I don't really have many ideas nowadays. I think this is because, since entering college, I have become a person who talks rather than a person who listens. The dangers of this situation are many. If you are busy talking all the time, you give other people less opportunity to say ridiculous things, because you are busy saying them yourself, thus depriving yourself of a chance at amusement. And, of course, a person who talks more must also necessarily be a person who thinks less. This is easily demonstrated - try holding a conversation with someone while finding the squares of the prime numbers in your head at the same time. You will soon find that either you will be unable to continue the conversation in a reasonable manner, or you will quickly be confused as to what a prime number is, how squares are found and whether the two operations are interchangeable with each other.
This prime number square thing is a test I often apply to find whether the things I am doing at the time require the attention of my conscious mind or not. I find I can wash dishes, hang out clothes, drink water, eat, watch movies and travel on the bus while being entirely confident that two is in fact a prime number and five times five is twenty five.
However, I cannot find the squares of prime numbers while talking, reading, writing, making eye contact with someone or drawing. I can calculate the square of nineteen while playing scales on the piano but not while I play my pieces.
This practice of disengaging the mind from the occupations of the body is an extremely useful one, and most of us do it automatically. It's interesting sometimes, when in the middle of a mundane task, to force your mind to concentrate on what you're doing. This is also the process, incidentally, of making memories. So the next time you're studying, if you find that you are mechanically going through the motions of reading without actually paying attention to the words that are being read, stop and consider whether you are engaging your conscious mind in the task.
This prime number square thing is a test I often apply to find whether the things I am doing at the time require the attention of my conscious mind or not. I find I can wash dishes, hang out clothes, drink water, eat, watch movies and travel on the bus while being entirely confident that two is in fact a prime number and five times five is twenty five.
However, I cannot find the squares of prime numbers while talking, reading, writing, making eye contact with someone or drawing. I can calculate the square of nineteen while playing scales on the piano but not while I play my pieces.
This practice of disengaging the mind from the occupations of the body is an extremely useful one, and most of us do it automatically. It's interesting sometimes, when in the middle of a mundane task, to force your mind to concentrate on what you're doing. This is also the process, incidentally, of making memories. So the next time you're studying, if you find that you are mechanically going through the motions of reading without actually paying attention to the words that are being read, stop and consider whether you are engaging your conscious mind in the task.
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