Ever find your mind wandering?....

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Ever get feel guilty for doodling when you "should be paying attention"? Ever find yourself totally checked out when you really do need to listen? Well this article may give you a new perspective. Now I don't feel so ridiculous for taking sermon notes even though I never, ever look at them again.

Comments

Ancoti said…
Good article, thanks for posting the link.

I always doodled in meetings, still do. But I will remember to take them with me in the future.

I guess no one seemed concerned that the good Vicar Gates was struggling to maintain control!
March 12, 2009 at 7:40 PM
Jeri Tanner said…
I take sermon notes too, never (rarely) to look at them again. Writing it down helps me assimilate.

My daughter Jennie, the consummate doodler, will like this!
March 12, 2009 at 8:00 PM
haithabu said…
I doodled continuously in school. In church I take sermon notes for the same reason Jeri does. I only look at them if I hear something in the sermon that rings a bell. Then I'll refer to my notes and confirm my suspicion: Hey, Pastor T is recycling Oct 24!

The other method I find helpful is to leave my seat and stand - at the back if it's a service, or by the coffee table, if it's a meeting. Others may find it distracting, but it certainly helps me focus. Unfortunately, this option wasn't available in school.
March 13, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Laurie M. said…
I'm not much of a doodler, although in rare cases of extreme boredom I will catch myself doing it; but I am a writer and underliner. I do this for retention like Jeri, to get the ideas to hang around in my head a bit before going straight out the other ear. I also write comments or disagreements in little notes to self. Church is not usually a place I need to fight boredom, since the subject matter is of such great interest.

I think this also explains why I like to listen to sermons so much while I'm at work. I get a lot out of them and can be very focused because my hands are busy.
March 13, 2009 at 10:22 AM
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