Techniques for exploring your psyche and subconsciousness

[Serkat]

Hi there, I think there should be some sort of collection for concrete techniques that can be used for investigating your psyche and subconsciousness and learn about yourself. Yes, there should be If you can post some technique that you know of, please contribute The following are well known and too complex to be handled in this thread: - Lucid dreaming and dream interpetation - Meditation and Self-Hypnosis/Hypnosis All of this works best if you're relaxed and focused, so that you can build a light connection between consciousness and subconsciousness. I konw of these: 1. ABCDE-Tool (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) a - activating event (what event or situation are you analyzing) b - beliefs (which believes and values are important for your mental and physical behavior here) c - consequences (what did you think, feel and do and why) d - discussion (discuss the pros and cons of B in relation to C) e - effect (what are possible effects of the things you learnt in D) 2. Sentence completion exercise Write the beginning of a sentence, for example "If I'd do more of this and this...". Then quickly write 6 to 10 endings for this sentence without putting conscious effort into it. It doesn't matter if they're right or wrong. Don't hold yourself back. Do this twice a day for a week and analyze your results. Any open ended question can be turned into the beginning of a sentence ("What would you do, if...?" -> "If... I'd). The point of the exercise is to learn something new about yourself, so you should pick a sentence stem that might give you more insight and also you shouldn't think about what you are writing. It should come directly from the subconsciousness and can then later be analyzed. 3. Socratic dialogue On the basis of (1) or (2) or some other basis you want to think about, ask critical questions on your results and try to answer them. Then ask critical questions to those answers and so on. 4. Active Imagination This is kind of like lucid dreaming, except you're awake and it's more stable and less realistic. Focus on some picture or thought you want to investigate, follow the flow and get into contact with characters you might see. Ask them stuff, interpret their meaning. Write down your explorations. 5. Psychonautic writing (diary, introspection, analysis of some thoughts or situations) Doesn't really need any explanation, you can do anything by just writing about it and thereby putting structure into your thoughts. 6. Automatic writing Let your subconsciousness take control of your hand and just start writing, without holding anything back. This needs some practice. You can focus on some specific topic, or maybe some problem you want to solve. 7. Devil's flower (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) Based on an activating event, collect your central cognitions and thoughts and, mapped around them, investigate the following aspects that stand in relation to these central thoughts: Bodily feelings, emotions, behavior, memories, focus of awareness. 8. Using a pendulum You can use a pendulum to let your subconsciousness answer specific Yes/No questions by idiomotoric movements. Can work but it's not very complex and possibly too rigid in it's structure to get satisfying results from your subconsciousness. Do you know of any more techniques? I'd like to hear of them. Greetings

[Goldney]

It seems like you're asking for a definite answer to an indefinite thing. Also this is first and foremost a lucid dreaming site, although maybe this could exist in Beyond Dreaming.

[dodobird]

Someone mentioned a technique called image-streaming where you close your eyes, and wait for images to appear. It's supposed to improve your IQ and connect you to your subconscious. Here's a link: http://www.grasshopper.com/mind-games/hack-your-iq/

[Rainman]

Truly excellent post, if I may say so, Korittke. I noticed that someone earlier (don't remember who) posted a technique about asking yourself what is your purpose in your life, and writing down everything you think of, even if it's gibberish, and the answer that really hits home/makes you cry/affects you is most likely the answer.

[pj]

Mind mapping.