The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind (11 page)

The window for math and logic is from birth to four years. Even learning a simple concept like “one” versus “many,” helps widen this invisible programming potential.

The window for vision is from birth to two years. This concept was demonstrated in 1970 when experimenters sewed shut one eye of newborn kittens. When the sewn-shut eyes were opened after only two weeks, the eye was blind and sight was never developed because the designated neurons were used for something else.

In another experiment, researchers raised three groups of kittens: one group in a room with only horizontal stripes, one in a room with only vertical stripes, and one in a normal room. Once removed from these rooms, the kittens raised in the room with horizontal stripes could only perceive horizontal objects. That is, they would walk into a table leg, for example, because they did not see it. The group raised in the room with vertical stripes could not perceive horizontal objects. They would not walk into a table leg, but they would walk into the table, if it were low enough, because they could not perceive the horizontal object. The third group raised in a normal room was normal.

The window of development for vocabulary is to three years. Even if a baby hears words he does not understand, on hearing these new words, neuron pathways are formed that widen the potential for learning later.

The window for language is from birth to 10 years old. Note how quickly children learn a new language compared with adults. Moreover, unless the children learn the new language at a very early age, they will most likely have an accent in that language for life.

Arguably, the most important window is the emotional window, which is from birth to only two years old. Think about that. Your emotional quotient is pretty much wired in the first two years of life. This explains why some adults act childlike under emotional circumstances. That was how their subconscious mind was wired during the emotion window.

The window for motor development is to five years old. Researchers performed a landmark experiment in which a newborn monkey’s hand was bound so that he could only use one finger. After the learning window passed, the binding was removed from the monkey’s hand and he never learned to use his other fingers. The brain cells committed to the useless fingers were used for something else during the window of motor development.

A modern example of motor development is Andre Agassi, who has been, off and on, the number one tennis player in the world. Andre is able to change the game’s strategy due to his lightening quick reflexes and ability to hit the ball early and on the rise. This takes exceptional reflexes and hand/eye coordination. Andre is also reputed to be the best ever at returning serves.

Andre’s programming began when he was a few weeks old. His father dangled a ball on a string over Andre’s head, and when Andre was old enough to hold something his father gave him a paddle to swing. Andre’s father laid the foundation for creating a large potential for motor development in Andre’s subconscious mind.

This concept of learning-windows shows the importance of exposing children to a variety of toys, colors, sounds, conversations, sights, and experiences. Of course, these programming limits are not absolute, but overcoming them can be difficult. More recent research indicates that these windows may last longer, and that the way our brains are wired in the teen years also determine how we behave as adults.

Thus, as adults, we most likely have many negative programs and concepts in our subconscious minds that were developed prior to our twentieth birthday, and many that were planted by others, namely parents, relatives, teachers, peers, TV, society, and possibly some violent video games. Unfortunately, many of these programs and concepts are counterproductive. Consider the following ones:

       •   Smoking,

       •   Overeating,

       •   Poor health,

       •   Poor self-image,

       •   Girls are poor in math,

       •   Everybody catches colds,

       •   No, you cannot do that,” or, “You’ll never be able to do that.”

Remember. The subconscious mind accepts everything as true and literal. Often well-meaning parents, repeatedly say to their children:

       •   You will be a
big
girl,”

       •   “You are so silly,”

       •   “No, you can’t do that,”

       •   “You naughty boy,”

       •   “You’re a girl; you’re not supposed to be good in math.”

Some thoughtless parents or teachers might program young malleable subconscious minds with:

       •   “You’ll never amount to anything,”

       •   “You will never be successful,”

       •   “Don’t you ever learn?”

       •   “You are a bad boy (or girl).”

       •   “You will never graduate.”

These negative statements will have no effect when they are said to the child only a few times. But if they are repeated, especially under emotional circumstances, they are likely to be accepted by the subconscious mind. One researcher estimated that a child is told “No” 148,000 times in his early years. No wonder the potential of so many children is unnecessarily limited.

CONDITIONED REFLEXES

Sometimes we react in irrational ways and we have no clue why. This is often due to a conditioned reflex that we are not aware of. You remember the classic experiment performed by Pavlov. When Pavlov showed a hungry dog food, the dog salivated. Pavlov then rang a bell when he showed the food to the
dog. After a few times, the dog was conditioned to the bell. Then Pavlov had only to ring the bell and the dog salivated. Ringing a bell and salivation are not ordinarily linked.

Here are a few examples of reported cases involving conditioned reflexes:

       
    An adult woman abhorred spinach. Under hypnosis, she recalled a time when she was one year old. She was in a high chair eating spinach. The doorbell rang. Their German Shepard started barking and on his way to the door knocked over the high chair. Thinking her child was hurt, the mother cried and yelled. There was chaos, noise, a bump on the head, and the experience was very emotional. This traumatic experience conditioned her to dislike the food she happened to be eating when the unpleasant incident occurred. Do you suppose a similar incident happened to a previous president who dislikes broccoli and does not know why?

       
    Another patient was afraid of the ocean. It turned out that, at an early age, he was on the beach when lifeguards brought in a shark-bite victim. The lurid sight was so emotional that he was conditioned to be afraid of the ocean.

       
    This example was reported in
Psychotherapy
, Aug. 1974. A youngster was spanked at the end of an argument between his parents. His emotions were associated with his struggle to control the sobbing in his chest (sic). During the next argument, even without the spanking, his chest remembered.
Emotions were cut off at the chest, and the youngster developed asthma.