Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Quibles and bits

Heres where im at...

I believe photoreading can work.
Ive ordered the system
Ive ordered the book (dont ask i ordered it first)
I intend to attend the live seminar.
I still subvocalize even though ive read many MANY speed reading books.
I have *never* been able to see the "magic eye" pictures correctly (at all).

Having said all that what should be my method of attack for photoreading. Should I wait for the seminar so I dont teach myself something wrong? Read the book first for a preview?

Am I out of luck because of the magic eye thing? (heard that on a message board that your aptitude to photoreading is tied to your aptitude to see magic eye pictures)

fp

Oh and Mr Buzan just brought up another point. The intro has and activity where you are suppose to imagine an object and then
Rotate it infront of you
look at it from the top
look at it from underneath
Change its color. Etc. "These feats can be performed by you without much difficulty"

Er.. I beg to differ, I am unable to picture anything when I close my eyes. Vauge vauge flashes of a thought/picture sometimes. I cannot even picture a circle or sqaure when I close my eyes.

In my readings ive come across this problem many times, is their any way to fix it? Im not an idiot ;p just special.

It seems to me you have to be able to picture a circle or square otherwise you couldn't tell the difference between a circle or square.

Seeing an image in your mind is not the same as seeing with your eyes. I find it easier to 'construct' an image than to expect the whole image to appear in my mind as a flash.

Don't think of a blue dolphin wearing pink ear muffs wearing a hawiian shirt standing in the queue of a bank. So if you got the gist of what that looks like to you, you can definately visualise. Just imagine what it would 'look' allow words to help you construct the images not expect them to be there in full technicolor.

Method of attack for photoreading course tear open the package when it gets delivered admire the... ok seriously.

Read the book the way it tells you to in the on the front page where it says read this book in 25 minutes. Then proceed with the tapes one at a time starting with number one.

Subvocalising - still do it myself, hasn't slowed me down

Not being able to see magic eye pictures, no worries, you'll learn the X technique in the course.

Take it step by step. Do the course once through working with the tapes as you learn so that you can improve your skills by using the system and by going over the course again.

Alex

AlexK I disagree: some people just can't visualize. Frank the course will tell you to imagine a tangerine on the back of your head. You don't have to SEE it though, you can use other senses. What is your primary learning style? Auditory? It would help us a lot if we knew how you learned most effectively.

Im ADHD all the way, so it’s hard to say, I didn’t get diagnosed till after college. I never was able to learning *anything* in lectures... ever.. got by on aptitude. Id have to say before being diagnosed my main method of learning was doing stuff and being tested on stuff. Terrible listener, and yes I agree some people just cant visualize I think in concepts that are... in the back of my head? My wife describes visualizing as more in front of her head. I know what visualizing looks like from (legal in Nevada) drug use (as a teenager)… Also right between sleep and being awake (where you can still think about stuff) I can visualize perfectly, crystal clear motion picture of whatever I want to think about problem is I only hit that exact spot once in a blue moon, and it only last a few minutes at best because I either get too excited and wake up or fall asleep. I also dream in full color, but as soon as im conscious I am 100% unable to recall anything visually from my dreams but can recall exactly what happened many times (ie if i dreamed about a dolphin with pink bunny ears or whatever I could tell you about it, but not see it at all).

Stared at a tangerine for about 2 minutes just now, then tried to visualize. Nothing with my eyes open, and total black with my eyes close.

Now my method of studying described above minus the photo reading. Its working out ok, but slow. And I have a mountain of material to get threw (literally). So shooting for any help I can get!

Thanks for the help,
Fp

FP,
For the tangerine technique, put your hand on the top back part of your head. Let your mind feel your hand there. This means that if you can feel your hand there, your awareness is there.

The whole purpose of the tangerine is to widen your gaze in a relaxed manner. Look in front of you at one thing. Now just relax your gaze. Put your hand on the top back part of your head at the same time. Now see how many more things you can see w/ this widened gaze.

It's like when they say: Hey, back away from this xxxx, you're too close to understand it correctly. Same w/ your eyes. Feel your gaze coming from the top back part of your head and let that gaze be wide.

I'm like you in that i can't visualize really either. Don't let it bother you. As astrowill mentioned, there are the other senses. I'm good w/ kinesthetic stuff. I can really feel the way a rock rests on the earth. I use this image for relazing. Trying to visualize some nice scene is tough for me. But a huge boulder---i'm immediately relaxed.

enjoy your journey w/ PhRing

quote:

---

Originally posted by Frank Pinma:
(ie if i dreamed about a dolphin with pink bunny ears or whatever I could tell you about it, but not see it at all).

---

Ditto here. I do not 'see' I sense it... mainly falling back on my memory of it and that's how I construct images. In order to visualise I have to focus my awareness at an imaginary spot about 6 inches in front of my forehead (yes outside my physical body) in order to visualise. Most of the time I couldn't be bothered. When someone says what is a tangerine? I know what a tangerine is and just go with the facts that I know what it looks like. IE fruit from the citrus family, orange in colour, that I distlike the taste and smell of. I know it looks nothing like a watermelon. In order to remember thes facts I must have had an intant visual representation of it in my mind to know these facts about it.

When some one says now image you are holding a tangerine. I just say OK and imagine since I know I'm only imagining it. I see it no different than fantasising what I would do with a million dollars. I've learnt not to sweat the details since I cannot compare how images look in someone elses mind I figure that's good enough for me. If you can tell me anything about where you grew up I say you have enough visualisation ability to survive.

That said, Frank, do the course once through first just to understand the principle of it let the details take care of themselves once you start using the system. Some aspects of the course you will adapt to suit you and that will be easier to do once you understand the general procedure.

Alex

everyone can visualize, that is something we all need to know. When you say you cant visualize it (or SEE it) you are probably thinking of it as actually seeing it with your eyes like you would see anything during the day. If you couldnt visualize you wouldnt be able to remember anything or function, you wouldnt even be able to walk because as you walk you (unconsiously) see where you are going to put your foot next and process if you will fall or if you will be able to take anouther step after that.

if you want to develop visualization skills, try this little excersize...

1)Place your hand infront of your face about a foot, take in all the details. This shouldnt take long since you are familiar with your hand, you use it everyday.

2) Close your eyes and describ your hand OUTLOUD!!! You wont have results if you say it to yourself, you may even fall asleep.
HINT: dont just say stuff like "there is a mole on my ring finger" try and describe what it resembles and what it could be if it werent a hand, make up a story about an adventure your hand had.

3) Record what you said (I tape it). Try it with other objects too

I did this when I was younger and I think it has helped me greatly (with memory and problem solving)

[This message has been edited by Mastermind (edited October 11, 2002).]

WB Mastermind,

quote:

---

I did this when I was younger and I think it has helped me greatly (with memory and problem solving)

---

It probably did. They are not sure if a good memory aids visualisation or visualisation aids good memory however they seem to have concluded that they are connected.

What you describe is similar to image streaming. I found one way to kick start it is to avoid looking for pictures and instead listen for sounds or notice the feeling. Somewhere along the line the images start building but you got to stick with it for at least 10 minutes to get into the flow of it.

Alex

Hi Frank,

Welcome aboard! I'm borderline ADD and I used to think I couldn't visualize, too. I've learned a bunch of things the last couple of years .

In this thread:
http://www.learningstrategies.com/forum/ubb/Forum8/HTML/002236.html

I talk about some of the ways I learned to see images. There are other ways out there, some described by others in that thread as well.

BTW: I can't see the magic eye pictures either - I'm pretty much blind in one eye ( 20/200 vision) - and photoreading is the only method I use for studying. I graduated from college with a 3.75 GPA (used Photoreading the last year of undergrad) and I'm holding a 3.95 in Grad school.