In the MO course, Vera mentions how our personality is largely based on our autobiographical memory and how we should take care in constructing/reconstructing it.
This got me thinking about using the MO course and its various tricks to enhance self confidence. Take the New History Generator for instance; you can enhance your performance and the way you feel about yourself by creating/reframing your memories.
Some days, for whatever reason, I feel kind of down. Other days I might be feeling great but then something happens that really knocks me off center and sends me into a spiral of negative thinking.
Since memory is associative, thinking of one bad memory usually brings up several more. When you're in a bad mood the whole world suddenly seems against you and when you're in a good mood you start to wonder why you even thought about things the way you did before.
My point is this: we can use associative memory to give ourselves a mood boost any time we want. Its simple, just start thinking of something pleasant. But this is where the problem is! When you're in a negative associative state, you have a really hard time with coming up with anything that isn't negative! But with the MO course, perhaps there are several ways that we can get around this.
My basic idea is just to sit down and create a few ABC lists of pleasant memories that I've had. I could also create one for my core values, the things I stand for, how I think about myself, what things I'm competent at, what experiences have defined my life, etc. Literally, you can take any aspect of your personality, phrase it effectively, and then put it in an ABC list!
Whenever you're feeling down, you can run through your ABC list as a quick reminder of your true inner nature. And since we're using some seriously powerful memory techniques (I really do love the course), we can call these memories up when we need them the most. Stress impairs memory greatly, which is why I think we let things get to us more and then act in ways that aren't really characteristic of our typical self.
Anyway, this is all just an idea that I've had gestating in my head for awhile now so I just wanted to put it out there and see what everybody thinks. If it sounds feasible, we can move on to creating more concrete methods and actually start experimenting.
Comments welcome!
