We came to realize that our perception determines our conception. A thought-provoking question might lead to why our thoughts will lead us into eventual actions? The explanation comes this way. Once we perceived words using our five senses, their first destination is the conscious mind. What is the conscious mind? It is the part of our minds that is the seat of short-term memory. Short-term memory lasts for almost a minute. Constant hearing and seeing of words will lead us into mental rehearsal or repetition. Repetition of words is the ticket for the words perceived to be transferred to a new destination, the subconscious mind. If the conscious mind is the seat of short-term memory, the subconscious mind is the seat of long-term memory. This is the warehouse of the mind where our stored knowledge can be found and even our painful memories. Now, why those words which became our thoughts will lead us into action? Once those words were transferred already to the subconscious and became dominating, the subconscious mind will dwell on that. It goes something like this: your subconscious mind acts and dwells in your most dominant thoughts. As the Pharmaton says, “Where the mind goes the body follows” is also true in this setup. And to make it clear, it goes something like this, where the subconscious mind goes, the body follows. This happened those words are needed. The subconscious mind will bring back to word to the conscious mind in the form of feedback and your conscious mind will command the body to act.
Repetition Creates Conviction
Another thing to consider is the power of repetition. Another book says repetition is the mother of all learning. Another source says repetition is the mother of memory. Repetition creates retention. There will be no retention without repetition. The good thing to realize is that repetition creates not just retention but conviction. Before anything else, what is conviction? Conviction means the state of being convinced; a strong persuasion or belief according to Merriam Webster’s definition. The meaning of conviction has something to do with your belief. In fact, the Bible tells us that faith is also a conviction. Faith by definition means something that is believed especially with strong conviction; it’s a firm belief in something even there is no available proof. So what does it imply? It means if a conviction is a belief, we need to come across that belief as we all know is the law of the mind. The mind doesn’t follow anything that it does not believe. Then, we can now arrive at this realization: Repetition creates conviction. Conviction is a belief. Belief is the law of the mind. Finally, where the mind goes the body follows.
REPETITION —– CONVICTION —— BELIEF —– MIND —– BODY
In this scenario, thoughts repeated in our imagination will eventually catapult us to a certain action.
Be careful of your ACTIONS, they will become your HABITS.
Habit Formation
Habits are mental make-up. By definition, habit is the prevailing disposition or character of a person’s thoughts and feelings. The startling definition of that habit is a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. Frequent repetition of something could eventually to a certain habit. It goes without saying that repeated action eventually leads to habit formation. Research says, that a certain thing that you are doing consistently and straight within 21 days will eventually to a habit. And once you continue it up to 63 days, it will eventually become a discipline. Once something will become your habit it will become your lifestyle. Things will become part of your system and things will become part of your second nature.
Memory is a Habit
In memory, the thing to be considered is that the realization that memory is a habit. It is not a one-day thing. Memory has to be applied in all the facets of your life. Here are some of the memory cues you can use.
Crews Fall In Line Please
When you go to a fast-food chain, you should have the effort to look at the crew’s IDs and attach their names to their faces. Next time you go back to that store make sure to apply what you previously tried. Call the crews by name without looking at their IDs. You can say, “Hey Grace could you please get me a cup of coffee and French bread like what Jason brought to that man”.
An Insightful Dream
Another thing we have to apply the habit of memory is when you got an insight or a solution to a certain problem but it came in the middle of the night in which you find it difficult to go up. With this, all you have to do is to get you pillow and throw it to your door. Once it’s there already, begin to have the mental picture of your insight, ideas or solution and begin to associate that to the pillow you threw at your door. Tomorrow, you will be asking, “Who brought this pillow here?” Then you will remember last night, you got an insight, a solution to your problem. Then you will begin to do the mental processing. Lo and behold, the ideas are coming out!
Shoes on the Doorknob
In case you want to go out in town and you are preparing for things to be brought on your travel. Supposed you have a very important thing that you really need to bring even at the expense of other things, then you need to make a memory cue. Whenever I need to remember something to be brought before I go, the memory cue I use is the tying of my two shoes together. When I’m in a hurry to go and see why my shoes are tied together, my brain will process and remind me of something not to be forgotten. Another memory cue is the putting of one of my shoes on the doorknob. When I see my shoe on that doorknob, presto, that would give me an alarm of something not to be forgotten.
Discomfort Signal
Once you are riding on a cab or a bus and the driver told to give you the change in a little while, be sure you can make an association for you to get back your change, or else it will be gone in oblivion. Whenever I have something to get from a driver and they told me the change will be gotten a little while, I will get my watch and put it in my hand in which is uncomfortable. Another thing, I will get my ring and I will put it on my small finger or thumb. My discomfort with that ring will give me the signal that there is a change that I need to get. This habit did not fail me even once.
Constant repetition in memorization will lead you to a much better mental performance. Repetition is like creating path inside the forest. Your constant passing of the same path over and over again will make the path clearer and clearer. The more you flex your mental muscles through memorization, the more it gets stronger and sharper. In the same way, the more you use and flex your mental muscles, the more you create synaptic connections. More synaptic connections mean more brain processing and exchange of information among neurons. As an apt warning for the lazy mind, you either use it or lose it.
Be careful of your HABITS, they will become your ATTITUDE.
The attitude is my main focus prior to my full blast teaching of memorization. After the habit formation, the things that come out from you determine your mental make-up and that is your attitude. Attitude constitutes a large portion of our being.