you might find yourself reacting with fear or anxiety in situations that are unrelated to the original trauma. For example, someone who has experienced emotional abuse might unconsciously struggle to trust others, even when the people around them are trustworthy. The unconscious mind holds onto these unresolved emotions, and though the memories may be buried, they can still shape how you experience life. Healing these repressed memories by bringing them to the surface and processing the emotions attached to them can help free you from the lingering effects of trauma, allowing you to move forward with greater emotional freedom and resilience.
Why it matters: These repressed memories often show up as anxiety, physical tension, or self-sabotage. Hypnotherapy or Time Line Therapy™allows you to gently release these emotional burdens.
Prime Directive 5. It Presents Repressed Memories for Resolution
When we go through trauma or emotional pain, the unconscious mind represses those memories to protect us from overwhelming distress. However, once we begin to heal and create emotional stability, the unconscious sees this as an opportunity to bring those unresolved feelings to the surface for healing.
For example, after a period of peace or personal growth, you might suddenly feel intense sadness or anger about a past traumatic event, like an abusive relationship or a painful loss. It can seem confusing, as you might wonder why this is coming up when things are “good.” But this is actually a sign that your mind recognizes you’re now in a place where you can process those emotions and release them. Your unconscious mind isn’t bringing them back to hurt you—it’s offering you the chance to finally resolve them and heal deeply, freeing you from the grip of past pain so you can move forward with greater emotional clarity and strength.
Why it matters: If this happens, it’s a sign you’re ready to let go of the past. You can use tools to help you process in a less painful way.
Prime Directive 6. It May Keep Repressed Emotions Hidden for Protection
The unconscious mind will only reveal what it believes you can handle, keeping repressed emotions hidden until it feels you're ready to face them. When we experience overwhelming pain or trauma, the unconscious mind often represses these emotions as a protective measure, preventing us from being flooded with feelings we might not be equipped to process at the time. For instance, if you've experienced a traumatic event—such as the sudden loss of a loved one or a deep betrayal in a relationship—the unconscious may choose to keep those emotions buried until you’re emotionally stronger or in a safer space to heal.
This process can sometimes feel frustrating, especially if you feel stuck or like you're not moving forward. However, the unconscious mind is only revealing what it believes you can manage. For example, you may find that, at first, you're able to cope with surface-level sadness or anger, but deeper feelings of grief or betrayal may only surface later when you're more resilient. This is a sign that your unconscious mind is offering you the opportunity to confront and heal those emotions at the right time, when you have the inner resources to process them, ultimately leading to deeper healing and emotional freedom.
Why it matters: If you feel stuck or disconnected, it’s your mind keeping you safe. Working with a skilled therapist using hypnotherapy or breathwork helps you navigate this process safely.
Prime Directive 7. It Runs Your Body and Holds a Blueprint of Perfect Health
The unconscious mind not only regulates essential bodily functions like your heartbeat, digestion, and breathing, but it also holds a blueprint of perfect health. Without you consciously thinking about it, your unconscious mind ensures that your body operates smoothly, keeping all systems in balance. For instance, when you cut yourself, the unconscious mind immediately starts the healing process without any need for you to instruct it. It works tirelessly to maintain your health, supporting you in ways you might not even realise.
Beyond just maintaining basic bodily functions, the unconscious mind holds an innate blueprint of what perfect health looks like for you—an ideal state of well-being. This blueprint isn’t just about the physical body; it also includes your emotional and mental health. However, when there are emotional blocks, stress, or unresolved issues, it can cause disruptions in this perfect blueprint, manifesting in physical ailments or imbalances. By working with the unconscious mind to heal emotional wounds and align your thoughts with well-being, you can unlock the potential to restore the body’s natural state of health, bringing your physical, mental, and emotional systems into harmony.
Fascinating Fact: When overwhelmed, your unconscious might “signal” you through physical symptoms like migraines, accidents (falling), or chronic pain.
Prime Directive 8. It Preserves the Body
The unconscious mind’s top priority is survival and maintaining the integrity of your body. It works tirelessly to protect you from harm and to ensure that your physical well-being is preserved. For example, if you touch something hot, your unconscious mind triggers a reflex to pull your hand away before you even consciously register the pain, keeping you safe. Similarly, when you face stress or danger, your unconscious mind activates the fight-or-flight response, preparing your body to protect itself from perceived threats.
Even beyond immediate threats, the unconscious mind is continuously working to preserve your overall health and well-being. When you experience emotional or physical stress, the unconscious mind may create protective mechanisms, such as developing physical symptoms (like headaches or fatigue) as a way of signaling that something is off balance. In this way, the unconscious not only defends your body from external harm but also from internal emotional or psychological distress. By understanding this protective role, you can begin to address the underlying emotional or mental causes of physical symptoms, helping your body return to a state of balance and health.
Why it matters: Emotional stress often shows up as physical symptoms. Releasing stored emotions can have a powerful effect on your physical health and energy levels.
Prime Directive 9. It Is a Highly Moral Being
The unconscious mind operates according to the moral codes and values you were taught, often rooted in childhood. From a young age, we absorb the beliefs, rules, and expectations from our family, culture, and society, and the unconscious mind stores these moral guidelines as a framework for how we should behave. For example, if you were taught that honesty is always the best policy, your unconscious mind will guide you to act in accordance with that belief, even in situations where being honest might feel difficult. Similarly, if you grew up with the idea that success requires hard work and sacrifice, your unconscious mind will likely push you to strive for success while possibly feeling guilty if you take time for self-care or relaxation.
These deeply ingrained moral codes help shape your decisions and actions, often without you even realising it.
However, because these codes are formed early on, they can sometimes conflict with your current desires or values. For instance, if your childhood moral code taught you to suppress emotions or avoid conflict, your unconscious mind might cause you to avoid difficult conversations in relationships or business, even when facing these situations would be beneficial. By understanding how your unconscious mind operates based on these early teachings, you can begin to question and realign your moral beliefs to better serve your current goals, values, and well-being.
Why it matters: Outdated beliefs like “success is selfish” or “I don’t deserve love” can hold you back. Hypnotherapy helps you identify and rewrite these beliefs.
Prime Directive 10. It Enjoys Serving but Needs Clear Instructions
The unconscious mind thrives on serving you, but it operates on clear instructions rather than logic or reason. It doesn't question your commands or weigh their pros and cons like your conscious mind does. Whatever you tell it, it follows without hesitation, even if those instructions aren't necessarily in your best interest. For example, if you frequently think, "I’m terrible at relationships," your unconscious mind will focus on reinforcing that belief, seeking out evidence to make it true, and guiding your actions in ways that confirm this self-doubt. Similarly, if you consistently tell yourself, "I’m not good enough," your unconscious will align your behavior with that belief, holding you back from pursuing opportunities for growth or success.
Because the unconscious mind is so responsive to your instructions, it’s essential to be intentional with the messages you send. Clear, positive affirmations or thoughts about what you truly desire will guide the unconscious to work in your favour, helping you achieve the success, health, or relationships you want. The key is to give your unconscious mind positive, empowering instructions, as it will happily work to make them your reality, even if those instructions are based on limiting beliefs or past experiences.
Fascinating Fact: Saying “I don’t want to fail” focuses your mind on failure. Instead, give it clear, positive instructions like “I am confident and successful.” I like to think of it this way: the conscious mind is the goal setter, and the unconscious mind is the goal getter.
Why it matters: If you say “I don’t want to feel anxious,” your mind focuses on “anxious.” Instead, say, “I am calm and in control.” Speak to yourself with clear, positive language.
Prime Directive 11. It Controls and Maintains Perception
Your unconscious mind filters how you see the world based on your beliefs, memories, and self-talk. The fascinating part? It doesn’t distinguish between imagination and reality, whatever you focus on becomes your truth.
In Relationships: If you repeatedly think, “I’m not good enough to be loved,” your unconscious will reinforce that perception. You’ll unconsciously sabotage connections or attract relationships that reflect your belief. Shifting to “I am worthy of love and connection” can reprogram how you experience relationships.
In Business: If you constantly visualise failure—thinking, “I’ll never hit my goals,”—your unconscious mind accepts this as fact and adjusts your behaviour accordingly (procrastination, lack of motivation, playing small). Instead, vividly visualising success helps your unconscious believe it’s already happening, driving you toward opportunities and results.
With Anxiety: When you tell yourself, “I can’t cope,” the unconscious mind heightens anxiety to “prove” you right. By calming the nervous system (Using tools such as hypnotherapy or breathwork) this can really help shift your perception.
By consciously choosing your focus and words, you can shift your unconscious perceptions and transform your experiences.
Prime Directive 12. It Generates, Stores, and Transmits Energy
Prime Directive 12 – It Generates, Stores, and Transmits Energy
Your unconscious mind is the powerful source of your physical, emotional, and mental energy. It not only generates this energy but also stores and transmits it throughout your entire system. For example, when you’re feeling energized and motivated, it’s your unconscious mind that’s driving this flow of positive energy, pushing you to take action and achieve your goals. On the other hand, if you’re feeling drained or stuck, it’s the unconscious mind that may be holding onto negative emotions or limiting beliefs, depleting your energy and making it harder to move forward.
The unconscious mind stores emotional and mental energy, and this energy can either work in your favor or against you. If you’re carrying unresolved trauma or unprocessed emotions, these energies can feel heavy and drain your vitality.
However, when you release old, limiting beliefs and reprogram the unconscious with empowering thoughts, you free up mental and emotional energy, allowing it to flow more freely, boosting your physical energy and overall well-being. Essentially, your unconscious mind plays a crucial role in managing your energy levels, and by working with it to align your thoughts and emotions, you can harness that energy to support your personal growth and success.
Why it matters: Negative emotions drain your energy, while positive states restore it. Techniques like breathwork allow you to clear stagnant energy and feel more alive.
Prime Directive 13. It Maintains Instincts and Generates Habits
Your unconscious mind drives your habits and instincts—whether empowering or destructive.
When most people think of habits, they often focus on the negative ones. But the truth is, habits play a crucial role in helping you achieve what you want in life. Developing positive, energetic habits is one of the best things you can do for yourself. The best part? Habits are largely unconscious behaviors, making them incredibly effective. Anything you can put on autopilot that moves you closer to your goals is definitely a win.
Why it matters: The habits you cultivate shape your daily actions, and those actions ultimately determine the success and fulfillment you create in your life.
Prime Directive 14. It Needs Repetition to Install New Habits
The unconscious mind learns and adapts through repetition, gradually turning new behaviours into automatic habits. Just like how you learned to walk or tie your shoes, the unconscious mind reinforces actions through consistent practice until they become second nature. For example, if you decide to adopt a new habit, such as exercising regularly or practicing mindfulness, your unconscious mind initially requires repetition to solidify the behavior. Over time, as you repeat the action, it becomes ingrained, and your unconscious mind starts to perform it without conscious effort.
This is why repetition is key when you want to create positive changes in your life. Whether you’re working on shifting your mindset or creating new routines, the more you repeat the desired action or thought, the more it gets embedded in your unconscious programming. Eventually, what once required effort will become effortless, and you’ll find yourself automatically making choices that align with your goals. This process of repetition is essential in building lasting, positive habits that support your growth and success.
Why it matters: Be patient with yourself. Repeated positive thoughts, affirmations, and visualisations will rewire your unconscious mind over time.
Prime Directive 15. It Is Programmed to Seek More
Your unconscious mind is wired to keep growing and discovering more—there’s always another level to reach. The unconscious mind is naturally wired to seek more of whatever we focus on. When we speak to ourselves, we need to be mindful of what we ask it to look for. For instance, if you repeatedly tell yourself, "Why am I so bad at relationships?" your unconscious mind will start searching for evidence to confirm that belief. It will keep finding ways to support that thought until you decide to change it. Essentially, the unconscious mind will work to reinforce whatever instructions you give it, whether those instructions are positive or negative.
Why it matters: This drive can work against you (e.g., never feeling satisfied) or for you (e.g., constant personal growth). Use it to your advantage.
Prime Directive 16. It Functions Best as a Whole Integrated Unit
The unconscious mind doesn’t operate in isolated "parts"; it functions most effectively when everything—your thoughts, beliefs, and actions—are aligned as a unified whole. The mind and body are interconnected, and when they work in harmony, the unconscious mind performs at its best. Integrity is key in this process, not just in terms of physical health but also in the alignment of your thoughts and emotions. When your mind and body are in sync, there’s a powerful flow of energy that supports personal growth and healing.
For example, when your beliefs about your abilities align with your actions, your unconscious mind can effortlessly guide you toward success. If you believe in your worth and take actions that reflect that belief, your mind and body work together to make those goals a reality. On the other hand, when there’s a misalignment—such as when you think you're capable of achieving something but your actions contradict that belief—this discord can create internal resistance, limiting your potential. When everything is integrated and in harmony, incredible transformations can happen, allowing you to achieve extraordinary results and experience deep, lasting change.
Why it matters: For example, you want a relationship but feel “part of me doesn’t trust relationships”, and when you dig deeper, you realise how this belief is out of alignment with your desire for love and connection.
Prime Directive 17. It Is Symbolic
The unconscious mind uses and responds to symbols, metaphors, and imagery. The unconscious mind communicates through symbols, linking shapes and images to our emotional states. In my NLP work with clients, I often ask them to recall a past experience. For some, this might appear as a clear mental snapshot, while for others, it could take the form of abstract shapes, swirling colours, or even a vague sense of something present without any distinct image. These mental representations are metaphors drawn from the neural networks in our brains. It's essential to understand that there’s no actual picture stored—what we "see" is the unconscious mind’s way of encoding experiences and attaching meaning to them.
Why it matters: Visualisation, affirmations, and even dreamwork can help you communicate more effectively with your unconscious mind.
Prime Directive 18. It Takes Everything Personally
Your unconscious mind interprets everything you say or think about yourself as true. The unconscious mind takes everything personally, and this is often reflected in how we perceive others. A concept called "perception is projection," introduced by Carl Jung, explains this idea. Simply put, what we notice in others is often a reflection of what we feel or believe about ourselves. For example, if you struggle with trust in relationships, you might project that insecurity onto your partner, assuming they’re not trustworthy, even if they’ve done nothing to prove that. In business, if you've experienced failure, you might see others' success as a reflection of your own shortcomings, believing you’re incapable of achieving similar results.
When you understand that others' behavior is not a reflection of their worth but rather their own experiences, you begin to see that everyone has unlimited potential, just like you. The key question becomes: if you truly believe everyone has the potential to achieve their goals, what does that reveal about your own self-belief?
Why it matters: Be kind with your self-talk. Say “I am worthy,” not “I’m a failure.” Words have power.
Prime Directive 19 – It Works on the Principle of Least Effort
The unconscious mind operates on the principle of least effort, always seeking the path of least resistance. It prefers what’s familiar, even if that familiarity isn’t serving you well. For example, in relationships, if you’ve been in toxic situations in the past, your unconscious mind might lead you to recreate those dynamics, simply because it’s what feels comfortable, even though it may not be healthy. Similarly, in business, if you’ve experienced failure or struggled with self-doubt, your unconscious mind might push you to avoid new opportunities or take the easier, less challenging route—because that’s what feels "safe," even if it means missing out on potential success.
This principle can work for you or against you. The mind gravitates toward what it knows, so if you've experienced failure, the unconscious might gravitate toward the familiar feeling of failure, keeping you stuck. But if you begin to consciously introduce new, empowering beliefs and behaviors, the unconscious mind will start to adjust, finding new pathways that lead to growth and success. Essentially, by making the unfamiliar familiar—whether that’s in relationships, business, or personal growth—you can rewire your mind to seek out opportunities for success and fulfillment, rather than sticking to old patterns of resistance.
Why it matters: If you’re stuck in a negative pattern, it’s because your mind sees it as “safe” or familiar. Hypnotherapy helps create new, empowering patterns that feel just as natural.
Prime Directive 20 – It Does Not Process Negatives
The unconscious mind doesn’t process negatives the way our conscious mind does. It doesn’t understand the word “not.” So, if you constantly think, “I don’t want to be anxious,” the unconscious mind doesn’t register the “don’t” or the “not.” Instead, it focuses directly on the word “anxious.” In this way, you inadvertently end up reinforcing the very thing you’re trying to avoid. For example, if you're in a business meeting and think, “I don’t want to fail,” your unconscious mind locks onto “fail,” increasing your anxiety around the possibility of failure. This can lead to self-sabotage, as you unknowingly bring the thing you fear into your reality.
The key to working with your unconscious mind is to reframe your thoughts in a positive way. Instead of thinking “I don’t want to be anxious,” focus on what you want instead: “I want to feel calm and confident.” This shift helps your unconscious mind focus on creating the positive outcome you desire, rather than amplifying the negative emotion you're trying to avoid. The more you consciously choose positive, empowering thoughts, the more your unconscious mind will support those goals, helping you move toward success and peace.
Why it matters: Reframe your thoughts into positive outcomes. Instead of “I don’t want to fail,” say “I am successful and capable.”
Final Thoughts
Your unconscious mind is always listening, always working, and always shaping your reality. By understanding these 20 directives, you can begin to communicate with it effectively, release what’s been holding you back, and create the life you truly desire.
With tools like hypnotherapy, timeline therapy, and breakthrough breathwork, you can unlock the power of your unconscious mind to heal, grow, and thrive.
Remember: The change you seek is already within you—your mind just needs the right guidance.
