How to remember what you read  (Part 2)

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Show Emotion.

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People often say that the best way to advertise is to show feelings. You use words that show emotion and you get prospects begging for the goods or services. It is that easy.

 

For instance: “ ..is a life-changing organization. We train school leavers in various kinds of skills that will help them discover, develop and deploy their talents, make wealth and achieve their purpose. Rush now, money is not a hindrance.” Gbam, if you are a school leaver that have no skill, won’t you rush?

Look at these slogans:

 

“Your beauty is our concern”

 

“Data is oxygen”

 

“Rich life is your birthright”

 

How did you feel?

 

That is to say: emotion is a powerful tool.

 

Now, if you quickly want to remember anything, you need to show some feelings about them. Because human beings are emotional 'Beings' you really need to be emotional to connect. This applies to reading, however, some people feel deadpan while they communicate with their books. They don’t feel anything.

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Please feel. Ask yourself, what is the book all about? How does it make you feel? Sad? Happy? Angry? Excited? Or a mixture of all?

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Because I am vulnerable to feelings especially while I read, I hardly forget punchlines --they always make me feel certain ways. My mood changes as I read. If the line expresses sadness, yours faithfully feels sad; if the line communicates love, I feel loved or long to love; if it expresses excitement, I respond. My dear, sometimes I jump to my feet in excitement because of an exciting punchline I come across. And no wonder sometimes, I think I am getting mad.

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Joke apart. This helps me a lot. If I want to remember the line that expresses sadness, I quickly picture how I felt while reading the line. If I want to remember the line that made me feel excited, I quickly picture where I jumped to... To the bed? To the ground?   It works like magic.

So you may want to stop reading like you are lifeless. Feel. You are a human.

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 Lately, I was reading: “How To Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Dale Carnegie. When I reached where the author explained how Leo Tolstoy (Esteemed as the greatest novelist) died, I almost shed tears. I felt for him even though this incident took place century (ies) past. What made me feel sad, perhaps, was the way Carnegie emotionally streamlined it. The way he painted it could have made anyone cry. Now, what makes you think I will ever forget the story? Never. It has been registered forever in my ‘subconscious’

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So, dear brothers and sisters, next time you pick a book, keep at pace with the emotion the text is communicating. It is not the mood you put up while reading the Scripture is the one you put up while reading Romance/Erotica. Shey you understand? Attach your feelings.

The next one is:

Read it as if you want to teach someone.

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You may want to know this:  it is so easy to read to be entertained; it is so easy to read just to acquire knowledge; it is so easy to read just for fun or just to gather the gists. That is all.

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But I want to let you know that if you are not limited to your selfish interest in reading, you will remember most of what you read. How do you mean? Here is what I mean: Don’t just read that book, read it as if you want to teach someone. Picture yourself in front of 30 students, teaching and lively interacting with them about the book. Or picture yourself with friends, telling them what you learned in the book. This technique is powerful.

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When you consciously read as if you have class tomorrow to display what you learned, you will be more serious. And because you are conscious of the embarrassment that often comes when you try to remember something in your class but it is not coming, you will plug both your spirit and mind in the book. By practicing this habit, nothing will make you forget any book you read.

To be continued.

Happy New Month and Merry Xmas in advance.

Damian Chiemezie

Writer/ Transformational Speaker