The Symbols Your Unconscious Already Knows (And Why That Changes Everything)
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The other day, I was sitting with my morning coffee in a Disney Cars mug—you know, one of those with the vintage automobile on it—when I started laughing so hard I nearly spilled my drink.
Not at the mug. At a memory I hadn't thought about in decades.
Suddenly, I was seventeen again, wearing rollers and a scarf tied over my head (because that's what we did back then), sitting in my first car with my best friend Tammy. This car was a gift, so I couldn't complain, but let's just say it had... personality. One of its quirks was that sometimes—and you never knew when—you'd have to pop the hood and use a screwdriver between the solenoid and starter to get her going.
On this particular day, my temperamental car decided to throw a fit in the most high-traffic area of our entire town. Prime viewing for anyone and everyone. And there we were: two teenage girls in rollers, one of us (thank you, Tammy) having to get out and perform automotive surgery while the whole town drove by.
I was inside, turning the key and pumping the gas, laughing so hard I could barely function. Tammy was under the hood with a screwdriver, probably questioning our friendship.
This memory—this beautiful, ridiculous, joy-filled memory—came flooding back because of a cartoon car on a coffee mug. And for days afterward, every time I thought about it, I'd dissolve into belly laughs all over again.
That's the power of symbols. And your unconscious mind? It's been using them your entire life.
The Symbols You Didn't Know You Were Following
Here's something that might surprise you: the unconscious mind doesn't just store symbols. It uses them constantly to navigate your life, often without you having any idea it's happening.
Take mate selection, for example. There's fascinating research suggesting that the partners we choose are often chosen because of symbolic patterns established with our first love—which, if you think about it, is usually a parent or primary caregiver. Not in a literal way, but in the way our unconscious creates a symbol for "love" or "safety" or "home" based on those early experiences.
We're not consciously thinking, "This person reminds me of my father." But our unconscious? It's running a whole symbolic recognition system in the background, matching patterns, finding echoes, making connections we'd never articulate in words.
Your unconscious has been collecting symbols since before you could talk. It knows what makes you feel safe, what triggers joy, what signals danger, what means "home." And it's been using that symbolic language to guide you, protect you, and yes—sometimes trip you up—your whole life.
The question isn't whether symbols have power. They already do. The question is: what happens when you start working WITH that power instead of being unconsciously directed by it?
Why a Vintage Car Unlocked a Teenage Memory
Here's what fascinates me about that morning with my Disney Cars mug: I didn't need a picture of MY specific car to unlock that memory. I didn't need to see Tammy's face or that exact intersection or those particular rollers.
A simple, universal symbol—a vintage car—was enough.
My unconscious saw that image and said, "Oh! I have something for you!" And it delivered pure, unfiltered joy.
That's how symbols work. They're keys. And your unconscious already knows which doors they open.
After an entire year of using the Joy Mug method, the symbols still surprise me. I think I know which memories will surface, which moments of joy will bubble up. And then my unconscious says, "Actually, I've been saving this one. Remember when you and Tammy...?"
The trust required here is real. You have to believe that your unconscious knows what you need, that it's been paying attention all along, that it has carefully cataloged moments of genuine joy and will offer them up when you create the right conditions.
The Two-Way Street of Symbols
But here's where it gets even more interesting: if your unconscious already uses symbols to navigate your life, you can also use symbols to create new patterns.
This is the crux of why the Joy Mug method works.
Your unconscious doesn't just passively receive symbols. It can learn new symbolic associations. It can be invited to link certain images with certain feelings, certain rituals with certain states of mind.
When you consistently pair a symbol with the feeling of joy—when you let a simple image on a mug become a doorway to joyful memories—you're not just remembering the past. You're training your nervous system to recognize joy more readily. You're creating a new pattern.
Think of it like this: if your unconscious has been using symbols without your awareness your whole life, what becomes possible when you intentionally collaborate with that process?
What if, instead of being unconsciously directed by old symbols (some helpful, some not), you could consciously introduce new ones? Ones you choose? Ones that serve you?
Nature, Seasons, and the Symbols We Share
I've made hundreds of custom Joy Mugs for people, working with them to identify their personal symbols of joy. And I love that process. But I've also designed Joy Mugs with more universal symbols—scenes of nature, the four seasons, holidays like Christmas or Fourth of July barbecues.
Why? Because some symbols speak to something collective in us. A sunset. Falling leaves. The smell of a Christmas tree. A summer cookout.
You don't need to have had the exact same experience as someone else for a symbol to unlock YOUR specific, beautiful, personal memory of joy. The symbol is just the invitation. Your unconscious provides the story.
And here's the permission I want to give you: you don't have to understand exactly how or why a particular symbol will work for you. You just have to trust that it will.
Your unconscious has been doing this work—this symbolic recognition and retrieval—since before you could form sentences. It knows what it's doing.
An Invitation, Not Instructions
I'm not going to tell you exactly how to do the Joy Mug method here. That's not what this is about.
This is about recognizing something you might not have known: that symbols already have tremendous power in your life. That your unconscious is already fluent in a language you might not consciously speak. That the memories of your joy—real, embodied, specific moments when you felt fully alive—are still in there, waiting to be retrieved.
And that there's a way to work WITH all of that instead of trying to think your way into feeling better.
For me, it's the Joy Mug method. For you, it might be something else. But whatever path you choose, I hope you'll start noticing the symbols around you. The ones that make you pause. The ones that create a feeling you can't quite name. The ones that, for reasons you don't fully understand, feel like they matter.
Your unconscious already knows why.
Maybe it's time to start listening.
Want to explore how symbols might unlock joy in your own life? I'd love to hear about the symbols that speak to you—the images, objects, or moments that carry emotional weight you can't quite explain. Drop a comment below, or if you're curious about the Joy Mug method, visit JoyBecause.Store to see if a particular mug calls to you. Trust that instinct. Your unconscious might already know something you don't.