This week, we’re going to liken your subconscious mind to a house party. Roll with me on this!

House parties in college can easily get out of hand. Now, I don’t know for fact but I’ve heard...

When you open your doors and let anyone in, you never know who’s in your living room—friends of friends, neighbors you’ve never met, random passersby who see how lit your place is. The door is always open, so people keep coming. When you’re not monitoring the door, you’re opening yourself up to risky or dangerous or destructive people wandering in without your knowing.

Those are usually the people who break your tables and puke on your floors. They can cause some real damage to both you and your relationship with your landlord.

Have you got a picture of this party so far? Let’s switch to managing our mind for a moment.

When you think thoughts, you send those thoughts and that energy to your subconscious mind for processing. Here’s the thing: your subconscious mind has no ability to reject thoughts, it only accepts. Sort of like an open door at a house party.

It acts without discretion and in full faith that what you’re feeding it is what you intend to. It’s the open door at your party, letting any and all thoughts in for processing. It doesn’t consider the positive or negative nature of what you’re thinking.

Back to the party!

What do you do when the floor is too crowded and things are getting out hand?

Two things: you kick out the people you don’t know or want, and you put your biggest, most intimidating buddy at the door to play bouncer. With him at the door, you’re only letting in friends and people you like. No one destructive, no one too drunk and no strangers.

You’re happy, and your friend gets a kick out of saying, “Who do you know here?” to everyone who walks up. Finally, your house is full of good people and everyone has a great time.

Now back to the mind...

We realize now that our subconscious mind never rejects what we think - it only accepts. So how do we combat the admission of negative and destructive thoughts?

We developed mindfulness. We cultivate awareness.

These tools act as our bouncers. They stop every thought as it enters the subconscious and vets it, determining whether it's constructive or destructive.

If it’s the former, it comes on through to be absorbed. If it’s the latter, it’s repelled and sent away, starved before it’s able to gain steam.

Basically, your mind is a party that you only want to invite your friends to. You have to guard your subconscious closely to ensure that it’s translating only positive energy to the rest of you.

This is the process of thinking about what you’re thinking about. Learn to catch yourself when you feel a wave of negative energy coming on, and remind yourself that ain’t nobody got time for that!

A big step in the right direction, and something you can start right now, is monitoring your self-talk. Be weary of how you speak to and about yourself.

Don’t put yourself down, don’t sell yourself short. Self-contempt is an energy that is easily registered in the minds of those around you. You simply cannot afford it.

Speak to yourself only in affirmations and encouragements. Guard your subconscious carefully.

Be your mind's own bouncer.