The conscious mind is: “I’m just going upstairs to put the clothes away.” The sub-conscious mind is: “Huh, those clothes are annoying me there, better sort them out soon”.
The problem with the sub-conscious mind is that it’s embedded somewhere in our thoughts. It doesn’t get heard by anyone except yourself, and your critical inner voice. Your mind becomes cluttered with anguish over all the tasks you wish to achieve but it becomes hard to address them because they are a compounded mass. Yet when we move our thoughts to the conscious mind, we immediately feel more alert and more inclined to do the things we want or need to get done. Here are some tips on how to engage with your conscious mind:

1: Choose a date that you’d like to start feeling more energised and don’t tell anyone. This exercise is about helping you and not allowing yourself to be open to judgement.
2: Before your selected date, consider anything that you want to address. But do not tax your mind. Keep the tasks achievable and easy to start with, such as tidying a room, taking one bag of items to a charity shop, responding to a letter or email, paying a bill etc.
3: The night before your chosen date, before you go to bed, drink half a pint/a pint of water. Do the same as soon as you get out of bed the next morning.
4: Look at yourself in the mirror and simply smile and say aloud: “Today I’m going to learn how to feel more awake.”
5: Whether you have to work or study, give yourself a running commentary of your day, and say it aloud. Don’t over-complicate, keep it simple, like: “Right, I’m going to take a shower, have some breakfast and then start sorting out my bedroom.”
6: When you’ve achieved the task, acknowledge yourself. Say aloud again: “Wow Emma, you’ve finally sorted out your old clothes – well done me.”
7: Take five minute breaks because you are less likely to give up.
8: Be aware of your breathing and if you feel stressed, do a breathing exercise.
9: When you go to bed, notice that energising sense of achievement that you feel.
10: Consider talking aloud regularly, and remember that it’s work in progress. The little things that you’ll regularly start to achieve will become habitual, and in so, you will become more able to address the bigger matters which sit in your sub-conscious mind.