ArtSpirit7

4 Quick Tips from a Speedy Reader

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Mary Pecci

Mary Pecci, Reading Specialist

Reading teacher and author, Mary Pecci, is a petite, elegant lady I recently had the honor of meeting. She wrote the book, At Last, a Reading Method For Every Child (now in its 5th edition). It’s also available at amazon.com.

Pecci shares that the main things to remember to become a speed reader are:

1) Don’t subverbalize. Saying each word to yourself silently as you read it slows you down.
2) Guide with your finger so you don’t regress. The movement of your finger across the page and down keeps up the momentum.
3) Vary your speed. Slow down for formulas or if concepts require it.
4) Visualize what you’re reading. Make a video in your mind as you go along.

“It is important to look up words you come across that you don’t know,” said Pecci. “It’s pejorative,” she added. In essence, if we skip words we don’t know then we won’t fully comprehend what we’re reading.

You can find Mary Pecci’s instructional reading resources and the Pecci Reading Method at www.onlinereadingteacher.com.

What is an Attentionometer?

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This is a continuation from the two previous posts about David Delp’s talk on connecting with what matters. He encouraged setting goals every week.

The first step is to figure out what your’e paying attention to.

The second step is to then look at what you’d like to pay more and less attention to.

Once you see what’s most important, it’s not about how long it takes. It’s small things. Like a phone call.

“Our attention happens in the smallest moments and they happen in the smallest ways,” said Delp.

In Roman times sports were used to distract citizens from paying attention to what the government was doing.

The Attentionometer was introduced in a short workshop after Delp’s talk. It came in a small hand-sized pouch, like the kind you’d imagine is full of golden nuggets and easily fits in your purse or backpack. Inside were sticks the shape of popsicle sticks that were color coded to represent the various sectors of life, like green for financial, red for love, etc. And to begin using the Attentionometer, we laid out three cards, like 3 headers to three columns in a document. “Not Enough,” “Enough,” and “Too Much” were the three headers.

This was a lovely visual inventory of where time was going. There’s more to the Attentionometer. David Delp’s giving a workshop on Sunday, January 30th in San Francisco: “The Game of Goals, How to Make Going There Even Better than Getting There.” For more details see his site at GameOfGoals.com.

What are goals about, really? Delp says it’s about making a plan, doing it and seeing how it goes.

What’s Your New Year’s Ritual?

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Double Joy

Double Joy, photo by Mary Gow

This a continuation from my most recent post which was David Delp’s talk about connecting with what’s important. He has invented the Attentionometer, which will help you take a look at where your units of attention are going.

Delp said that he welcomes every new year with the same ritual. He meets with a group of friends who write out what happened over the past year, what they were embarrassed about, what they were proud of, and then they burn it. And then, they eat.

After the meal there’s one more step. They write what they want for the coming 12 months and complete the sentence “Before I die, I want to.” How to complete such a big question? Delp suggested looking at the roles we play in life, for example, “Before I die, as a father, I want to help my daughter find her strength.”

“Before I die I want to know my oldest brother,” Delp shared. And he said here is where we can look at one small thing to do, and the resonance comes from the tiny things. Delp said he made the small step and called his oldest brother.

So what are five things you want to do before you die?

My next post will talk about Delp’s Attentionometer.

David Delp on Connecting with What’s Important

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Focusing
The energy of the new year inspired me to attend a zealous talk given by David Delp about connecting with what’s important.

A designer by trade and an artist by heart, Delp is creative director of Designing a Balanced Life. He teaches a 10 week course of the same title at a local college and has invented the Attentionometer and The Game of Goals. (See future postings for more about the Attentionometer and information about his upcoming workshop).

“Goals don’t make us happier. What we really want is feeling immersed in something important to us,” said Delp. He referred to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book, Flow.

“Our attention is our most precious resource. Yet we give it freely to strangers who also take our time, money and energy and give little back. Learn to focus your attention and everything else will follow. Learn to lose yourself doing something you care about, and the world is yours again.”

What we are striving for is resonance. And Delp said resonance is when our hearts line up with our minds. Our breath is what gets our hearts connected to our minds. So we took a long pause and a deep breath.

Read my next posting for more of David Delp’s inspirational talk.