Playing Mind Games with Yourself

I was talking to a client the other day about the “old stuff” that keeps coming up and getting in the way of her happiness. As we were talking about that, she said that an image of a rotting flower bulb came to mind.

“How fabulous!” I said, and she laughed, not quite sure what to make of me.

But it really was fabulous, because as we were talking about this issue she had, her subconscious mind provided a perfect metaphor for working with it. The subconscious loves to play mind games like that to help you solve problems, gain insight, and release old limitations.

The Language of the Subconscious Mind

Metaphor and pictures are two of the languages of the subconscious mind, and when the subconscious has something to communicate to you, it often arises as a picture or metaphor related to something that is ready to be released so you can live a more expansive and fulfilling life.

This happens quite often for a lot of people, especially for people who are intentionally trying to grow and develop themselves. There are two trick to working with these metaphors and images (and sensations, but that is a topic for another day.

1) Recognize the metaphor or image and then take a few minutes to work with it, if not then, then soon after.

2) Let go of control of what it means and the need to know exactly what it is about—those are killjoy ploys of the conscious mind. Your subconscious knows what it is about, and it’s giving you a hint on what to do about it, so why not play along?

How to Play Mind Games with Yourself

In my client’s case, her subconscious was giving her a metaphor that could provide a form of healing and transformation of old energy and issues. I suggested that she get into that daydreaming space, the playground of the subconscious, and imagine the rotting flower bulb in the soil of her mind.

Then I suggested that she imagine herself removing that bulb and any yucky debris beneath it, then scoop through the few layers of soil until she got to healthy soil. Then, I had her pour fertilizer into the soil, plant a new, beautiful bulb, fill it in with fresh dirt, water it, and agree to tend to this new growth on a regular basis. The old bulb and dirt went into a compost pile to reform and transform into helpful growth elsewhere.

This may sound hokey, but it works. I know because I have been using methods like this for years.

A Purse as a Metaphor for a Disorganized Mind

Not long ago, I woke up in the night with a dream that I was going through my very disorganized purse. Now, my actual purse was disorganized, and if I’d taken the dream literally, then I might have decided that was what the dream was about. But I sensed it was a nod to the disorganization in my mind. So, half asleep I played along. In a dreamy mind state, I took everything out of the purse, put back in what I needed and tossed the rest away, I fell back asleep immediately and woke feeling calmer and clearer than I had in weeks.

So, real purse or purse as a metaphor for my mind? I can’t prove that what I did was “right”, but I can tell you that it was effective, and so I thought I’d share it here. The subconscious mind loves to play, so the next time it invites you into a game, particularly a game that might help clear some old gunk from the psyche, why not play along?