(This blog was originally posted on February 25, 2016)
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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
Our ability to remember facts and information is astounding. Millions of
pieces of information enter the human brain each day; some of it is processed
and internalized as memory and the rest is “dumped” as irrelevant (unrelated,
unfamiliar, an “unknown”) to the “known” facts we have already stored in the
subconscious mind. Other pieces of information get buried so deep that we’re
surprised we actually know or knew it in the first place until someone asks the
right question and jars that little nugget loose from its storage area. Or, we
recently learned the information but it isn’t immediately accessible to the
conscious mind, which sends us into a panic and then self-recrimination for not
having “remembered” what we were supposed to know.
Students recognize this phenomenon as a version of “tip-of-the-tongue
syndrome.” It often happens in moments of stress, such as during a test.
Musicians and actors experience a similar experience if they suddenly blank out
or forget a portion of the music they are supposed to play or a line of dialog
they need to recite. This can also occur during moments of leisure or
recreation. Even though the stakes are comparatively lower, the perceived
pressure of getting an answer right or hitting the right note and not let
anyone down can produce a lot of pressure.
This evening, I met some friends from my professional network group, NRG,
for a meal at a local restaurant and play a game Trivial Pursuit. There
were approximately nine teams in the restaurant, including ours. I admit that
my knowledge about many of the topics was not as good as a few of my teammates.
What surprised me most of all was when I realized I knew—or thought that I
knew—an answer to a question even though I have no knowledge or expertise in
the topic. Another time, even though I was positive that I had the correct answer,
I immediately started to doubt my certainty and lost a bit of confidence when
it was time to submit the response. Everyone
is counting on you; you said you know this answer. You lived in England for
seven years, you should know this answer. Quick, quick, the moderator needs the
answer!
Fortunately, thanks to my hypnotherapy training and years of helping
clients overcome this exact same challenge, I was able to talk myself down from
the panicked ledge I found myself on. I knew
that I knew the answer, and that the first answer I gave was most likely the
correct one. I had to trust my subconscious mind to produce the information
about this topic that I had stored there. I knew that if I wavered, if I
continued to question and re-examine my reasons for suggesting that response, I
was more likely to give the wrong one. It had been so easy, when I heard the
question, to come up with what I knew and believed in my bones to be the
correct response. I had to trust that gut instinct, and go with it. I was
right. (The answer was United Kingdom or Great Britain. I can’t remember the
exact question, but it had something to do with 10 Downing Street being the
residential headquarters of the place of government for which nation.)
Another question later in the game was about the United States Stock Exchange. The acronym NASDAQ popped into my mind right away. One of
my friends also playing the game was much more knowledgeable about stocks and
investments, so everyone deferred to his expertise to provide the correct
answer. The term he provided sounded reasonable and right. Wrong. If I had
given my answer and my teammates had agreed to submit the response, we would
have won that point. But I hadn’t spoken up because I doubted that I might,
just possibly, be right.
This experience was a good reminder that the human brain acquires and
processes so much information that even the most unlikely tidbits and facts may
very well be stored in the subconscious mind. We just need to give ourselves
permission to take that deep breath (or several) and take a leap of faith, or
trust, or whatever, that we do know what we’re talking about. Sometimes, often,
we know even more than we think or know that we know.
For information about this topic, I invite you to read my blogs titled Hypnosis
and Memory Recall and Hypnosis
to Overcome Test Anxiety.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors
from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2016
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