Are Subliminal Messages Manipulation?

The reason why subliminal messages can scare some people is because of how they are wrongly assimilated to hypnosis. The two methods are creating a direct access to the subconscious mind but the main difference is that subliminal messages are given to the mind without altering the state of consciousness yet without the conscious mind filtering or blocking the messages and that's why they are so powerful.

Subliminal messages have been used for more than a century (introduced in 1897) and this mean of direct communication with the subconscious mind has been used by governments and companies through advertisement (starting in 1957). Every single day, our mind receives thousands of unsollicited subliminal messages that have for the most part the same purpose: make us buy products.

The reality is that apart from marketing, subliminal messages sent through visual and audio stimuli are also used in scientific research on perception without awareness. That's through various studies that they have been proved very effective.

But limiting the use of subliminal messages to advertising and research is a waste once we understand how powerful subliminal messages can be in a positive way. Indeed, being able to communicate directly with your subconscious mind means that you can have the ability to learn faster, focus more, have a better memory, ect, all the things that your conscious mind often blocks or filters.

Sending subliminal messages to our mind is indeed a manipulation and it can be "dangerous" when these messages are unsollicitedly sent by dishonest people like in the case of propaganda or in the example of the Konami slot machines in Ontario casinos that were briefly showing a winning hand image before the game would begin and were finally removed after being suspected of subliminally pushing people to keep gambling.

But "voluntary manipulation" through subliminal messages is simply a very effective way to improve every areas of our life. Think for a second about what exactly prevent people from achieving success in their business, pass important exams, quit smoking, improve their social skills, learn fast, be more confident? Their mind! All the barriers in their minds. The subconscious mind doesn't questions the commands it receives and totally integrates the messages which results in a different behavioral pattern (buy a car in the case of advertisement or learn to play the piano in the case of positive affirmations for instance).

Subliminal messages as positive affirmations are a powerful yet still quite unknown self help tool that anyone can safely use to enhance his or her abilities. The use of such messages basically works as if your mind was the mind of a child. Ever noticed how easy it is for a child to learn a language? They are like sponges. Us adults have a brain that works with shortcuts based on experience. If playing the piano was difficult once it will remain difficult because the brain says so.

It is wonderful to be able to make these mind barriers fall down. It's a new world of possibilities for people who like the majority of us feel stuck at some point and feel incapable of overcoming this or that, improving this or that aspect of their life.