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 StockExchange. 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.
© 2016
