1963
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
His classic. It explains how the conscious and subconscious mind work together, with chapters on health, wealth, relationships, sleep, fear and habits, full of real-life stories and simple techniques.
Learn · Manifestation
Joseph Murphy and the power of your subconscious mind
A compendium of Joseph Murphy's teaching: who he was, his core ideas about the conscious and subconscious mind, how to use them daily, and his best-known books.
Who was Joseph Murphy?
Dr Joseph Murphy (1898–1981) was born in Ireland and later moved to the United States. He became a minister in the New Thought movement and, from 1949, led the Divine Science Church in Los Angeles, where his Sunday lectures drew large audiences.
He wrote more than 30 books. The best known, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, first published in 1963, has sold millions of copies and is still one of the most popular self-help books ever written. Where Neville speaks the language of imagination, Murphy speaks the language of the subconscious mind, and his books are full of simple, practical techniques.
Murphy's main ideas
Murphy's whole teaching rests on how two parts of the mind work together.
Two levels of mind
Your conscious mind reasons, chooses and decides. Your subconscious mind doesn't argue; it accepts what is impressed on it and works to bring it about. Murphy compared them to a gardener and the soil, or a ship's captain and the crew below deck.
The subconscious accepts what you believe
Whatever the conscious mind accepts as true, the subconscious takes as an instruction, good or bad. That's why he urged people to watch what they believe and repeat about themselves.
Belief and feeling, not effort
Murphy warned against forcing. Straining and willpower tend to make the opposite happen, an idea often called the law of reversed effort. Change comes through calm acceptance, not struggle.
The drowsy, relaxed state
The subconscious is most open when you're relaxed and drowsy, as when falling asleep. He recommended quietly affirming or imagining your desire as you drift off.
Scientific prayer
For Murphy, prayer isn't begging but affirming what you want as already true, with gratitude, until it is accepted inside. He often used short affirmations, repeated calmly.
Imagination and the happy ending
Like Neville, he encouraged imagining the end result: hearing a friend congratulate you, or seeing the finished outcome, and dwelling on the feeling of it.
Your thoughts become your habits
Repeated thoughts become automatic patterns. Murphy taught that you can replace a habit by repeatedly impressing the opposite idea on the subconscious.
Riches are a state of mind
In several books he wrote that wealth starts with a mental attitude: feeling worthy, blessing other people's success and dropping resentment around money.
Living Murphy's teaching day to day
Murphy's methods are gentle and repetitive. They're designed to fit into ordinary life, not to be practised once and forgotten.
-
Choose one clear statement
Write one sentence that states what you want as already true and believable, such as “I am calm and confident when I speak.”
-
Relax first
Sit or lie down, breathe slowly and let your body go loose. A relaxed body makes the mind more receptive.
-
Repeat it before sleep
As you drift off, repeat your statement slowly, like a lullaby, and let yourself feel it is true. Murphy believed the subconscious works on it while you sleep.
-
Imagine the happy ending
Picture a short scene showing it's done, and stay with the feeling of relief and gratitude.
-
Replace, don't fight
When the old fear comes up, don't argue with it. Calmly bring back the new thought, again and again.
-
Mind what you say
Murphy taught that casual statements like “I can't afford it” or “I always get sick” act as instructions too. Swap them for words you actually want to come true.
-
Give thanks
End with a sense of thankfulness, as though the answer has already arrived.
Neville and Murphy: how they compare
The two teachers say many of the same things in different words. Both say inner change comes first, feeling matters more than effort, and the drowsy state before sleep is the best time to impress a new idea.
Neville talks about imagination and assumption and asks you to live in the end. Murphy talks about the subconscious mind and gives you affirmations and gentle repetition. Many people find Neville more inspiring and Murphy easier to start with. In my sessions I use both. Read the Neville Goddard guide.
Joseph Murphy's books, and what each one is about
If you read just one, read The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. Most of his other books return to the same ideas and apply them to a particular area of life.
Later work
The Miracle of Mind Dynamics
A follow-up that applies the same principles in short chapters, with examples of people using their subconscious to solve problems and change their circumstances.
Later work
Your Infinite Power to Be Rich
Murphy on money: why riches begin as a mental attitude, how to overcome resentment and guilt about money, and how to use the subconscious to build prosperity.
Later work
The Amazing Laws of Cosmic Mind Power
Practical laws of mind applied to everyday situations, from confidence and success to relationships, written in his usual story-based style.
Later work
Telepsychics
Subtitled The Magic Power of Perfect Living. It explores intuition, inner guidance and the idea that your deeper mind can lead you to answers.
Later work
The Cosmic Power Within You
Focuses on the inner power Murphy believed lives in every person, and how to draw on it through prayer, meditation and affirmation.
Booklet
Believe in Yourself
A short, encouraging read about self-belief and how changing your self-image changes your experience.
Booklet
How to Attract Money
A short booklet with his core money techniques, including affirmations to repeat before sleep.
Later work
Great Bible Truths for Human Problems
Murphy's psychological reading of well-known Bible passages, used as practical lessons for everyday difficulties.
Later work
These Truths Can Change Your Life
A collection of his lectures and essays covering his main themes: faith, the subconscious, health and inner peace.
Murphy wrote about using the mind to support healing. I share his ideas as an inspiring philosophy, not medical advice: please always work with your doctor for any health condition. Hypnotherapy can work alongside medical care, never in place of it.
Want your subconscious mind on your side?
In a free 20-minute call we can look at the belief that keeps getting in your way, and whether hypnotherapy, RTT or coaching is the right next step.