Saturday, May 20, 2023

Using Your Memory Without Emotion to Build your Base






Over the years, I have studies how people study...how they gain knowledge and how they propel themselves forward. Of particular interest to me, have been those who have labelled themselves as 
"self led learners". It may be noted that many of today's leaders are great readers and continue to invest into their own personal knowledge bank by amassing books and other media with interesting topics.

Bill Gates, makes it a point to regularly travel with a load of fresh books in tow. His assistant is entrusted to pack his bag with his preferred list of new reads....ready for any long or short journey..

Anyway, back to my point. Today I wanted to chat about ....for lack of a better word..."emotionless memorization".
If you are trying to build up your own knowledge bank that is readily available for you to pluck data from on demand, it is important for you to able and willing to input chunks of information without getting all emotional and opinionated about the contents.

For example, If you wanted to memorize the mulitiplication tables right up from 1's to 15's....you may wish to create or locate an audio recording of the answers to all these "times tables". (that's what we used to call them when I was a child...)
Then, format the audio into a format that you are able to access easily in your day to day activities. You can listen to these audio recordings while you are driving (if safe to do so) or while you are working out at the gym or while you are riding the train or trolley.

When you are simply trying to input knowledge, repetition is key. Don't get caught up in how you feel about the knowledge or even the "quality" of the narrator. It doesn't matter as much as you think it might. Your brain is a living computer and it will store as much as you put into it. Try to refrain from getting bogged down by emotions.

Social media has inadvertently taught us that our "reactions"...our likes and dislikes are more important that the actual facts being discussed. That is not helping humanity more forward. If you want to become a person with a personal stash of facts and knowledge, then you may want to try out this method of blind memorization. 

Simply replay the recording of the knowledge of your choice until you are comfortably able to retrieve any of that particular batch of knowledge on demand. It will feed your vocabulary and your way of thinking during important conversations. 

This is why I am such a fan of M.I.T's online coureware  .....also known as "OCW". You can relentlessly replay these high level classes over and over and over ....at no financial cost and add these treasure troves of data to your personal data set. Yes, it costs your time. Yes, it costs you personally, as your social media "followers" may complain that you are not as "available" or interactive as you used to  be. Who cares? 

To make gains in life, we must be willing to sacrifice. We must be willing to invest time to gain what we lack. In this case, in this discussion....I am simply discussing the desire for knowledge. I am presenting the option of inputting more knowledge into your brain through "emotionless" repetition of audio recordings.

May this method will not jive with you and your personality. May it is too cold and calculating. Maybe it is too cerebral. However, it does work. I can testify that this method does work wonders if you invest significant chunks of time into it. 

It just might annoy some of the folks with whom you share air with. But do not despair. Knowledge is connected to all other knowledge..... Therefore when you gain knowledge in one sphere of life....it will bless and empower many other spheres of your life as well.

Be encouraged. Don't give up on building up your personal knowledge bank. 
Below you will find an example of M.I.T.'s online courseware, which is free for the taking from youtube.

Peace,
Carla.




Sunday, April 30, 2023

They Were Just a Pair of Socks She Thought



But it´s just a knitted sock she thought to herself.

How can it be so important.....

But a voice inside her mind told her to not give up.  Some folks suspected she might have a learning disability, or some kind of attention deficit type of disorder. She couldn´t read a manual  for any new 
gadget she bought. She jumped from job to job and rarely stayed friends with anyone for more than 3 months. She was restless, with a constant hyper-ness one could only guess was connected to her all consuming coffee habit.
 
 But some dear older folks who lived a few doors down the street, began to notice her lack of direction and thought perhaps that her sense of accomplishment upon reaching middle age, was not where she wanted it to be. 
They noticed that occasionally she could be seen with the signs of frustrated artistic creativity hanging on her clothes and fingernails. Paint in her hair and smudges of ink adorned her flowing blouses. Once in a while they saw some well worn wooden knitting needles poking out of the misshapen hand bag she slung around her shoulder.

But hidden in her neighborhood was a Christian couple, who loved to pray. They walked so humbly in their neighborhood that most folks didn´t even realize that they lived on that same street. Enormous lilac bushes hid their wee bungalow from prying eyes. But this dear spiritually inclined elderly couple, bowed with years and crowned with frosty grey hair, with eyes full of life and wisdom, took the time once a day to pray for this dear woman in her constant disarray and confusion. They prayed fervently, asking God to lead and guide her towards the fulfillment of her potential on this earth. They prayed for God to grant her patience with herself and with her circumstances. They prayed for God to give her favor with others with whom she worked, lived and played. They prayed for her family members, that they would all work together in perfect harmony.

They prayed for this middle aged impulsively creative woman for a full 2 years. Yes, twas a full 2 years of ardent daily prayer. Sometimes they would even forgo a lunch time meal, in order to come before their beloved Lord to fast and pray for this woman that God had allowed to invade their prayer time. 

In due time, God allowed this compassionate couple to see what this wandering woman was capable of, if indeed she would learn how to focus. These timely revelations only stirred them up more passionately to pray until the spiritual burden lifted....once a day, every day for 2 years.

They prayed also for her character, that she would learn how to persist through with a project until it was complete, despite any obstacles that may arise.

It was after the one year mark of ardent prayer, that the dear couple began to notice changes in the   woman´s habits. They noticed she drove more calmly through the neighborhood and the shrubs surrounding her fence were suddenly tidy and trim. They saw her quietly sitting thoughtfully on her porch knitting what looked like a pair of pink socks.

When the elderly couple would walk by after dinner in the twilight past the woman´s porch, they could see her sticking out her tongue as she tried to focus intently on this pink knitted item.

The months wore on, and the elderly couple began to ask the Lord if their job of prayer support for the lady down the street was complete. Even though they had noticed concrete improvements in the woman´s ways, The Lord encouraged them to continue in prayer until the burden lifted.

I could go on. I could go on for many pages....describing the small victories that added up over time, because the dear elderly couple were faithful to pray for that one dear soul. But I feel that the story has just begun.

The pair of socks were indeed knitted...and they were a fine and fabulous work of craftsmanship. The woman who knitted the socks wrapped them in some delicate pale yellow tissue paper and laid the package carefully at the front door of the elderly couple that lived a few doors down. She had noticed that the older woman would walk down the street after dinner wearing brown leather shoes without socks. She began to pray for the dear older woman. She knit and she prayed.

As she practiced and fought her way through to finish the masterpiece, the intricately designed pink wool socks, she knew her task was complete. She proudly laid the parcel at the dear older couple´s door and tip toed back to her tidy yard.

The sunset shone a little brighter that evening. .....just bright enough for her to catch sight of a dear old couple walking slowly down the lane in the twilight after dinner. And in the haze of dusk, the little woman strode proudly  in her well worn leather shoes beside her husband, who held her hand. The pink woolen ankle cuffs peaked out above the brown walking shoes. The burden was lifted.  

The End.



Sunday, March 19, 2023

Photons and the loss of determinism



May God bless those of you who have chosen to continue learning throughout your life....especially if you are way past your college or university years. I applaud you.
There are so many new options for these kind of self led learners.
As clipped above...this is any example of the free online classes that anyone with an internet connection can view for free. This past week, it also occurred to me to check to see if these classes have written transcripts and turns out they do!! So, now if I am struggling to spell something that I have heard in these classes, I can simply scroll down underneath the video and click on the transcript, find the corresponding words that connect with the timestamp I am listening to, and find the accurate spelling and wording.

Thank you M.I.T.
Thank you youtube!

Peacefully productive,
Carla

Don't ever talk yourself out of listening in on new things, things that you think are beyond your "ken".