What Subconscious Blocks Look Like (In Real Time)

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A lot can happen inside of you in a matter of seconds without you consciously realizing it.

Maybe there’s something you really want to do, but every time you get close to doing it, you pull back. From the outside, all you might notice is that you keep putting off that "thing." But if you were able to slow everything down and pay attention to what was happening inside of you right before you stopped yourself, you might notice that a lot more was taking place.

You might notice that fear came up when you pictured yourself doing it, or that you suddenly felt embarrassed, guilty, uncomfortable, or unsure of yourself, and that stopped you from acting. Maybe you imagined something going wrong, started thinking about what someone else might think, remembered a time something similar didn’t work out, or felt a strong urge to just avoid the whole thing entirely. Any one of those experiences might have played a part in why you pulled yourself back.

A subconscious block isn’t some mysterious force happening inside of you. It’s an automatic internal sequence that causes you to react or behave in a way you don’t consciously want to, or stops you from doing something you consciously want to do.

In this article, I want to slow things down and give you a chance to see some of this playing out for yourself.

The exercise below will help you pay attention to what comes up in your own inner world so you can start recognizing what subconscious blocks look like in real time.

The exercise

Take a minute to close your eyes and think about something you really want in life, but that you’ve consistently stopped yourself from taking action on (do this now before reading any further).

Do you have it?

When you have that “thing” in your mind, put yourself fully into the thought of already having it. Imagine what your life would be like if you literally had it right now. Let your mind play out what having or achieving it would be like, and take your time to really experience it internally.

Then imagine yourself actually taking the next step toward making it happen. Picture yourself doing the thing you’ve been putting off, and pay attention to what starts to happen inside of you.

What came up in your “inner world”?

What did you see in your mind’s eye? Maybe you saw yourself succeeding, something going wrong, someone reacting to you, a memory, or something else entirely.
What did you hear internally? Did you say anything to yourself? Did a particular thought or phrase come up? Maybe you heard someone else’s voice or remembered something they’d said to you.
What did you feel in your body? Did you notice fear, excitement, guilt, embarrassment, pressure, tightness, heaviness, or another feeling or sensation? Where did you feel it?
Did anything else happen internally? Maybe a memory came up, you started imagining a negative outcome, worried about how someone might react, started questioning what achieving it would mean for you, or felt an urge to back away from what you were imagining.

Take some time to go back over these “inner happenings” and ask yourself: “When I think about having what I want and taking action toward it, what happens inside of me? Do these responses help me keep going, or do some of them make me want to hesitate, pull back, avoid it, or stop myself?”

What you just experienced (how blocks surface)

If, during that exercise, you noticed fear or self-doubt come up, imagined yourself failing, heard inner commentary telling you why it wouldn’t work, or felt an urge to pull back from what you were imagining, those are all examples of the kinds of internal experiences that can make up a subconscious block.

And there’s a good chance that a lot of what you noticed during the exercise is the same stuff that tends to happen inside of you when you think about taking action toward that “thing” in real life. Maybe fear comes up, you picture something going badly, you start thinking about what someone else might think, or a thought comes into your mind that suddenly makes moving forward feel like a bad idea.

This is why these inner experiences matter. They don’t just happen inside of you and disappear. They influence what you do next.

Your subconscious mind uses thoughts, emotions, body sensations, images, memories, meanings, urges, and other automatic processes as “prompts” that help direct your behaviour.

So when one of those thoughts, feelings, images, or other internal experiences comes up, it can push you toward hesitating, avoiding, pulling back, or stopping yourself altogether.

And most of the time, all of this happens so automatically that you don’t consciously recognize the sequence. You just find yourself not doing the thing you wanted to do.

So why would your subconscious mind be prompting you away from something you consciously want?

That comes down to how these blocks get created in the first place.

How “subconscious blocks” are created (a quick overview)

I won’t go into too much detail here, because I wrote a full article on how subconscious beliefs form, but here’s the shortened version.

As you go through life, your subconscious mind is constantly learning from what happens to you. Difficult experiences, conditioning, and emotionally intense experiences can create associations within you, so when something similar happens later on in life, your subconscious mind can use what happened before to decide what this new situation means.

For example, maybe earlier in life, speaking up led to embarrassment, taking a risk ended badly, being yourself caused someone to reject or criticize you, or you repeatedly learned that acting a certain way helped you avoid conflict, disappointment, judgment, or some other experience you didn’t want.

Over time, those experiences can become part of the internal “map” your subconscious mind uses to interpret what’s happening today and decide how you should respond.

So later, when you think about doing something that connects with one of those old associations, your subconscious mind can start bringing up thoughts, feelings, images, memories, or urges that push you away from it.

That’s why you might consciously want something while another part of you seems to be doing everything it can to stop you from going after it.

Your subconscious mind is responding based on what it's learned. So, if taking that action has become associated with something painful, uncomfortable, risky, embarrassing, or otherwise important to avoid, the automatic processes that come up inside of you can prompt you to pull back before you’ve consciously thought through what’s happening.

And that’s how a subconscious block that was created from something in your past can continue affecting what you do today.

The more you practice noticing what happens inside of you when one of these blocks comes up, the easier it becomes to see the individual thoughts, emotions, body sensations, images, memories, and other internal experiences that are influencing what you do. Instead of only noticing that you stopped yourself again, you can start seeing what happened inside of you that led you there.

So until next time, take some time to come back to the exercise above and practice paying attention to your “inner world” when you think about something you want but keep stopping yourself from doing. See if you can catch the thoughts, feelings, images, or other internal experiences that are pulling you back.

Once you get used to recognizing these patterns as they’re happening, the next step is learning how to release them.

Wishing you the very best,

Nikki

Read the next article in this series

If you’d like to dive deeper, check out the next article below:

How to Heal From Past Experiences: Trauma and Your Nervous System

I was talking to a friend recently about how to heal from past experiences and the different ways that people… Continue reading

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Nikki Nicholas is a subconscious mind coach who specializes in removing the subconscious patterns, self-sabotage, and nervous system responses that keep people stuck. Her work integrates NLP, hypnotherapy, EFT, and strategic intervention coaching to help clients get past their negative thoughts and emotions that have been running on autopilot. With 17+ years spent studying the subconscious mind and over 10,000 hours in meditation, Nikki helps capable, self-aware people move past the internal patterns that are holding them back.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are subconscious blocks?

Subconscious blocks are automatic patterns of thought, emotion, and physical tension that trigger when you try to move forward in life. They act like a background program that quietly prompts you to hesitate or stop. These blocks are essentially your subconscious mind using internal "prompts" to keep you in familiar territory, even when you consciously want to change.

What do subconscious blocks feel like in real time?

In real time, a block usually feels like a sudden shift in your internal state. It might show up as a wave of fear or self-doubt, a mental image of yourself failing, or a physical sensation like tension in your chest or a "heavy" feeling. It’s that quiet inner commentary that tells you why you should wait, or the sudden loss of motivation that appears the moment you sit down to take action.

Why do subconscious blocks stop me even when I want to move forward?

Your subconscious mind prioritizes safety and familiarity over your conscious goals. When you move toward a change, your subconscious can flag that uncertainty as a potential threat. It uses intense emotions and looping thoughts as prompts to get you to stop because it thinks it is protecting you from discomfort or failure.