You can either enable your mind to work with you, or not!
This post is about how we are helped by our subconscious mind. Now, I’m no brain surgeon, however I know a bit about how the mind works and from experience I can tell you that it really does help you!
So, you’ve put your keys down somewhere, now you are in a rush and need to leave the house quickly. “Where did I leave my keys?”, you ask yourself. You might begin wracking your brain retracing last known appearances and what you did. “Why aren’t they where I left them?” You hear yourself say, “the normal place!”
Now, some of you reading this might think, that this never happens to you because you have a special, safe place for things like keys (and by the way, that’s only one example). The same is true of those of us who leave a room to do/get something, only to arrive there and wonder what it was! Trust me, if it hasn’t happened, it will!
There are a few ways you can allow your mind to help you:
You can make a statement when placing objects, for example “keys in bowl”, you can do this out loud or in your head, whichever seems most appropriate at the time.
You can use a walk-through technique. Track back to the very last point you had said item and close you eyes to picture (like a movie), what happened next. Where did you go. What did you do? What else captured your attention?
Go back to the starting point and actually, physically walk it through – as above but in real time rather than movie style in your mind.
Try a simple distraction technique. Now, if you are in a hurry, this may not be the best technique to use, however depending on your circumstances you could give it a go. You simply stop thinking about it. That’s it. Go and do something else, move to a different area. All of a sudden “POP!” It comes back to you.
The conscious mind can process around 7 pieces of information on average at any one time, so by being distracted from this processing, the subconscious mind can kick into action and help you.
This can also work in problem solving. Its amazing how just taking a break from thinking (full stop), or just for the moment can enable this to happen.
I’d be delighted to hear if this has happened to you and if you have any further tips to share, please do comment!