THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson
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Название: THE POWER OF MIND
Автор: William Walker Atkinson
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Сделай Сам
isbn: 9788075836410
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To cultivate the power of observation as applied to faces and features (after determining to take an interest in them, of course,) you should study the face of every person you meet, taking note of the general shape of the head and face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin and forehead, at the same time holding the thought, “I’ll know you the next time I see you,” which thought will cause the Will to operate in the direction of recording a clear and distinct impression.
The taking of interest in, and the bestowal of attention upon the study of the human face will repay one for his time and trouble, for he will not only be training his attention and memory, but will be obtaining an education in physiognomy as well, especially if he is using an elementary book on this last mentioned subject, as advised.
There are very few persons who can recall the features of an absent friend, and it is quite amusing to hear some people attempting to describe the appearance of someone with whom they are presumably well acquainted. Try it and be surprised at how little you really can recall, and yet you have no trouble in recognizing the friend when you meet him. Describe the eyes, nose and mouth of your best friend, if you can, from memory.
Look at the next man you meet. Note whether his forehead is high or low, narrow or broad; whether his eyebrows are light or heavy, straight or arched, and of what color; what kind of nose has he, aquiline, Roman, Grecian, pug, or what not; whether he has a large or small mouth, etc.; whether his teeth are good or bad, large or small; whether he wears a beard or mustache, large or small, shape, etc. And so on with each feature, noting the details just as if you were required to report them at your place of business, and your promotion depended upon a full and correct report. You will not forget a face studied in this way. A little practice of this kind is useful in developing the deficient faculty. And you will begin to classify features and observe them naturally, having aroused an interest in the subject. And the aroused interest means a clear impression; and the clear impression means an easy recollection.
Then practice recalling the faces of people you meet, making a mental picture of them. After you have acquired the art of recording good impressions of faces, by recalling several times the mental image of the face of any one whom you have met, you will be able to easily recognize the person after the lapse of considerable time. The repeated reviving of the mental image is almost equivalent to repeated meeting with the person in question.
You have noticed how easy it is to remember and form a mental picture of a face as it appears in a photograph or painting, and how much more difficult it is to carry in mind the face of the same person as it appears when you see him in person. It is all a matter of habit, however, and by a little practice you will be able to remember the living face just as easily as the pictured face.
We have heard the story of a “hasty sketch” artist, who had classified noses, eyes, ears, mouths, chins, eyebrows, shape of faces, etc., and had given to each class a number. He would take a steady gaze at the face of his sitter to get the expression and air, and the general outline, and would rapidly note, mentally, the class of each feature, thus, “shape of face, 4; eyes, 86; eyebrows, 2; nose, 3; mouth, 4; chin, 7,” etc. Your study of faces will soon teach you the several classes and varieties of each feature, and if you are studying physiognomy, as advised, you will find that the knowledge of the significance of each class of features will greatly increase the interest and pleasure in the task. We have given a number of additional examples of wonderful memory of faces and features in other chapters of this book.
Summing up, we would say that the faculty of remembering faces may be developed just as may be any other faculty of the mind, and that the secret of such development is: Cultivate an interest in faces—study them—attention will follow interest— and memory will attend upon attention.
Chapter XVI.
Memory of Names.
Treating of that most important phase of Memory Culture: the cultivation of the Memory of Faces—This faculty is a most important one to every one in business and public life, and a poor memory for faces has resulted in many cases of active illwill on the part of those whom one has failed to recognize—This faculty may be trained and developed, as well as others, and this chapter takes up the subject of this development, giving the cause of poor memories of this sort, and the best methods of improving same by training and developing the faculty itself—Examples and exercises are given, which will prove interesting as well as instructive.
The faculty of remembering names varies greatly among individuals. Many find it difficult to remember the names of even their most intimate friends, while others manifest a wonderful proficiency in the matter of remembering the names of almost everyone with whom they come in contact. This faculty has been an important factor in the success of many public men, and almost incredible incidents are related of some who have developed the same to a very great extent.
In other chapters of this book we have related a number of examples of persons possessing a wonderful memory for names. In addition to these, hundreds of well known cases could be cited. Nearly every successful politician has been forced by necessity to develop this faculty. James G. Blaine and Henry Clay owed much of their popularity to their ability to recall the names of chance acquaintances, and to call them by their names after having met them but once. Of Thomas Wharton, Macaulay says: “It was impossible to contend against this great man who called the shoemaker by his Christian name.” Napoleon’s wonderful memory of names and faces endeared him to his soldiers. Aristotle had a remarkably clear memory for names, and Pericles is said to have known the names of all of the citizens of Athens.
The man who readily recalls names has a powerful weapon at his command in gaining the good will of people, and it will be worth the while of anyone to develop this faculty. Memory for names may be developed just as one would develop any other faculty of the mind, or part of the body, i. e., by Attention and Practice. Many persons content themselves with bewailing the fact that they have a poor memory for any special thing, and make no effort to improve it. When Man realizes that he can practically make himself over by gradual improvement, and practice, he will have opened the door to great things.
The first requisite for the development of the memory for names, is, of course, the recording of clear and distinct impressions. It is often found that it is a help to repeat aloud the name of a person to whom we have just been introduced, thereby appealing to the ear memory by a repeated impression of the sound as well as the abstract general impression of the name. The trouble with many people is that they do not think of the names of people they meet. They do not let the name impress itself upon the mind, the entire attention being given either to the appearance or to the general personality of the stranger, his business, motives, etc. Carelessness in this respect will invariably result in the failure to recall the name a little later on. And that is not the worst of it—by allowing ourselves to get into a careless habit regarding the names of others, we are practically losing what little namememory we have, as nothing will so quickly resent a careless attention as the memory, which seems to act upon the principle that if its owner does not take the trouble to interest himself in a thing, it will not take the trouble to store it away with any degree of care.
If you have found it hard to revive the impressions of names, you may feel assured that it is because you have paid but little attention to people’s names. Begin at once to take an interest in names. Analyze names; think about them; notice their peculiarities; their resemblances; their points of difference, etc. There are books published giving the origin of surnames, which are read by some people with considerable interest. We venture the assertion that no man who has ever read such a СКАЧАТЬ