The Human Mind Is An Amazing Instrument

Something I like to remind myself of once in a while is that a person can do whatever they set their mind to. It is not without reason that we tell children to dream, and to dream BIG. You can't get anywhere if you don't have a vision.

There is something pretty amazing that happened to me when I was in university that illustrates this very nicely. Here is the true story:

When I was in university studying to be a teacher, I had a part-time job at the Budapest Delicatessen in Ottawa's By Ward Market. I worked quite a lot of hours there, devoting my weekends and quite a few afternoons every week to earning money. Eventually, the owner of the Budapest bought the butcher shop next door and I was often scheduled to work the cash there on Sundays.

It happened one semester that I had a presentation to give for one of my classes. The teacher had handed out the subjects and told us to research them so we could teach the class about them. It was pretty intimidating since we didn't get to choose our subjects ourselves so we didn't know the first thing about them. Even so, we were expected to become knowledgeable so we could explain and answer any questions our classmates might have.

This happened over 12 years ago, so my kind readers will forgive me for not remembering what subject I was assigned. All I remember is that it was a teaching technique and I had read quite a few books about it and I still had no real idea what it was concretely. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed out.

Sundays at the butcher shop were very slow, so I had about five of my books with me and was taking notes on what I thought I should share with the class. I was basically preparing to b.s. my way through the presentation, regurgitating what the books said, and hoped that it would somehow make sense to the class. As I went over the content and wrote down my notes, the concept started taking form in my mind. I was starting to understand. This shouldn't be surprising because the more you turn something over in your mind, there more your understanding grows. Your mind creates connections within the subject matter and links these to your previous life experiences. This is how we learn. But the amazing thing is what happened next.

As I said, I was working the cash at the butcher shop on Sunday. The presentation was to be on Tuesday. On Monday I only had one class in the afternoon, so I planned to write up my presentation on Monday morning so I could practice and memorize it Monday night after supper. 

I woke up on Monday having dreamed every word of my presentation! I kid you not. I got out of bed, grabbed my notebook, and wrote down word for word what I was going to say. To top it off, I understood it all! (Thank goodness!) I didn't even have to work on memorizing anything because I already had, while I was sleeping! Isn't that amazing? 

It was after this happened that I recognized how truly amazing the human brain is. It did me a huge favor that time. In essence, it did my homework for me! How cool is that?

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If you will indulge me, I would like to make a small sidetrip down memory lane... It's the 1980s and Growing Pains is one of my favorite sitcoms. There is an episode where Mike is caught cheating on a test. He had written notes on the bottoms of his sneakers. He is allowed to retake the test but he admits that he had cheated the second time too: he hid the answers in his head! :D
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So, now that you know its potential, what are you going to use your mind to do?

Magic

Yesterday when I picked him up, my six-year-old son's first words were, "I saw a real princess today!" That of course made me smile. I get such a kick out of him and his view of the world! Often, when he is watching a DVD, he will turn to me and very seriously say, "That can't happen. They did that with a computer just for the film." This is usually at the scarier parts, so I recognize that he is reassuring himself. But otherwise, he is perfectly willing to believe what he sees. Like yesterday, when they were taken to see a play, he saw a real princess.

I think it is so important for children to believe in magic, the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny and, in my family's case, God. It is a real challenge every year to get the Christmas tree up and the presents under it without the children realizing that it was all my doing. (My daughter has caught on, but she has agreed to keep the magic alive for her two little brothers.) Our tradition holds that it isn't Santa who brings the presents. It is the Baby Jesus who brings them as symbols of his gift of Love. (Saint Nicholas comes a little earlier, on December 6th, to put chocolates and oranges in their boots.)

Nowadays, when children have questions, such as about where babies come from, we tend to pull a book off the shelf and explain human anatomy to them, so that we are honest with them, as modern parents should be. I don't quite agree with this. I think there is great value in believing in miracles. Children are happy to get a toonie for their teeth, or to clean their boots and put them in the window for Saint Nicholas. It is a way for them to keep the wonder about the world that increasingly is too informative and makes them grow up too soon.

Don't get me wrong. I am all about explaining photosynthesis to children when we are hiking in the woods. I explain about not picking the wildflowers in a park because they are protected. I talk to them about not littering, about pollution and conservation. But I know they also get a kick out of pretending that the trees that grow in perfect rows are bewitched soldiers, of that elves live in the hollows of trees. It develops their imagination to play this way, and it also helps them be brave, and to move into situations where they might imagine that it would be scary, but they move forward nonetheless. My daughter was afraid of the Easter Bunny for years. She would come get me before going out into the living room to see if there was an Easter basket there for her. I would accompany her and, over the years, she eventually started walking in front of me instead of behind. Finally, she was able to go look on her own. I can see this self-assurance in her today, and wonder if it isn't thanks to the Easter Bunny. :o)