The Memorization Challenge

One of the real benefits of passage meditation is that we can choose the passages we meditate on. One of the related challenges? Memorization.

This past week we've been talking about memorization tips within the YA Blog Team and are eager to hear tips from all of you! Though we've never talked about it, we were surprised at many of us tried the same strategies and also each picked up some new ideas to try. Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• Memorize just a line a day – one line is such an easy amount and in no time you'll have a whole passage!
• Walk while you memorize – something about pacing and reciting the words (silently or out loud) can really internalize the cadence of the words.
• Schedule in memorization time – block off time in your calendar to memorize, treat it like any appointment and hold it aside. Try for regular "memorization appointments" like the first Sunday of the month.
• Always have the passage near by – whether on a notecard in your pocket, or in your phone or day planner, have the passage near by so you can review lines when you find yourself with unexpected down time.

We are really eager to hear your ideas! In the comments below, share your strategies for memorization.

We also wanted to share the excerpt below from a past Blue Mountain Journal which featured some great tips on memorization.

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Excerpt from the Blue Mountain Journal Summer 2009:

For a visual approach, look for patterns. As an example, take the passage entitled “United in Heart,” from the Rig Veda:

May we be united in heart.
May we be united in speech.
May we be united in mind.
May we perform our duties
As did the wise of old.

May we be united in our prayer.
May we be united in our goal.
May we be united in our resolve.
May we be united in our understanding.
May we be united in our offering.
May we be united in our feelings.
May we be united in our hearts.
May we be united in our thoughts.
May there be perfect unity amongst us.

For the first verse of this passage, all one really has to learn is the main phrase, three other words, and an ending sentence.

If you’d like to make use of kinesthetics, try writing the passage, line by line or stanza by stanza. Start by looking at the first line. Then write it out from memory. Check it. If what you wrote was not accurate, write the corrected version. Once you know the first line, try the same process with the whole first stanza.

For an auditory method, try listening to Easwaran reciting any passage in the collection of MP3s found on the website.

For a method which combines auditory and kinesthetic features, try declaiming the passage, like an actor trying out new lines. It can help to walk or pace around while reciting the lines. Gestures can help. But note: it is best to select some private venue for this method! 

When you are memorizing a line or a stanza, checking helps. This is called “feedback.” We learn by means of feedback.

It also helps to focus on small chunks – one or two lines, for example, rather than a whole stanza.

Returning to the passage later helps us retain it. This is how we can transfer a line or stanza from short-term memory into the long-term. 

A Passage for December

Our last two posts have been excerpts from Easwaran’s book Strength in the Storm. The first was a chapter from the book in which Easwaran discusses transforming negative forces within and around us into positive forces. The second is from the afterward of that book, written by Christine Easwaran, in which she provides us with several practical ways that we can become forces for peace.

Christine’s first suggestion for becoming a “force for peace” is to remember the words of “The Prayer of Saint Francis.” Christine writes, “Keep this prayer in front of you. Put it on your desk. Don’t let it become stale. Write it out. Memorize it. Repeat it to yourself whenever you feel overwhelmed. Give it to your friends. Keep it in your wallet. Teach it to your children. Recite it out loud. Put it on your refrigerator door.”

So, for this month we thought it would be great to follow Christine’s lead and memorize or refresh “The Prayer of Saint Francis.” And bonus! Christine has given us some great ideas on how to do so: write it out, keep it with you and put it some place where you will see it often.

“The Prayer of Saint Francis” is the passage Easwaran always recommends when we begin our practice. Its guidance for how to live our lives as forces for peace is both timeless and practical.

As always, we love to hear from you! Share in the comments how you feel that meditating on this passage might help you become a force for peace.

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The Prayer of Saint Francis – Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that are born into eternal life.

You Are A Force For Peace

Last week we shared a chapter from Easwaran’s book Strength in the Storm that describes transforming negative forces into positive forces. This week we would like to follow up with an excerpt from the afterword of that same book, written by Christine Easwaran. In this excerpt, Christine gives us some specific and practical pointers to enable each of to become a “force for peace.” 

Great teachers in every religion and every age have told us that goodness is as much a part of life as the force of gravity. The world would not endure for a single day without it. Somerset Maugham echoes this great truth in his enormously popular novel The Razor’s Edge, published in 1943 in the midst of World War II. Referring to the story’s main character, Maugham said, “Goodness is the strongest force in the world, and Larry has got it.”

Larry is a young American whose experience of war prompts a long search for meaning. By the end of the novel, his life is completely changed; but he has no philosophy to teach, only the desire to lead an ordinary life ennobled by what he has learned. A friend challenges him: “Can you for a moment imagine that you, one man, can have any effect?”

“I can try,” Larry replies. “Nothing that happens is without effect. If you throw a stone in a pond the universe isn’t quite the same as it was before. . . . It may be that if I live the life I’ve planned for myself it may affect others; the effect may be no greater than the ripple caused by a stone thrown in a pond, but one ripple causes another, and that one a third; it’s just possible that a few people will see that my way of life offers happiness and peace, and that they in turn will teach what they have learnt to others.”

We should never underestimate the effect of one person remaining calm in the midst of turmoil, the power of one person to change ill will into good will, anger into compassion, hatred into love.

I do earnestly believe that the greatest danger that faces us today is fear and hatred. In words that belong to the whole world, the Prayer of Saint Francis tells how each of us can be a peacemaker in his or her own circle – an island for those around us, a force for peace, a shield against fear and anger.

You Are a Force for Peace

The first step is to bring calm to your own mind so you don’t add fuel to the flames of fear and anger around you.

Keep this prayer in front of you. Put it on your desk. Don’t let it become stale. Write it out. Memorize it. Repeat it to yourself whenever you feel overwhelmed. Give it to your friends. Keep it in your wallet. Teach it to your children. Recite it out loud. Put it on your refrigerator door.

You Are a Force for Peace

Don’t get caught in angry, frightened talk. Choose what goes into your mind; don’t leave it to the media. Don’t let hostility and resentment take over your life. Step away from the whirlpools of negativity that swirl around us.

You Are a Force for Peace

Do something positive – every day. Take control of your life. Get together with your family and friends. Read elevating spiritual literature. Read with your children.

You Are a Force for Peace

Slow down. Stay focused. Pay attention to the needs of the people around you. Be kind and considerate. At home and at work, help create an atmosphere of trust and openness. Reach out to those you feel have offended you.

You Are a Force for Peace

Choose a mantram from the list given here. Repeat it silently to yourself whenever you can – while washing the dishes, standing in line, waiting on hold. Repeat it whenever you start to get angry, upset, or afraid. Combine it often with a good, fast walk. Fall asleep repeating it so it stays with you throughout the night. Write it out by hand – fill a page or two with it every day. Write it for the whole world. Keep a little book for that purpose and carry it with you everywhere. The mind has to be working; give it the mantram.

You Are a Force for Peace

Teach your mantram to your children. Get them to repeat it whenever they can. Show them how powerful it can be by using it with them to keep calm. Tell them they too are a force for peace and the mantram can be their shield.

Keep reminding yourself that goodness is the strongest force in the world.