A subliminal message is something that appears for a very short instant of time. This is so short that your conscious mind doesn't have time to notice that the message has appeared. However, your subconscious mind is much more attentive and will definitely have noticed that the message has flashed past you.

Subliminal messages can be as short as one frame of a movie, so your mind will only have as long as 1/24th of a second if it is watching one. Television frames last even less time and range between 1/30th and 1/60th of a second. Literally it's a case of "blink and you'll miss it".

Computer subliminal message programs are available that will flash subliminal messages onto your PC screen at random intervals and at random locations on your screen. Unless your computer is doing some heavy processing, you'll never consciously see them. Which means they can be an excellent thing to use in the background without spending any extra time - a great way to lose weight or get the motivation to quit smoking, for example.

If you are listening to an audio track, then there could easily be a subliminal track attached to it and you would never notice if it wasn't brought to your attention. Audio gives wider opportunities for embedding a subliminal message. It could be something as blatant as a message being played backwards on one of the audio tracks. More likely, it will be encoded at a low level into the audio itself, maybe disguised by a soundtrack. Or there is a really high tech way of encoding subliminals that is completely inaudible to your conscious listening yet appears loud and clear to your subconscious. If you can, you should experiment with each technique to see which works best for you.

There is some controversy over whether or not subliminal messaging works. It is very difficult for scientists to design tests that truly rule out all the variables - medicines are much easier to test as you are either cured or not. Whether you believe they work or not, subliminal messages are around you if you know where to look. You can even buy t-shirts with subliminal pictures in them.

Click here to get the low-down on using subliminal messages on yourself and others.