What's traditionally called the "subconscious mind" isn't a "mind" but a cybernetic mechanism built on our nervous system. it can accept a goal--image and an emotion determines if it accepts it The mechanism has sensing equipment like the eyes and ears The various systems, primarily the musculature and nervous systems, propel the mechanism The nervous system works with other systems as the correcting device The memory can be used to see past successes, making future success more likely The operator gives a goal to the mechanism (called the "Automatic Success Mechanism" and "Automatic Failure Mechanism", which refer to the same mechanism). The mechanism responds no matter what, whether the goal is "positive" or "negative". It will move toward it. The most powerful goal image is an image of ourselves, because it causes a wide variety of useful or harmful behaviors from the mechanism. When successful responses are found, we can remember past successes, and our mechanism will repeat the successful response. The core of nearly all bad results is the conscious giving bad goal images to the mechanism. Maltz viewed worry, or focusing on negative possibilities, as generating negative goal images that cause the mechanism, the subconscious, the set of human systems like the musculature, to drive toward it. At the same time, he viewed it as evidence that you could generate goal imagery, and that you could "worry" about positive images instead of negative. Positive results come from a positive goal focus. To see positive goals, he says that we need a realistic and adequate self-image that recognizes these goals as possible and consistent with the self. He refers heavily to Prescott Lecky's idea that whatever is not consistent with the system of ideas a person has will get rejected. To have positive goals that the mechanism will move toward, the system of ideas, primarily the self-image, needs to be set so that the positive goal image will be consistent with the other ideas. This will allow the operator to comfortably keep the goal image in mind, which the mechanism will act on. Other key ideas Maltz also teaches that: We act on our mental representation of things, not the things themselves. We could respond with fear appropriate to seeing a bear, whether it's an actual bear, an actor, or a large shaggy dog. Negative feedback should be used to correct toward our goals. If corrective action on negative