Have you ever forgotten a thought or new idea that seemed genius at the moment of conception? One minute it’s there, and the next, it’s vanished into the subconscious void. Despite feeling like it’s right in front of us, it slips away, seemingly impossible to recapture.
Here, I’ll share a little discovery of mine about how to retain and manifest ideas consciously. It all started one night after three o’clock. I was sitting on my favorite bench in the small park near my apartment building, reflecting on trivial matters after a short walk. Waiting for my thoughts to settle so I could sleep peacefully, a fragile thought emerged.
I was pondering what I forget and what I remember from my thoughts. As I observe this thought about forgetting it starts to form in my mind. I begin to analyze it through reverse engineering, dissecting it from the present moment back to its inception. It was like a story written by Tarantino, starting near the end and working backward. After a few minutes of contemplation, I recompose it in a clearer form.
Now, I still have that thought with me, along with the feelings it stirred, the space I was in, the early autumn coolness, the yellowish light of the street lamp, the shadow of the tree, and everything else I noticed. What happened? Nothing special. We all participate in this process continuously. I simply remained consciously aware for a longer period than usual.
Exploration
Pick a thought from your mind or take it from a book or video Witness it as it unfolds to the end on a visual, emotional, auditory, or verbal level.
Keep in mind the initial moment of the idea, maintaining focus throughout. When you reach the end, you’ll notice the idea loops back to its beginning like a spiral. That’s when you should stop observing.
Reflection
After a moment of silence, visualize the idea step by step from the end back to the beginning. Go slowly and pinpoint important aspects of it, words, images, sounds, or emotions.
Simplify the thought process while keeping the initial intention. Once you’ve rewound it, look for a concise description or formula that represents the central idea.
Contemplation
After another moment of silence, revisualize the entire idea in broad strokes. Connect it to the space around you, noticing how everything you think ties into your surroundings.
Find emotions that relate to what you previously knew or what you can do with the idea. Allow new connections to form as you feel the central idea intuitively.
Awareness
Become aware of the space around you while keeping in touch with the key points of your idea. This helps bind the idea to your memory through multiple connections, enhancing its retention and potential implications.
While you become present the idea will start to fade as the journey comes to an end. Trust your memory, as it will come back when you need it.
If you don’t fully grasp the process right away, that’s okay. It took me years to reach a profound understanding. Practice this method for a few weeks, and you’ll understand much faster. Thirty minutes a day should suffice.
Rewind
- Observe the thought to the end, keeping the initial moment in mind.
- Visualize the thought from its end back to its beginning.
- Reorganize around a central idea that represents the formula.
- Connect the idea to your present surroundings.
Take your time in the beginning, as it took me years to figure this out in those five minutes on the bench. You can learn it within a couple of weeks if you take it seriously. If you are one of those people who struggles to understand how to think, you must be an awesome feeler of emotions, as this is mostly a lesson for intellectual thinking.
Practice
Learn a new word each day. Observe the word and its definition. Reflect on the thoughts that arise. Visualize the key points of the definition. Recompose it in your mind, giving it meaning through your previous experiences. Recall the context in which you read the word and its definition along with your surroundings.
For more complex subjects, follow the same steps, breaking down the learning experience into manageable chunks.
This process improves your overall intelligence, as more complex ideas become easier to understand, enhancing how your perceptions and emotions interact through your mind.
This is how the conscious experience of manifesting thoughts happens. If we just experience a thought, it will not remain in memory. We must manifest something along with it, either we find connections with something we perceive, or we make various interpretations of it, or we relate it to an emotion.
An idea may come to us, given or we can ask for it. Further is up to us what we do with it. We can keep it as it is, develop it, or bring it to reality.
Good thoughts!?
