Tactile Mnemonics

Last night I was reading up on web development.  I currently work a lot with C#, but I like to stay current on web programming for my own projects.  I'm still learning a lot of new information at work about several upgrades we are getting in the near future.  My attention span is minimal at best, so when I get interested in a topic, the interest only lasts until I find something else of interest.  Concentration is hard to build up when the best I can do is skim a topic quickly for fear of imminent distraction.

This time I decided to blast my way through all the anxiety.  I chose determination over random trails of thought.  I found that if my hands are fidgeting, I can distract myself just enough to get re-interested in what I'm already doing.  When I focused on the tactile sensation of my hands held together and moving slowly, I felt my attention center as though I were redirecting my energy and focus back to my current task.  It felt as though I were physically grabbing my attention and holding it in front of me.  This contact and motion kept my mind from wanting to follow every train of thought and random thing that popped into my head.  In a way it was like desk chair yoga or Tai Chi.

I realize that holding the palms together is the same gesture as prayer, but there may be more to that pose than mere tradition.  It is a pose that channels thought into a state of controllable desire.  By focusing on what you want and forming this tactile sensation of a prayer pose, you can concentrate more on what you intend to focus on and hold off distractions.  When I do yoga, I am able to empty my mind and think only about the current pose I attempt.  Tactile sensation has the same effect, but if I read while doing this, I am able to take in more information and remember it better.  That's where the mnemonic comes in.  Because I am aware of the effect of a simple action like tapping my fingertips together while reading, I can use this subconscious distraction to draw out my reading and read more thoroughly.  I can also visualize the subject matter with more clarity.  I can put more critical thought into what I read because I think about it in more than one way and imagine it from more than one viewpoint.

One other advantage to tactile mnemonics is that I can read a sentence, sit back and ponder it, read it again, and continue to the next sentence.  Normally, I either get distracted and don't fully focus on what I'm reading, or I get really excited about the subject matter and try to skim to the good parts.  Logically I know it makes more sense to read the passage in full so that I don't miss important detail, but sometimes my desire to learn quickly overrides consideration of what it takes to keep the new material in long term memory.  By slowing down, I am able to mix new ideas into my subconscious.  If I read too quickly, I can remember it long enough to understand the full story, but sleep can easily wipe it from my memory.  Essentially, I'm just learning to ponder ideas more effectively, but I find that I ponder better when I'm fidgeting.  I can directly tune my ability to ponder to the speed in which my hands are fidgeting as though I were playing a video game and focusing on precise movements to operate a controller.  That is probably one reason why I concentrate better on video games than passive reading.