This is a fascinating and very persuasive view of how the mind works. And while the article focuses on a causal flow from the unconscious to the conscious, it a

This is a fascinating and very persuasive view of how the mind works. And while the article focuses on a causal flow from the unconscious to the conscious, it also mentions actions that the conscious mind can do to influence the unconscious, like the example of putting a picture of loved ones on one's desk to motivate work. I would like to add something else that the conscious mind can do. Unconscious cognitions often show up in consciousness as vague feelings, like when you feel uncomfortable around someone but can't say quite why. In this case it often works to sit and just attend to the feeling, ask it a question like "what is making me feel this way?" and wait for an answer. And then when some words appear in your mind as answer, check them back against the feeling to see if it affirms it. This last step is like when you have forgotten someone's name and have only a feel of it, and then when you remember the feeling changes to one of affirmation, and that's how you know you remembered it correctly. This process will make it possible to find out what is motivating you, and so you can think about it consciously, like figuring out a better way to reach a goal. Beyond that, it often leads to an automatic process of changes such as emotions reducing and irrational beliefs correcting themselves. In fact, we all know this sort of process from talking with people about problems. A large part of what is going on here is that in the process of talking we put vague feelings into more precise words, and this leads to intelligent thinking and automatic changes in feeling. Other forms of symbolization such painting or composing music can have a similar effect. A good book on this process of attending to unclear feelings is Focusing by the University of Chicago psychologist and philosopher Eugene Gendlin.