I wrote in another comment on Medium my opinion/observation about how our brain works. People imagine themselves to be a God-like arbiter of their own minds, but decisions are really more like an act of Parliament. The emotional votes are tallied on each side of the ledger and the side with the most emotional juice wins. Consciousness is more like the Speaker of the House adding up the votes and reporting the results. The actual decision is made by the emotional "voting" which precedes conscious awareness of the results; thus the delay between deciding and knowing you decided.

If consciousness or the "self" were the actual decider, we wouldn't have addiction, and there would be no delay between deciding and knowing you decided.

Try on the concept of your mind being a Congress and your consciousness being the Speaker of the House, and see if it comports with your own experience. That concept explained a lot for me.