Note: In case you’re wondering about this series, one of my all-time favorite books happens to be “A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder.” It is not about “Chaos Theory” which actually discusses things that are extremely ordered but don’t seem to be so. It’s about how not being so fussy can be good for you. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor.
The Pursuit of Order Is Making a Mess - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com
In a small room at the University of British Columbia, students wearing headphones are listening to noise. No, it’s not an indie band’s shred solo blasting through an iPod. The students are participating in an experiment at the school’s Psychophysics and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, and the noise consists of random static generated by a computer. The question at hand: how badly does a scratchy cacophony interfere with thought?
The Brothers Grimm wrote a fairy tale about a poor cobbler and some helpful elves. Part of the story goes like this …
Then he cut his leather out, all ready to make up the next day,
meaning to rise early in the morning to his work. His conscience was
clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles; so he went
peaceably to bed, left all his cares to Heaven, and soon fell asleep.
In the morning after he had said his prayers, he sat himself down to
his work; when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes all ready
made, upon the table. The good man knew not what to say or think at
such an odd thing happening. He looked at the workmanship; there was
not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true, that
it was quite a masterpiece.
I believe that there is a valuable lesson to be learned here. This is true of many such stories.
I have had experiences similar to the experience of the cobbler in the story many times. Our subconscious mind is capable of continuing to work on problems while we sleep, sometimes with astounding results.
Years ago, when I was learning how to program in assembly language for the Intel microprocessors I came to a point that I could not get past. I could not understand one problem, a part of how a particular program was operating. I could get it to work, but I couldn’t understand why it worked. I read and studied all of the information that I could find about the issues surrounding my problem, but I just couldn’t make it work and so needlessly beat my head against the wall for hours without getting anywhere.
When I went to sleep that night, I had a strange and vivid dream. I dreamed that I was inside the computer’s memory while the program was running, moving values in the program around by pushing them with my hands, watching the part of the program that I couldn’t understand working from the inside. When I awoke, I went to the computer and understood the program perfectly. While I was asleep, my unconscious mind figured out what my conscious mind was too nervous and frantic to understand.
Since that time I have come to appreciate this effect, especially in situations that are complicated or difficult. Here are some tips to get the elves working for you.
- Do as much as you can. Like the cobbler in the story, cut out the leather and get it ready for the next day. Sometimes I like to create a mind map with parts that are blank or missing to help this process.
- Don’t blow out the day’s schedule for something that’s eluding you. Instead, have a normal, balanced day. Before you go to sleep, give your subconscious its orders in as much detail as possible and go to bed thinking about it. Don’t stay up half the night trying to figure it out.
- Don’t get stressed out and drive everyone around you crazy. Spend time with family and friends. Love someone. Sometimes, distraction will allow your subconscious mind to get to work and you’ll have more success when you return to your problem.
- Be grateful when the answers come. Your mind is a fantastic invention, and the fact that it can help you when you’re sleeping is an incredible gift. Realize that you are not your problems, and that somethings seem difficult one day and easy the next. Maintain perspective.
A great article at Litemind discussing how visual thinking may be used as an aid to memory.
Improve Your Memory by Speaking Your Mind’s Language
“The pegging memorization technique is just a small demonstration of how powerful visual thinking is. In fact, visual thinking is behind many mind-enhancing techniques such as mind mapping and is the core component of most other more advanced memorization techniques.”
This has been one of my favorite websites for years and years …
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Cognitive Daily: The difference between familiar and unfamiliar worlds; or, evidence that Steve Higgins is a real graduate student
“When you look at a scene: a building, a park, a mountain, your visual system processes the information differently from when you look at a single object: a face, a pen, or a coffee mug.”
The paper is available here.
