Your Subconscious Mind is Making Terrible Decisions: How to Take the Steering Wheel
Right now, as you read this, your brain is making about 35,000 decisions a day. And you—yes, you with your carefully crafted morning routine and your five-year plan—are only consciously aware of about 5% of them.
That's right. 95% of your daily decisions are being handled by your subconscious mind like a controlling boyfriend who decides who you talk to and what you do.
Welcome to Your Brain on Autopilot
Think about your drive to work this morning. Did you consciously decide to turn at every intersection? Of course not. Your subconscious was like, "I got this," and navigated you through traffic while your conscious mind was busy composing imaginary arguments with people you will likely not address anytime in the near future.
The same goes for choosing your outfit, brushing your teeth, or deciding what to eat for breakfast. Your brain creates shortcuts—habits—that move repeated actions from "active decision-making mode" to "autopilot mode." It's a brilliant, yet complicated system.
Why Your Brain is Secretly a Control Freak
Cognitive Efficiency. That's the fancy term for "your brain is lazy in the smartest way possible."
Every second, your brain processes an overwhelming amount of data—the temperature of the room, the texture of your clothes, background sounds, that lingering smell from last night's dinner. If you had to consciously decide how to respond to all of that, you'd be paralyzed by lunchtime.
So your subconscious acts as a sophisticated filter, managing the bulk of choices automatically. It reacts to smells, textures, and temperature changes. It decides when to sigh of boredom, scratch that itch, or shift your weight in your chair. It's handling approximately 2,000 decisions per hour—that's one every two seconds—without bothering to run them by you first.
This frees up your conscious mind for the really important stuff. Like deciding whether to text your ex. Hint: the answer is usually “no”.
So What Does This Have to Do With Hypnotherapy?
Here's the thing: if 95% of your decisions are subconscious, and those decisions are based on habits and past experiences, then what happens when those habits and past experiences are... let's say, not serving you well?
What if your subconscious learned some unhelpful patterns? What if it's running old programming that made sense when you were seven but is now making you anxious, self-sabotaging, or stuck in relationships that feel like Groundhog Day?
This is where hypnotherapy comes in.
You can't logic your way out of subconscious patterns. Trust me, you've tried, I’ve tried. We’ve all tried.
Hypnotherapy works by actually getting backstage access to that 95%—to the part of your brain that's been running the show without your input. It creates a state where your subconscious is more receptive to new information, allowing you to:
Update outdated programming (turns out you don't actually need to people-please to survive anymore)
Rewire unhelpful habits (goodbye, stress eating; hello, actual coping skills)
Process trauma that's been stuck in your nervous system
Install new patterns that align with who you actually want to be
In a typical session, you’re guided to slow down the brain into a deeply relaxed, focused state. Think of it similar to when you’re daydreaming or driving a familiar route and suddenly realize you don’t remember the last ten minutes. You’re not asleep, nor are you unconscious. You’re not under the control of someone else. You’re simply more open and inwardly focused, and deeply relaxed. Many people experience a dreamlike state in which their inner world becomes tangible, feeling transported to another place while still remaining awake and able to respond to prompts.
Your brain goes from Gamma (critical thinking and fast brain activity) to Alpha (present but deeply relaxed) or Theta (very deep relaxation, light sleep, subconscious activity).
The normal filters and patterns by which you understand yourself and the world around you are queting down so you can work with the subconscious. It’s almost like putting your brain in editing mode.
Developing Habits, Replacing, Not Erasing
Just like an eager real estate developer, the subconscious doesn’t like to leave a blank space. If you just try to stop a habit without replacing it with something else, the brain goes searching for a substitute, or will likely repeat the same old pattern.
In hypnotherapy, I teach my clients to replace the unwanted behavior with something more positive. Instead of the typical 5pm glass of wine ritual, you might instead prompt yourself to make a cup of delicious herbal tea or something that is equally rewarding and pleasurable. The brain still gets what it needs, but through a healthier route.
It’s kind of like tricking a sugar addicted kid with a poppi or healthier soda substitute . Yanking the soda away will not stop the constant whining for their favorite drink. The subconscious is no different, it will continue to whine until it either gets what it wants or finds an equally pleasurable replacement.
The "Aha!" Moment: When Your Brain Calls BS on Your Old Stories
Here's where things get epic: once your subconscious buys into a new belief, your body becomes a total convert.
Let's say you've spent a decade convinced that you can't possibly fall asleep without scrolling through your phone for an hour. (Sound familiar?)
Under hypnosis, we guide you to experience that same drowsy, heavy-limbed relaxation—without the blue light assault. Your brain releases all the same feel-good chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, the whole cocktail. But this time? You didn't need the screen. After a few rounds of this, your brain's like, "Wait... I can just do this?"
You've essentially hacked the association. Those same 11 PM stress triggers that used to send you diving for Instagram now prompt you to grab your book, do some deep breathing, or just... close your eyes. Wild, right? Your brain doesn't actually care what the routine is—it just follows the dopamine trail like a well-trained puppy.
This is why people who quit smoking with hypnosis often report it feeling oddly... easy. Like they're waiting for the white-knuckle suffering that never shows up. It's not a willpower cage match—it's a software update. Your brain just stops running the old program.
The Humor in Your Brain's Terrible Toddler Logic
If you've ever tried to quit something—anything—you know your brain operates on the logic of a toddler negotiating bedtime. One part of you declares, "That's it. We're DONE with this behavior." Meanwhile, another part pipes up with, "Okay yes, totally. But also... what if we did it just one more time? And then maybe tomorrow? And possibly every day after that until we die?"
It's like having a committee meeting in your head where half the members didn't get the memo.
This is why I tell clients: stop taking your habits so personally. They're not character flaws—they're just outdated software that hasn't gotten the update notification. That anxiety-snacking habit? It was genuinely helpful when you were 23 and stressed about finals. But you're 38 now, with different problems and better tools. Hypnotherapy is basically sitting down with that old pattern and saying, "Listen, I appreciate what you did for me back in 2009. Truly. But we've got new management now."
Turns out, when you approach your brain's quirks with curiosity instead of shame—when you can laugh at the absurdity of craving something you don't even want anymore—the whole process gets a lot easier. Your subconscious responds way better to "isn't this interesting?" than to "I'm such a failure."
The Bottom Line
Your conscious mind is great at setting intentions, making big decisions, and getting you through the day.
But your subconscious mind? That's where change actually happens. That's where the autopilot lives. And if you want to change course, you need to work with the part of your brain that's actually steering the vehicle.
Hypnotherapy isn't some woo-woo trick where someone makes you cluck like a chicken. (Though, let's be honest, that would be fun to witness.) It's a scientifically-backed way to work with the 95% of your brain that's been making decisions without your permission.
Think of it as finally getting invited to your own meeting.