A separate part of the book, which, nevertheless, is practical, I would like to devote to the selection of techniques and methods that I collected and tested on my own experience. Having studied these techniques, you’ll probably ask yourself the question: what, in fact, do they have to do with speed reading?
I repeat (both in theoretical and in practical chapters) that speed reading is more the way of thinking than a technique in its pure form. This is the purpose of my work – to bring thinking to a completely different level in order to ensure the breadth of knowledge of the world around us, elevated to absolute.
Below are the techniques that help master the technique of meditation, stop internal dialogue, develop intuition, bring information processing at a deeper level. Many of the techniques listed below help to relieve headaches, soothe during stress, i.e. possess healing properties. Since the book is more interactive, I suggest, that readers choose the most interesting techniques, select those that, in your opinion, will bring you maximum benefit. Some of these techniques are quite easy to master, some require more than one month to develop skills. Start with the simplest, moving further. The main thing is not to stop!
Imagine, that you are on the shore of the reservoir. Lake, river, sea, ocean – what is closer to your soul. The surface of the water is smooth and even. Listen to yourself, to your thoughts. Project your mind on the surface of the reservoir and imagine, every thought is a ripple on the water. Do you feel the pressure of thoughts in your head? Pay attention to the lake, how many waves, how powerful they are, how they excite the water. Try to hear the sound of the waves, feel the disturbing smell of the storm. Now try to calm down, take a few deep breaths. Do you see how the thoughts calm down, and the lake or the sea comes back to a calm state? The ripples slowly disappear. Again, the clear blue of the pool reflects the gentle sun.
Imagine a circle in a certain space in your head. Project the flow of your thoughts on this circle, pass them through its center. Keep your thoughts in a circle. Feel the peace. Every time a stream of uncontrollable thoughts starts to overwhelm you, imagine how the ball vibrates. The stronger and more deliberate the thought, the stronger the circle shifts. To turn off the flow, stop the motion of the ball, balance it in its original position. The task of the exercise is to keep the ball still at rest.
To stop the internal dialogue while walking or staying in a public place, start bending and unbending your fingers first on one hand, then on the second. Don’t think about anything else. At first, outside thoughts will begin to come to mind – scraps of songs or poems, but gradually the stream of consciousness will stop. Don’t concentrate on the process itself – just go to a “different” state, as if someone else is hiding behind your head in flexion and extension. Later you can transfer this exercise to speed reading, but only after you master this simple technique in everyday life.
Focus not on your own thoughts, but on sensations and images. Don’t pronounce thoughts, but try to feel them. Remember the speed reading technique when you grab more than one word from the text, as if you are creating an image of a paragraph or passage. Thinking thus acquires a completely different quality – a similar state after a certain time will arise naturally.
Does it ever happen to you that while doing something (in our case, reading) you are haunted by a piece of annoying song or poem? Get rid of annoying thoughts can be quite simple. Most often, the rhythmic text sounds in the head not entirely, but in the form of a small segment. As soon as the passage ends, the brain immediately throws the thought to the beginning. And so in a vicious circle. It is necessary to reduce this segment to the minimum size. Up to one or two sounds or words. Repeat this brief passage with the same rhythm until the brain “agrees” with the substitution. After a couple of minutes, the brain will be so tired of monotonous sounds that it will stop returning to them.
To stop the internal dialogue is very useful to identify the area where the flow of consciousness. To do this, it’s necessary to strengthen the voice, voicing the thoughts in your head. Examine it by adding volume – what is its timbre, intonation, density, how voluminous is it, to whom does it belong? Try to even mentally present it in volume, adding color, temperature, etc. to the specified characteristics. After that, step back from this voice, make it absolutely “alien”. The distance can be reproduced by reducing its volume, mentally move your voice away from your I. Now change its parameters and watch your own sensations. Try to classify the thoughts that arise in your head and give them different colors. As soon as you manage to do this, you will be able to determine the most effective ways of removing and changing the internal state.
Internal dialogue is concentrated solely in your head. It sounds deliberate or not, but it is concentrated here. Imagine that at the expense of thoughts you feel the head much brighter than all other parts of the body. Now transfer this sensation to the feet, imagine that the mental flow is concentrated in them (at first it will seem strange, but little by little the brain will cease to be too straightforward). Over time, the internal dialogue will stop, but there is no need to stop. Carry this sensation on the whole body – calves, legs, thighs, stomach, chest, neck. Fill the whole body with feeling for greater harmony. Exercise lasts an average of five minutes. After you can relax. After several sessions, you’ll be able to make sure, that you can control not only the internal dialogue, but also know your body better.
You can train an internal dialogue with the help of attention concentration exercises. To do this, you need to focus your sight on the object at a distance of 7–20 meters while walking. The main thing is not to lower the gaze down in any case, otherwise the stream of consciousness will immediately resume. For example, you left the house and immediately fixed your eyes on a nearby tree. As you approach, transfer your sight to the next object, say a lantern, and so on. This technique helps to keep the flow of thoughts on the path of the whole following and trains internal concentration.
A very interesting practice for brain training is gibberish. An interesting technique created by Sufi monks. It lies in the fact that you need to close your eyes and start uttering meaningless sounds, gradually turning them into utter nonsense. You can try to reproduce the invented language, like the one in which children often talk. For fifteen minutes, try to immerse yourself in the verbalization of thoughts and sensations you have invented. Through this practice, you are released from everything that your mind is focused on. You don’t repress thoughts, but look for a new way of expressing them. After this exercise, you will feel how light the head and your body as a whole have become.
There is a very tight connection between the thought process and the micro movements of the eyes (visual center) – every thought is accompanied by involuntary micro movement, which is consonant with it. You can use it in the opposite direction – to stop eye movement to stop the flow of thoughts. If it’s difficult for you to make an effort of will, imagine, that at the bottom of the pupils you put small weights, that don’t allow them to make the slightest movement. Pupils are motionless – thoughts calm down. It should be noted, that this practice allows you to better understand the connection of thought and optic nerves.
The interruption of the internal dialogue can also be triggered by the visualization method. Imagine, that you are deep, deep under water. Water penetrated your body, filled it to the brim. Breathing is smooth and calm. As soon as a thought appears in your mind, transform it into a small bubble and imagine how it, having separated from your head and is carried away by the flow.
Have you ever tried to track the flow of your thoughts? Surely it happens, that you start to think, for example, about the products from which you will cook dinner, and then, waking up, you did understand, that you are talking about what black holes consist of? The associative series are awesome! Try to carry out the procedure of reflection of thoughts – where they come from, how they flow, what they turn into. You’ll be surprised, but some of them will seem strangers, as if they were not yours, who came from nowhere. They appear in the head and flow in a chaotic manner. Watch them flow. Don’t cling to a separate thought, don’t try to control it. Mentally contemplate the general background of the unconscious flow. After a while you’ll notice how they subside, become as if thinner, and then completely dissolve.
Release the internal dialogue. Let him scream inside. Let all your thoughts get space for jogging through consciousness. But at some point, even while reading, stop abruptly and say out loud: “Stop!”. The brain will shake and, will try to interrupt the process, having received the prohibitive installation. It’s very useful to use stop signals that were received in childhood, for example, “Stop!”, “Enough!”, etc. This same technique is very useful when we are disoriented. It is worth exclaiming "I am here and now," as the brain immediately throws consciousness at the moment. You can look around and continue to act meaningfully.
To stop the internal dialogue, use the practice of total darkness. Close your eyes tightly. No light source should penetrate the eyelids. From the subconscious mind, exciting the retina, signals will begin to flow, creating familiar phenomena – the appearance of luminous spots, geometric shapes, obscure objects, which are projected onto the inner screen. Focus on these images. Explore them. Internal contemplation will help to cope with the flow of thoughts.
Combination of extended vision training with stopping internal dialogue exercises is one of the most effective. Focus your gaze (eyes should be wide open) on some distant object – the window of the building, the point on the wallpaper, the tree on the hill. The gaze is concentrated on a certain point of the object. At the same time, hold your breath and try not to let thoughts float in your mind. Take control of even the fleeting movement of thought, holding your sight and breathing. This practice helps to stop momentary dialogue and learn the technique of reflection. There is no perception of the world at the moment. At all. Your eyes just reflect the images of objects, not understanding them, not giving and characteristics. The world around you will stop, after which you can look at it in a new way.
To develop defocused gazing skill, you can practice it with closed eyes. Imagine mentally big screen, as if in a movie theater. Fix this image in your mind as clearly as possible. As soon as the picture is fixed and becomes as real as possible. Move your sight through it systematically or in a chaotic manner. Keep your eyes closed during the entire exercise.
Exercise to defocus and control thoughts. On a sheet of any format (preferably A4 or A3) draw a point with a diameter of two centimeters. Attach it to the wall and sit on a chair, moving it to 1-2 meters. Look at the point, without blinking or slightly squinting. At first, you’ll feel some discomfort, but gradually it will completely pass. Focus on the point. You should clearly see its edges. Soon you’ll notice a white halo around the point, after which it will begin to move around the sheet. Your task is to keep it in one place as long as possible. At this point, the flow of thoughts in your head will subside. After exercise, blink frequently, to relieve tension from your eyes.
Workout on defocused look. While sitting in the room, select one point and concentrate your gaze on it. With a side glance, “hook” another object that is located behind it or on its side. Keep a look at both points. Then with a defocused look, cover the entire room, all objects that are in it. Add one item or several items at once.
Spread peripheral vision on all subjects, that you can cover. The breadth of coverage can be adjusted, but try to maximize it. The orientation of the look should be slightly above the horizon. Hold this state. Try to feel the flow of energy that passes through the body. After just a few minutes you’ll feel incredible ease. Exercise can be done in the morning. To be filled with positive for the whole day.
Look at the window or door frame. At first glance is directed straight ahead, then it must be moved to the left edge of the frame, then to the right. Do the exercise several times. Now place the gaze in front of you again and spread it so as to look as if into the distance, “to nowhere”. You should keep both edges of the frame in sight. Hold your gaze as long as possible, trying not to think about anything. If there are objects behind the window or behind the door (they can be either moving or not), turn them into the picture of contemplation. Try to get the frames to the foreground, and what is in a straight line – to the back.
While performing exercises related to the visual center, move a thumb over the pad of your index finger. Motility of the hands will block internal streams of thoughts.
A very interesting method to cope with the internal pronunciation is the method of fear. For example, imagine that there is a monster behind the door or under the bed. Shock therapy will force the flow of thoughts simply to “run away”.
While working, while reading, being in transport or at home, periodically keep the tip of the tongue in contact with the palate. The inner pronunciation will begin to disappear by itself.
Respiratory practice. Take a full deep breath in your lower abdomen. Then exhale as completely as possible, so that it feels like there is no air left in the lungs. At that moment, when you held your breath before leaving, try to think about something important. You’ll notice, that thoughts stretch like rubber will seem incoherent. Exactly at this moment you should try to stop the stream of thought.
Respiratory practice can act as a kind of preparation for a particular occupation. Stopping the internal dialogue, concentration meditation – everything related to mental activity. Start making frequent superficial sighs. During frequent shallow breathing, thoughts evaporate by themselves as the brain monitors respiratory activity. After a few seconds (don’t do this for a long time, so that hyperventilation does not occur), return to calm even breathing. The mental structure, therefore, is significantly shot down. Such a shake helps the body rebuild in a new way. The alternation of fast breaths becomes a kind of catalyst for changing the thinking process.
With the help of breathing practice, you can also increase the ability to control attention. To do this, sit down straight or lie down so that your arms and legs are not crossed. Start abdominal breathing, and then concentrate on the nasopharynx. You’ll begin to feel the cold of each breath and the warmth of the breath. Move the attention to the throat and go down to the rest of the body. Try to concentrate as much as possible on each part of the body. Muscles should be relaxed.
Find a second-hand clock at home. Focus all the attention on how it moves around the dial. You’re most focused on the arrow. Thoughts at this time should be as repressed as possible. Repeat this for a few minutes, taking breaks after each lap of 60 seconds.
Take any object in hand. Better small. For starters, you can choose a well-known thing as simple as possible. Take a good look at it. Then close your eyes and imagine it down to the smallest detail. Keep it clear in your mind as long as possible. Gradually increase the complexity of the external form. Then you can do this exercise with an open book, mentally reproducing each line.
Creative visualization to help practice concentration and attention skills. Take a comfortable posture and relax. Now focus on the right hand wrist. Try to distract from external factors as much as possible. Feel all the processes that occur in the wrist, pass these sensations through consciousness. Move attention to the elbow, then forearm, chest, abdomen, thighs, up to the foot. Then go to the left side of the body. At that moment, when the body is completely enveloped, relax sharply and imagine that your body has disappeared. After reaching the disembodied state, start “sculpt your body”. Imagine, that you are a sculptor, focus on the right wrist and re-create it, fixing the slightest sensation. Do the second part of the exercise in the same order as the first. Alternate body parts until the process is fully absorbed. Now you can focus on both a separate part of the body and feel it as a whole.
It’s necessary to take three to four deep breaths and exhale. Eyes can either be closed or not. Listen to the ambient sounds and select three of them. It may be the sound of a ticking clock, dripping water, the breath of a person, but not the sounds associated with speech or words. Distinguish between them, select from the general noise and concentrate all your attention. Now hold your breath. There are only these sounds. No mental streams. If difficulty arises with holding your breath, you can just breathe deeply and evenly.
Meditation related to contemplation. Very simple, but at the same time deep practice. As a rule, the slightest event occurring in our reality has an emotional response in our soul, followed by fixation in consciousness. Watching the processes taking place, move away from them. Imagine, that you are just watching TV. Abstracted from the movement of cars, boiling on the stove kettle, running past the cat. Don’t interfere in the surrounding world. Contemplate it as if it is not happening to you, but only reflected on the TV monitor.
Attention and thought process are inseparable. Let us try to learn to focus attention, so that the extra flows don’t interrupt the process of contemplation. This technique is very useful for teaching speed reading – it teaches to keep attention on several objects at once. So stretch your arms in front of you and look at them. Try to use side vision to see both little fingers. Focus on these two points. Without leaving this state, study it, pay attention to your own feelings, completely eliminating the internal dialogue. As soon as the flow of thoughts resumed, it means that attention is lost. Start over. Train until the need for fingers disappears.
Breathing exercises. Focus on your breathing. Take a comfortable posture and start tracking every breath. Don’t try to change the pace or control, delaying the process of breathing. Just kind of contemplate it. Feel your breath, both inside and out. This practice will help you in case of stressful situations or when you are excited.
For this exercise you’ll need two small things different in form and texture. Take them in hand. Go through them, feel with your fingers, stroke, study each component. At the same time as this action, focus on breathing and feel how the air enters the nostrils as you inhale and exhale.
Look at the starry sky. Contemplating the stars, peering into the darkness of the night, tame the flow of thoughts. As soon as the internal dialogue is silenced under the weight of the universe, shut your eyes very tightly and transfer the image of the sky into the subconscious. If you manage for some time not to give in to the pressure of thoughts, a vacuum will form inside you, the work of the brain will stop. You’ll feel a new I inside you. Fix this feeling, stay in it. As soon as you open your eyes again, you will realize that the brain seems to have a reboot.
In order to tune in to exercise or reading (and this is important!) imagine, that a ray of light is arising in your heart region. Imagine, how it goes up through the occipital region. Give this visualization as much strength as possible. So you’ll feel, that with the flow bad thoughts disappear and lightness appears.
For breathing exercises, I also recommend one exercise. Breathe smoothly and calmly. Calculate how long each breath lasts. Suppose you have spotted the number three. Next, do the following gymnastics: while breathing in, count to three – while holding your breath, count to three – while breathing out, count to three. Perform 10-15 cycles. Internal dialogue will pause, you will become calmer and more focused.
While performing exercises from the third part of the book, take breaks to rest. In order to gain strength, the technique of “relaxed head” will do. It is necessary to “release” the muscles of the face and head. Gradually, the voltage will begin to disappear, the folds on the forehead will be smoothed out. You’ll feel how your face, as if fallen, thoughts have ceased to disturb you. In everyday life, this skill is also useful. During the working day, relax not only the face and head, but smoothly go to the neck, chest, arms, gradually covering the whole body. If you suddenly think of extraneous things, and you want to say something, make a monotonous sound. The practice of “Om” meditation will free you from internal dialogue and help you concentrate.
Pretty simple exercise related to visualization. You can get rid of obsessive thoughts, if you imagine them in the form of soap bubbles. Mentally draw a beautiful soap bubble, imagine its color, size, the way it shimmers with colors in the sun. Put in it all annoying, unpleasant, small thoughts, fill it in full. Now let him go flying, watch his movement and watch him burst against the sky. These thoughts will not return to you.
During reinforced practices related to brain training, it’s necessary to find time to rest. Choose four pieces of time per day, during which you can completely disconnect from any kind of activity for 10-15 minutes. For example, it may be ten o'clock in the morning, two in the afternoon, six and nine in the evening. Sit back, look at one point. If it happens at work, then draw a heavy mental work, just looking at the monitor. During this time, spend five minutes breathing. Breathe in the stomach, taking a deep breath and exhaling. As soon as outside thoughts begin to come to mind, transfer attention to the process of breathing. The first two weeks will not be easy to do this, but after you bring this procedure to automatism. For the next five minutes, practice a phased relaxation of your muscles. By analogy with the previous techniques, start with the head, moving gradually to the toes. Along with bodily relaxation, thoughts will begin to recede, as the brain, like the same muscle, will feel weakening impulses. Spend the last five minutes on the defocused gaze. Feel the inner body heat. Immerse yourself in a semi-meditative state. The gaze is dispersed, the body is relaxed, the breathing is even. After such exercises you will feel an unprecedented surge of strength, which will allow you to start working with even more enthusiasm.
There is one Indian method that not only trains willpower, but also allows you to keep attention on internal sensations. I would call this exercise “Heron”. The point of exercise is that you need to stand on one leg, holding the other. It’s necessary to stand not for a couple of seconds, but for a few minutes. The "trick" is that balance can be maintained only by fully concentrating on the process. Any thought, emotion, or inner movement will cause you to sway and lose control of the body. Without swaying, you can stand only by completely disconnecting from your inner thoughts. This practice is a kind of metaphor for our whole life. Being engaged in speed reading and being distracted by external objects, we swing ourselves, not giving an opportunity to plunge into the process entirely. We spend our whole life “standing on one leg,” because uncontrollable emotions, feelings, fervor, haste, we tilt in different directions. Standing on one leg in complete rest for several minutes, we are aware of the importance of tireless concentration on inner experiences, the need to suppress unnecessary thoughts.
Exercise will be useful before starting speed reading with suppression of pronunciation. Imagine, that you can exhale thoughts with an exhalation. Imagine the quiet surface of the reservoir to free your mind and focus on your breathing. Each exhalation is a thought, that leaves your head. Exercise in this way you can anywhere.
During a conversation with the interlocutor, try to listen only to his voice. Without thinking about the content of speech. Feel his voice, create a mental image. Then you can apologize and ask to repeat the information.
With the help of the account it’s possible not only to control the internal speaking during speed reading, but also the flow of thoughts. Count in mind from one to a hundred. As soon as the listing is interrupted by a sudden thought, stop and start over. If you were able to count up to two hundred, you have successfully mastered the technique.
The previous exercise can be complicated. Start counting between one and one hundred, but making small pauses between numbers. If you are able to count to thirty, start combining the score with breathing exercises: inhale / exhale – one – inhale / exhale – two and so on until a hundred. As soon as an unexpected thought flashes, go back to the beginning of the process. The goal is to replace the internal dialogue. If you can easily go all the way, start training to stop the internal dialogue without the help of the count, only by effort of will.
Practice learned from Zen Buddhism. Perform the exercise to stand up. Straight arms begin to make turns in different directions – draw a horizontal line with your right hand and a vertical line with your left hand. Then complicate the task – change hands, draw different shapes. The main thing – the simultaneity and continuity of movements. This technique is a bit more complicated than the one described above. The back should be straight. Thoughts of effort will be suppressed. More difficult level is drawing of the alphabet from A to Z. During workout, keep attention on even breathing.
The world around us seems to be familiar to the last detail. There is a technique that will accelerate the neural network and allow you to see familiar objects in a completely different light. So, take a look at any familiar item. Let it be a kitchen table or cabinet. Imagine seeing it for the first time. Forget everything you know about it. Mentally remove from the baggage of knowledge the slightest idea of it – what it is made of, what its components are called. Previous experience doesn’t matter. The cabinet is a rectangular object. It consists of boards. Try to dissuade yourself even from knowing that it’s a rectangle or a board. Dive into the subject, ignoring its external signs. Look at the object, but observe only its image, not tying any past knowledge about the most elementary things. Feel the object at the level of emotions – its color, shades, mass, texture, but not pronouncing these characteristics to yourself. If the task is done correctly, waking up from this state, you will see the whole beauty of the object, its uniqueness and originality.
Very interesting exercise related to the training of neural systems. It consists in imposing sounds on objects uncharacteristic for them. For example, on the cat to apply the sound of a ticking clock, on the car – the crying of a child and so on to infinity. An experiment can be limited only by your imagination. Exercise with all the objects that fall into your area of vision.
Internal dialogue often overshadows the world around us. New neural connections cannot form as the brain tends to rest. We are much nicer to see familiar objects, than to analyze new information. Remember your last trip. Getting into a strange city, we are so passionate about the contemplation of architecture, unfamiliar streets, other cultures, people, that the internal dialogue stops by itself. That’s why many psychologists advise to make as many trips as possible in order to stimulate the thinking process, to learn to discover the world. Try to carry out this process while in your hometown. Coming out of the house, notice the smallest details of the landscape – balconies, passers-by, the behavior of street cats and dogs, pigeons. Try to re-see the familiar world, analyzing the slightest incident. Little by little, you will begin to notice how the brain analyzes what is happening instead of “digging” in the usual thoughts.
In the past chapters, I have already mentioned how important it is to be able to be in the “here and now” moment. For this there is one very simple exercise. Sit in a comfortable position and relax as much as possible. Take a look around. What do you see? Take a closer look at the smallest details, pay attention to how you breathe, what sounds are heard in an apartment, office or on the street. Feel yourself in the moment of being. Listen to your feelings. Immerse yourself in this second, minute. Concentrated vigilance will help you become aware of yourself included in the common fabric of the world. This contemplative (in all senses) practice develops the ability to see in detail the reality framing our lives. If you learn to notice even the smallest details, not only confidence in the moment of being will develop, but also the ability to analyze these details and put them together. Hence, contrary to the conventional opinion about the innateness of this quality, the ability to use intuition appears.
Straighten your arms. Make several rotational movements in the vertical plane with the right brush, i.e. down up. Now start doing the reverse actions with your left hand. It will be quite difficult to do this, but continue until it is possible to perform the opposite actions with both hands. In addition to stopping the internal dialogue, neural connections will be strengthened.
Very interesting from the point of view of training the neural system exercise. Remember, I was talking about a fitness trainer who offered his students to study the body in order to learn how to walk, jump, run, in other words, move anew? This technique was practiced by Carlos Castaneda. He called her "walking power." To do this, bend the knees a little, fix the arms at the waist and squeeze the hands into a fist. Go ahead, looking strictly at the horizon. Unusual style of walking frees from unnecessary thoughts and teaches us to move unusually in space, reminding us how automatic our actions are in everyday life.
We perform many actions by inertia. Mechanism of action leads to the fact that our brain "rests" in most of the time. From this, meaningless dialogue is born, which we scroll through in our head time after time. You can get rid of it if you start to perform familiar actions in an unusual way. Try to start writing with both hands, hold the mouse in your other hand, or brush your teeth using the other hand. At first, this will seem unusual, but the brain will begin to create new connections. As soon as the hand reaches out to perform the usual ritual, stop this moment. Walking along the street, start walking backwards, climbing stairs, alternate steps one or two. Just do not turn new habits into a routine, look for new ways to "deceive" the brain. The habit of methodical execution of actions will go the same way as all the rubbish from the head.
Try during the execution of familiar actions to step back and look at your manipulations as if from the side. The state of "observer" will help to concentrate better during the day.
Finally, I would like to touch on a very important aspect – sticky thoughts. Most often, they "attack" us before bedtime. Surely, everyone faced with them – this is an incomplete dialogue, an insoluble dispute, mistakes of the past, unfulfilled relationships, unsuccessful interview – each has its own “fad”. They attack completely unexpectedly and at the wrong time, sometimes they are completely inappropriate. I found a kind of recipe for this problem. Choose the time during the day – in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening – it does not matter, the main thing is that you can fully devote it to yourself. Turn off all extraneous noisy devices, neither the radio nor the TV should distract you. Fully immerse yourself in the problem. Ponder it, savor, view from all sides, draw scripts. As soon as you feel that your thoughts are running the other way, return them to the given direction. Spend at least twenty minutes to this, you can even set a timer. Do it every day at one strictly certain time. The brain will remember. This procedure will go to the level of the reflex. Now, if a sticky thought “clings” to you during the day, the brain will know for sure that it has a fixed time to think about the problem. Over time, you will be so tired of spending 20 minutes on a meaningless return to the past, that this time you will spend with much higher efficiency.