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The conscious mind thrives on stimulation from inputs like language, sound, comparisons, and problem solving. When sensory and cognitive input decreases—when we become quiet—we make room for subconscious regulation and guidance.
It’s not a coincidence that so many of our quietest practices—prayer, meditation, time spent in nature—are also the practices we can use to feel a sense of peace and calm.
Interestingly, there are key differences between inner quiet and outer silence. Outer silence—the absence of environmental noise—sometimes makes us feel more alert rather than less (Donnelli, 2023).
For people unaccustomed to stillness, this kind of quiet may feel uncomfortable at first, like your mind is scanning for threats. If you feel this way when you’re trying to achieve calm, that’s not a failure. Consider it conditioning; with routine and practice the quiet will become familiar and embraced by your mind.
The goal, of course, is inner quiet. When mental noise decreases and tension settles, the nervous system shifts away from vigilance. Human cultures recognized this reality long before neuroscience could describe it. Moments of silence, contemplative prayer, monastic practices, and days of rest all create conditions in which conscious driving recedes and deeper regulation emerges.
Nature, Awe, and Feeling Small
A powerful way to relinquish conscious control and open communication with the subconscious is through experiences that make us feel both small and part of something vast.
One of my 20-year-old patients, Sophia, reported experiencing a life-changing vision from her subconscious that gave her this feeling. In her freshman year of college, she fell asleep in her dorm. During her nap, she felt her soul move out of her body and toward a ball of energy and light, which she then entered.
Inside that energy, she envisioned the world from its very beginning—the Big Bang, the origin of Earth, the sprouting of the first tree, the ages of fish and dinosaurs and mammals. She witnessed storms and fires and tectonic plates shifting—all from a great distance where she felt safe and clear in the knowing that everything was happening as it should be.
When the vision ended, my patient felt disoriented. She did not recognize her room or even her own hands. But she heard the voice of her subconscious, soothing and calm, telling her who she was and where she’d been. Later, when we asked her subconscious why Sophia had this experience, it replied, I wanted to show her a bigger life.
Her guided, awe-filled tour of the universe did just that, by showing Sophia how much she is an integral part of something vast and wonderful.
Interestingly, the use of psychedelics in supervised therapy sometimes elicits a similar sense to what Sophia experienced. Patients report feeling a temporary loss of their sense of self and a blurring of the boundaries between themselves and the world. Many describe feeling unity with other people, with nature, and with the cosmos. These awe-filled experiences can broaden our mindsets and allow us to feel part of something bigger (Soylemez, 2025).
When we feel awe—perhaps when we view a sweeping landscape, a night sky, or the expansiveness of the ocean—our focus on ourselves diminishes. These things make us feel small in the best possible way—small because we’re part of something vast and beautiful and cohesive. When we feel this way, our immediate concerns shrink. Our perception of time can even soften.
Among my patients who’ve mastered the skill of allowing the subconscious take over, many report losing any sense of passing time. Ten minutes in hypnosis, for example, might feel like hours of calm contemplation.
Awe, like outer silence, is not the goal. Rather, it’s a pathway to feelings of peace and calm, which allows us to better interact with our inner selves.
Communication with the Subconscious
The subconscious communicates differently than the conscious mind. Our conscious minds lean heavily on language. Words are our way of defining our circumstances. The subconscious, however developed long before language, and is more oriented towards feelings and images than towards words (LeDoux, 1996).
Many of my patients who have directly communicated with their subconscious have felt limited by, and even expressed frustration with, the limitations that come with having to capture big feelings or concepts in words.
The sense I get is not that these people lack the ability to use language, but rather that language itself is a limiting tool. Imagine a composer being asked to work at a piano with only ten keys instead of the standard 88, and you begin to grasp the inherent disparity between the vastness of the human experience and the narrowness of the lexicon available to describe it.
Takeaway
If getting in touch with our subconscious can benefit us, why aren’t we all doing it?
In the Western world, most of us not only fail to seek subconscious help, but we actively inhibit our ability to be open to subconscious messages, mysterious connections, and other phenomena that don’t fit within the strict limitations we keep in our thoughts. We end up with this limited way of thinking because it simplifies our life experience.
However, it is this limited experience that leads to much strife in the world, as many of us think in a simplistic way. For instance, it is simple to believe that everyone should think in the same way or that there is only one right way to behave. We then may become agitated when we meet someone who holds a different view.
I believe the world would be a better place if all of us were in closer touch with our subconscious minds.
References
Donelli, D., et al. (2023). Silence and its effects on the autonomic nervous system: A systematic review. Progress in Brain Research, 280, 103–144.
LeDoux, J. E. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. Simon & Schuster.
Soylemez, K. K., et al. (2025). The role of psychedelics in contemporary psychological and interdisciplinary inquiry. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 15(10), Article 450.
