So I've been thinking a lot about this and wanted to see if I could get some other people's thoughts on the matter.
I've noticed lately that my thoughts move a lot quicker than the voice spelling them out in my head. An entire, fully-formed concept will appear in my mind and I'll then spend the time talking through it in words.
An example would be when you think of what you want for breakfast. In an instant the mind will throw up a concept (whether it's a picture or a feeling or a smell, etc) of you eating a big bowl of cereal, as well as the other things that go with it. The milk you need, the fruit you might add, how much energy it will provide vs how much you expect to expend during the day, etc. All that in an instant.
Then (for me and (I think) most people) I'll start mentally talking through it, as if I were preparing to type it out, write it down on speak it to someone. This means my instantly formed concept can take 20-30 seconds (or much, much more) to work through.
After researching speed reading recently I've found that one of the first 'steps' towards speed reading is to eliminate the internal 'voice' reading out the words as you see them on the page. I vaguely remember as a young child reading in that manner until I was instructed by a teacher that that was the wrong way to do it and I had to read each word out to myself. With that in mind I've been trying more and more to stop sub-vocalizing but I'm finding it incredibly difficult.
From a magical point of view I find it inhibits me quite a lot as well. Me forming a shield begins with a fully formed concept in my mind that I'll then turn into a picture, add or subtract bits of functionality and set about making. The making process however is (for myself, literally) a step-by-step word-based process. I find myself saying mentally, "condense the local energy into a dense ball then expand that into the appropriate-sized shell. Next install the tech components you wish to have operational in the shield. Harden and mask it. Attach it to an energy source." so on and so on. The 'construction' process can take me 5 minutes or more going in a sub-vocalized step-by-step when the initial concept formed instantly and the picture took only a few seconds (max) to finish.
My purpose with posting regarding this subject is to see if anyone else has thought about this concept. Whether they've had any luck eliminating a good portion of sub-vocalization from their lives. Just how other people think in in general.
I'm somewhat shocked in myself (after this realisation) just how much I'm slowing down my own thought processes by vocalizing everything I think about. How ineffective and inefficient it is. I wonder whether we have any speed readers here who don't sub-vocalize when reading, or perhaps people who cast without the need of mentally 'talking' (or 'typing') through the process. Or even if this has occurred to anyone else and they're working on it the same as I am.
Thoughts and feedback?
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