Attention & Memory Training
"Memory, the daughter of Attention, is
the teeming mother of wisdom."
The permanence of the impression which
anything leaves on the memory, is proportionate to the degree of attention
which was originally given to it. The experiences most permanently impressed upon
consciousness are those upon which the greatest amount of attention has been
fixed.
The great art of memory is attention....
Inattentive people have always bad memories.
Without some degree of attention no impression
of any duration could be made on the mind, or laid up in the memory. It is a
law of the mind that the intensity of the present consciousness determines the
vivacity of the future memory; memory and consciousness are thus in the direct
ratio of each other. Vivid consciousness, long memory; faint consciousness,
short memory; no consciousness, no memory...
An act of attention, that is an act of
concentration, is necessary to every
exertion of consciousness. It constitutes the better half of all intellectual
power.
One of the most common causes of poor
attention is to be found in the lack of interest.
A man may have a very poor memory for many
things, but when it comes to the things in which his interest is involved he
often remembers the most minute details. What is called involuntary attention is that form of attention that follows upon
interest, curiosity, or desire—no special effort of the will being required in
it.
What is called voluntary attention is that form of attention that is bestowed upon objects not
necessarily interesting, curious, or attractive—this requires the application
of the will, and is a mark of a developed character.
Every person has some amount of involuntary
naturally but few possess or have developed voluntary attention. The former is
instinctive—the latter comes only by practice and training.
