Topic 8: Overcoming Absent-mindedness - Tutorial 14
This tutorial suggests some simple systems which can be used to overcome absent-mindedness. They are based on principles which you have already learned - Initial Awareness and Association of Ideas.
The definition of absent-mindedness is straightforward - you are absent-minded when you perform actions unconsciously, without thinking. If your mind is 'absent' while you are performing an action, there can be no Initial Awareness of that action.
The solution to the problem of absent-mindedness is equally straightforward and obvious - you simply have to think of what you are doing at the time you are doing it. Of course, this is easier said than done - how can you be sure to force yourself to concentrate on a simple, everyday action at the time you are doing it?
Think right back to Tutorial 1, where you learned that Association can be used to force Initial Awareness, and you have the answer to the problem. As Initial Awareness is the same as having something register in your mind in the first place, then forming an instant association when you perform an action must solve the problem of absent-mindedness.
An example will make this much clearer. Suppose you are one of those people who frequently writes an important letter and then forgets to take it out and post it. What is the last action you perform before leaving your home? Probably pulling the front door shut. So, after writing a letter, instead of saying to yourself 'I must remember to post this...' and then forgetting about it completely, do the following - associate letter to the action of closing your front door.
As ever, the association should be as ludicrous as possible. Visualise yourself closing the front door, when millions of letters come flooding through the door, pulling the door off its hinges and knocking you over. If you make that crazy association, the next time you go to close your front door you will think of letter, and if you have left one inside then you will go back and get it.
Of course, this will help you remember to take the letter, but you may still forget to post it and leave it in your pocket for a few days! One way to avoid this is to associate the addressee of the letter to a post box. If it is addressed to someone you can visualise, picture that person's head popping out of a post box and rolling down the street.
The next time you notice a post box - which you inevitably will - you'll be reminded to take that letter out of your pocket and mail it. If the letter is addressed to a company or organisation, use a Substitute thought and associate that to a post box.
This simple idea can be applied to any action or item you wish to remember. Why spoil an evening out because you spend most of it worrying about whether you unplugged the iron, or switched off the oven? Form the habit of making a quick association at the time you do these things. For example, as you unplug the iron, picture your fingers being sucked into the socket, giving you a violent electric shock. You might perhaps see your hair standing on end to make the picture vivid.
Every time you switch off the oven, picture your head inside the oven, being slowly roasted! Later, when you think about the oven, you will know that you have switched it off.
Don't worry about the image you formed yesterday coming to mind when you think about whether you switched off the oven today. 'True' memory and Initial Awareness will tell you the truth. If you haven't formed the silly picture of your head in the oven on any particular day, then you will know that you haven't switched the oven off.
Perhaps you are one of those people who frequently goes outside the house to the garage or garden shed, only to stand there wondering what you came out for? Simply make an association the moment you decide that you need to get something from the garage. If it's a hammer, picture yourself opening the garage door and millions of hammers tumbling out. Try this idea - it really does work!
If you wear spectacles and are frequently forgetting where you put them down, try forming an association at the moment you put them down. If you place them on the dining table, picture them on a serving dish in the middle of the table, surrounded by a large salad. If you place them on top of the television set, picture the television wearing a large pair of spectacles. The next time you think of your spectacles, you are sure to know where they are.
Always form the association at the moment you are performing the action. If you put off doing it you'll forget to form the association and you'll forget where you put your glasses!
You may feel that forming these associations is a waste of time. But, after trying the idea a few times you will find that the pictures are formed in next to no time. Even more important is that time and effort that you will be saving.