Subliminal messaging is an exciting topic. It’s more of an art than a science, and to this day, researchers are unsure of just how well the practice works. The idea of subliminal messaging has been around for more than a hundred years, and advertisers and researchers alike have been investigating its effectiveness for nearly that long.
So, what exactly is subliminal messaging? Essentially, the theory behind subliminal messaging is that you can influence someone without them consciously knowing that you’re doing so. This might be by putting an idea in their head, making them want a particular food or drink, or making them feel a certain way.
In the sections below, we’ll teach you everything the world knows so far about subliminal messaging, as well as how to make subliminal messages. However, with great power comes great responsibility! People don’t take too kindly to being manipulated or brainwashed, so be careful how you use this information.
Subliminal Messaging in Practice
Subliminal messaging is an excellent idea in theory (if a somewhat uncomfortable one), but it’s a bit more troublesome in practice. No one really knows what the best method of subliminal messaging is. This is partially because of the lack of real, concrete research – and proof – behind the idea.
Part of the reason for (and the lack of) any real research behind the practice of subliminal messaging is the government. Historically, both Congress and the FCC have been very interested in the implications of using subliminal messaging in advertising. While today’s advertising campaigns make great use of similar techniques, such as conditioning, subliminal messaging is a bit of a different monster.
Consider conditioning, for example, which we just mentioned. You may have heard this called “classical conditioning” before. Consider the colors used in signs of fast-food restaurants. The overwhelming majority of fast food signs – McDonald’s, Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, Pizza Hut, and more – use red and yellow (or at least one of those two colors).
The reason why red and yellow came to be used on fast food signs is a story in and of itself. It’s thought that the color yellow speeds your metabolism, while red makes you feel more comfortable.
However, even more than that, because so many fast food joints use red and yellow signs, a red and yellow banner is more likely to make you hungry. Fast food joints, gas stations, and supermarkets alike use this relationship to make us hungry.
While this isn’t quite what subliminal messaging is, it’s in the same ballpark: that of suggestion and manipulation. Much of what you’ll be trying to do with subliminal messaging is just that. The only real difference is how to make subliminal messages, as the process for these is very different.
How to Make Subliminal Messages
There are many ways to make subliminal messages to others. You can hide a subliminal message inside any communication you share with another person. The most accessible ways to do this today, in our age of social media, are through sound and video. However, if you’re good at it, you can squeeze them into everyday conversation, too.
One of the foundations behind subliminal messaging is the theory that your subconscious is always absorbing information, learning, and growing. It might pick up things that even your front brain might not be completely aware of.
There are many ways to use and interpret this affinity of your subconscious. We’ll go over a few of these methods below.
Audial Messages
A great beginner’s method for building subliminal messages is through audio. You can do this with many different media; anything that you can record and playback can turn into a subliminal message. Some places to start are:
- Your favorite songs
- Ambient sounds, like running water or rainfall
- Soundtracks or voice lines
Essentially, all you do to make an audial subliminal message is layer your voice message in with your other soundtrack. You can do this by merely playing two sound files at the same time if you’re a beginner, or if you’re a bit more experienced, you can mix the two tracks permanently using a program.
There are two main ways you can use audial messages: for yourself and for others. Many people like to create audial subliminal messages with affirmations and other uplifting thoughts and phrases to help them get through tough times. However, if you want to try your hand at affecting your friends, you can do that, too.
If you’re making a subliminal message for other people, it’s best to make it a bit subtle. If you simply layer your voice in with a song or other track, it’ll be obvious what you’re trying to do. At that point, it likely won’t be “subliminal” anymore. Instead, you’ll have to be a bit more creative.
As such, if you’re trying to make subliminal messages for friends, you’ll have to be a bit more competent with audio manipulation software, too. If you’re going to make something for a friend, though, we recommend being open and honest about your intentions. Turn it into something fun!
For example, you could tell your friends something like, “I made this audio for an experiment. I want you to listen to it and see what you think!” Don’t try to manipulate your friends without telling them at all. This is a great way to lose your friends or make them uncomfortable!
Making audio with positive affirmations and other encouraging statements, on the other hand, doesn’t need to be as subtle. These sorts of audio mixes are not meant to be delicate in nature. Instead, they’re meant to be relaxing and encouraging.
Instead of listening to this audio with the intention of seeing if anything feels different afterward, you should relax, zone into something else (such as working, playing a video game, or even reading a book), and let the sound play in the background. While some people can relax to any of their favorite music, this is where ambient sounds and subdued tracks shine.
It’s thought that, by weaving your positive affirmations into a relaxing track, you’ll first be pulled into the music itself, as well as whatever else you’re doing in the meantime. Then, as your front brain is absorbed in your other task, your subconscious mind will listen to and incorporate the positive affirmations that it hears.
The theory behind this little technique is to apply a statement or affirmation to yourself through your subconscious. Positive affirmations are quite influential on their own, but it can be tough to get your subconscious in on the process and make them a natural part of your behavior.
For example, you might have problems with any of the following:
- Self-confidence
- Staying passionate about a task
- Sticking to a diet or exercise regimen
- Making friends with others
- Procrastination
- And many more
The above are just a handful of the things that these “subconscious affirmations” can help accomplish. While it’s possible to get them done without the help of your subconscious, not having your entire “self” on-board with a goal or mission can sometimes be the cause of slip-ups and other issues.
You might find that, by utilizing these audial affirmations, you can get your whole self on-board instead of having to struggle through it. It’s a lot easier than it seems, too. You might even be able to use the sound files that other people have uploaded to the internet instead of trying to make your own, though hearing someone else’s voice might pull you out of your “trance” more quickly than your own would, too. Do whichever one works best for you.
Visual Messages
Visual subliminal messages are a bit more challenging to make use of. It’s long been thought that various movie makers or advertisers (Walt Disney is notoriously famous for supposedly putting these into his movies) have put small visual clips into their media to influence viewers to do certain things.
To be fair, advertisers and media makers alike are not supposed to do this. Even today, the FCC is very aware and careful of any subliminal messaging that might take place on television and in movies. However, that’s not to say that nothing has gotten in “under the radar.” The whole point of subliminal messaging is to do it subtly, after all.
Additionally, it’s sometimes difficult to isolate suggestion from subliminal messaging. The practice can be so similar that it’s not always possible to differentiate one from the other. Let’s return to Walt Disney for one example.
Think of the animated movie Alice in Wonderland from Disney. This movie centers around a girl who “falls into a rabbit hole” and goes on several adventures. However, along the way, she eats and drinks several questionable snacks and beverages that result in unpredictable and sometimes harmful effects.
Fundamentally, the way Alice does this (and the whole movie, even, as her trip down the “rabbit hole” in the first place could also be attributed to a mysterious substance) suggests to the viewer that they shouldn’t ingest substances of questionable origin.
While what we think of as subliminal messaging tends to be short words or images that are hidden in unrelated narratives, it’s undeniable that Alice’s adventures leave a subconscious impact on us. If you’re more adventurous, it could be something like, “Alice had such a good adventure. I want to try it!” or, if you’re not, it could be something more like, “I should avoid things like that. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
So, if it has a subconscious impact on us, is it subliminal messaging? The answer isn’t entirely clear. Alice’s adventure has strong suggestive undertones, obviously, but it’s not subtle about them, either. These are all things to keep in mind as you learn how to make subliminal messages, as you can get your thoughts across in many different ways. Some examples include:
- Hiding a message in the background
- Playing a brief flash of a word that’s too fast for people to see consciously
- Hiding a message in the story
- Using an “easter egg”
Whereas audial subliminal messages have a bit of a cult following, especially in the self-help community, visual ones do not. For one, they’re much harder to (successfully) make than audial messages, since our eyes tend to be much more sensitive to this sort of thing than our ears.
It’s still possible to make visual subliminal messages, but we don’t recommend it as your first course of action. However, if you work with filmmaking, research, or any combination of the two regularly, it might be a fun experiment to conduct.
Ways to Use Subliminal Messages
If you’re interested in subliminal messages, you probably have some ideas on how you might use them. Regardless of how you got into them, though, you’ll be pleased to know that there are many more ways to use subliminal messages that you might have thought initially. Like we said above, for example, audial subliminal messages are sometimes used as a source of passive affirmation.
Thankfully, subliminal messaging isn’t all manipulation and brainwashing. Like the above example, it can be used for real good. It can’t easily be used for evil – subliminal messaging tends to be very subtle – but using it to manipulate or influence others can be a bit morally questionable, too.
Of course, we always recommend using subliminal messaging for good. Influencing someone else without their knowledge (or consent) is never a good idea. There are so many ways to use it for good that there should never be any reason to do otherwise.
Subliminal Affirmations
It’s quite easy to craft subliminal affirmations, whether they’re for yourself or other people. You don’t need any real knowledge of sound manipulation software, either, though this is a plus when creating them for others.
While your subliminal affirmations can be very vague and nonspecific, if you need them to be, it’s best if you target them clearly. For example, a subliminal statement such as “I’ll do better” isn’t necessarily wrong, but it won’t help as much as something more specific would, such as “I’ll work harder and get more done while I’m at work.”
In the same way, an affirmation like “I’ll be a better person” isn’t necessarily an ineffective affirmation – it’s more specific than the first one, after all – but it’s not as good as something like “I’ll be kinder to others and perform more random acts of good.”
The best part of creating affirmations for yourself is that you can make them very specific. This isn’t always possible if you’re making them available to others. For example, you could create something like, “I’ll study hard and excel on my biology exam” for yourself. While this could help other people in the same situation, it’s not as one-size-fits-all as the previous examples.
Additionally, subliminal affirmations, both for yourself and others, can be made very quickly. If you know how to play a sound file on a computer, you can do this!
To create the very most basic of subliminal affirmations, pull up a musical track that you enjoy from any streaming service online. Then, record yourself speaking your statement out loud. How many times you say it, how frequently you say it, and how loud it is is all up to you. Just keep in mind that subtlety is usually better with subliminal affirmations.
When we say subtlety is better, we mean with how you’re “layering” your subliminal affirmations with the other music or ambiance you’re listening to. If you want, you can repeat your phrase over and over again. It should work. However, it might be more productive to have a few minutes of silence between each affirmation. It will mean more to your subconscious brain this way.
Think about when you hear a sound over and over again. It tends to blend and become background noise, right? While it’s still true that your subconscious brain is more receptive to messages than your front mind, even it will eventually zone out if you hear the same words over and over.
Additionally, if you’re keeping up a constant stream of speech, you’re leaving the realm of subliminal affirmations and entering the field of regular assertions. Statements on their own are meant to be a focus of the front brain; the way they work is fundamentally different from subliminal affirmations.
As such, if you’re looking for subliminal help, keep it short and subtle. Aside from that, though, there are a few other things that will help you with your subliminal affirmations. Remember to keep them:
- Quiet and soothing
- Encouraging, not deprecating
- Happy
- Attainable
- Personal
Let’s consider the points we just mentioned. Declarations don’t have to be soft or soothing, though it’s often quite helpful to keep the listener in a healthy state of mind. Subliminal affirmations, however, depend on the listener becoming absorbed in the music or ambiance of what they’re listening to. As a result, a stringent or loud tone of voice will disrupt this phenomenon.
Affirmations are all about being encouraging. If you’re not supportive, you’re no longer making an affirmation at all! Additionally, negative affirmations, such as I won’t, I can’t, and I don’t statements aren’t helpful like positive affirmations are. While they might work in some ways for some people, it’s best to avoid them altogether.
In the same way, your affirmations should be happy. The same negative statements we mentioned above tend to have a deprecating or sad undertone to them, as they work to attack the one who says or hears them. As a direct result, they tend to inspire fear and wariness rather than confidence.
While keeping your affirmations attainable isn’t necessarily a requirement, it’s helpful if you’re looking to achieve a specific goal. However, unattainable, far-off assertions are their own beast, and we’ll go into those in more depth later on. For now, though, try to keep your subliminal affirmations about things that are directly within your reach.
We already talked about how it’s best to make your affirmations personal. While vague statements will work in some ways, they’re neither as effective nor as targeted as specific affirmations. You might end up influencing a different part of yourself than you were initially concerned with if you don’t make your statements accurate enough.
Additionally, while we didn’t put this in the list above, keep your affirmations simple. Simplicity is key! Try to focus on just one declaration (or perhaps two related ones) at a time.
High Affirmations
Just now, we mentioned the existence of affirmations that go above and beyond what we can currently achieve. While human beings are capable of incredible things in their lifetime, many of these incredible feats take years of money, effort, and practice before they become a reality.
However, there’s no reason not to inspire yourself to achieve these things in the meantime. No affirmation, whether subliminal or otherwise, will be able to let you achieve a fantastic feat in one day – that is, unless you’re just plain lucky. For example, if your affirmation is “I want to be successful,” and you win the lottery the next day, that’s just luck.
If you prime yourself with affirmations often enough, they will help you achieve what you set your mind to. However, if you set your ambitions high, they may take you a while. An affirmation won’t necessarily help you achieve something faster, though it might provide this benefit for some who might otherwise procrastinate.
What’s your biggest dream that you want to make a reality? Would you like to become the CEO of a successful company? Maybe you want to have one million dollars in your bank account all at one time? Perhaps you want to make a specific change in the world? All of these are possible, and affirmations will help you to reach them, too.
An affirmation won’t make your dreams come true for you; they don’t have that kind of power. However, they will help you stay active, confident, and focused on that goal. They’ll help to keep your subconscious involved, too, if you make sure to use subconscious affirmations, which can be just as helpful.
Why Subliminal Messages?
While you might have originally desired to learn how to make subliminal messages for questionable reasons – most of us have some fascination with influencing or manipulating others at some point in our lives – there are infinitely more ways to use subliminal messages for good.
It’s thought that influencing the subconscious is the best way to help build and maintain long-lasting, permanent changes in behavior quickly. Depending on the person, changing a habit by willpower alone can see varying degrees of success. Consider smoking, for example. Many people now consider smoking to be unhealthy, unpleasant, and undesirable in a mate. However, it’s tough to quit smoking.
Many people turn to stop-smoking aids to kick their habit, which is totally fine. However, not enough people consider the power of subliminal affirmations when seeking to change a behavior like this. While affirmative statements can’t get rid of cravings as chemical aids do, they can unite both your conscious and your subconscious minds against the common enemy: smoking.
What it all comes down to is that our brains are very, very complicated. Even after hundreds of years of research, doctors and psychologists don’t know everything about how the mind works. Much of it is still a mystery. The subconscious mind is just one part of that puzzle.
Your subconscious mind is thought to be something like a vault. You can store things in your subconscious mind with a high degree of clarity, but retrieving those things isn’t as easy. Think about how you feel after having a particularly vivid dream.
You know what happened when you wake up, but it might feel just barely out of reach. Your subconscious mind knows what happened – our subconscious is responsible for a large portion of our dreams, after all – but it’s challenging to access and retrieve it.
Subliminal messaging isn’t the be-all and end-all to all of your problems, even with affirmations added in. But they’re an incredibly effective way to play with the border between the conscious and unconscious mind, which can open up the road to greater strength, convictions, and progress in the future.
Conclusion
What has this article on subliminal messages taught you? What if we told you that there were several such messages hidden within the text of this article? We’re kidding, of course – there’s no such secret message to be found in the text here.
That’s another grey area of subliminal messaging, too; if you get too preoccupied with subliminal messaging, you might begin seeing subliminal messages in places where they don’t exist. Don’t expect them to be there, as that defeats the purpose.
The takeaway message here is that subliminal messaging – and all forms of suggestion – are powerful tools that can do great good in the right hands, but they can cause harm, too. If you use them wisely and for your and others’ benefits, you might find that your life improves significantly as a result.