The Speakback Cycle

The Speakback Cycle :

Words reflect thoughts…

Thoughts dictate Actions…

Actions Confirm words…

Words Reflect Our Thoughts

Words, and by extension, speech, are power. The brain can categorize and assign various words to describe precisely what it is trying to say or share how it has reflected on an experience or interaction. This, fully formed idea, then occupies the brain of another, overwriting their view if they agree, or conjuring emotions if they understand. Either way, the very concept of emotion and communication is built upon the fact that we have words for love and jealousy, as well as observation and opinion. Furthermore, it is the same mechanism by which the brain can acquire new words to describe things it has never felt, or verbs for things it has never performed. However, what effect does one’s own diction have on themselves? In those moments that we speak to ourselves, or reflect upon how others have spoken, how do we choose the words with which we use to communicate with ourselves to represent phenomenon?

The internet at times, fills our brains with new words, catch phrases and memes. This influx can act to entertain and detract us from speaking how we feel. Relying on casuistic phrases like “Rules are meant to be broken” or “YOLO” to justify things we wouldn’t ordinarily do, prevents us from realizing the damage we might be doing to ourselves. In making the utterance, the brain’s thoughts change and accept things that scrutiny might reject. There are times when such a phrase might apply, or perhaps when the actions committed are not detrimental to our goals, but often, they are used to justify or circumvent a genuine reaction to a given topic.

I remember college-friends choosing to neglect studying after uttering Lil Jon’s line “I don’t give a f*ck”, which currently equates to “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”.

I’ve witnessed the meme “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” stop several people from pursuing hobbies they might be interested in practicing. Simply enough, if you make an utterance out loud and your brain hears it coming from your mouth, you believe it. Once you say you don’t have time for something, why would you believe you do?

Speaking aside, when confronted with an utterance, the brain is required to generate a response. When we rely on phrases like these as our go-to response, we rob our brain of the process of reflection, conjuring some deformed version of emotion. The information goes in from one ear and doesn’t reach the other, but rather, gets spat out with some junk response to keep us from thinking about the utterance spoken to us.

A common version of this deflection is sarcasm.

Sarcasm, if used properly, can be a nice source of humor or expression. It’s a tool of speech just like hyperbole or any other language tool. Sarcasm, like those other tools can be used for one effect or another depending on the context and timing in which it is used. However, when used at the wrong time, or rather, when used to circumvent a genuine response, sarcasm can mask how we truly feel about something without us realizing. To sarcastically say something is not the same as saying what you mean. To sarcastically say “This post is s0o0o0o0o0o interesting” could either mean “I’m indifferent to this topic”, “the writing style is so boring” or any other possible explanation; surely enough sarcasm will communicate your apathy, but what pushes the conversation forward is the precision in explanation. When confronted with a specific response, the receiving party of the conversation can respond appropriately; creating progression in the dialogue. When sarcasm is misused, or mistimed, the receiving party needs to decipher the sarcasm and guess as to what the person is subliminally saying, once they attempt to respond to the sarcasm, the conversation might not have room to progress as the train of thought now has a gap in explanation.

It is possible that the person speaking sarcastically is incapable of explaining how they feel, or unsure of what they want to say and therefore, relying on a tool to coverup their reaction or merely supply any sort of response. Maybe they just don’t care. Maybe they don’t know how to express themselves. If faced with such a dilemma (one wants to explain how they feel but don’t have the words for their explanation), one should work cooperatively with the other party to reach an explanation of themselves. To say, “I mean… the post isn’t BORING…” might lead to the other party saying “Maybe it’s dry? It’s not stylized?”

Wait… why does it matter?

In my view, honestly expressing oneself helps them reflect upon themselves. Learning to describe one’s emotions with precision allows them to analyze their own interactions and habits in a better fashion. If we substituted “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” with “I don’t feel like it” we might begin to reflect on the fact that we are hindering ourselves from achieving what’s being presented to us. Instead of saying how we don’t feel about something, we can try to work and describe how we do feel. When we properly choose our words, our mental reflection becomes pristine. In ambiguity, there is an opportunity for miscommunication. At the very least, it’ll begin to give us a clear view on our thoughts, which are the next component of the cycle.

Thoughts Dictate Our Actions

When we begin thinking clearly and specifically, we are better prepared to act. We’ll begin to realize what kinds of movies we like and why we like them. We will understand what makes us angry and why it makes us angry, better equipping us to work and understand each other. Some people drift absent-mindedly, day in, day out without really thinking about where they are, where they ought to be, and how they’ll get there. We only begin to think of these things after we begin speaking about them, and we can only speak about them once we have committed to not smudging our inner reflections.

Before a person can begin moving to their goal, they need to define to themselves what they are trying to do. Being able to voice specific words to yourself will allow you to define the coordinates of your destination. Instead of thinking “I want to have fun” think more specifically about what you want to do. Even changing “I need to study” to “I need to learn about X” can make a tedious task seem possible.

In relation to the thought component of the cycle, actions elicit changes external to the body. The component “Words Reflect our Thoughts” provides us with a two-fold mental dimension. One part of the mental dimension being our diction, and the other mental dimension being our reflection on those words. The “Thoughts Dictate our Actions” component, ties the mental world to the physical world, for we can immediately begin to achieve once we have a direction.

The greatest evidence I find of how specificity creates destination is in the act of asking a question.

Let’s think math. Some people understand it, some people don’t.

The task at hand is getting everyone to learn math together. The teacher is kind to ask the people who don’t understand anything to raise their hand. On a good day, a confused person who’s willing to learn raises his hand. The teacher chooses him, but his question might not be a good question.

“Can you explain that part up there?”

The issue is that the person asking the question doesn’t know what’s going on, nor can they ask about what they are confused about. “The part up there” will not affirm what they already know. Had they asked the question “Can you begin at the beginning of the differentiation?” they’re, at the very least, reminding themselves that the math on the board is explaining a derivative, after all, they understood that part, right?

The interesting thing, is that it is difficult to ask about something you don’t know. A person who doesn’t know what a derivative is, cannot ask how a derivative of velocity explains acceleration. However, once a person follows this trail, of “so what is THIS exactly?” they begin to find definitions that lend them new sights and stack on top of each other to create comprehension.

Perhaps the key to understanding a derivative is to go back to learning algebra! It doesn’t matter, if your goal is to learn what a derivative is, I guarantee you that this approach will get you there more easily than trying to memorize the large picture and then focusing on the individual parts. In the words of RA scion “I favor simple, evaluate the info.”

Our brains have some interesting habits, but one of them is finding things it knows. It was only a day or two after I learned what a concierge was that I heard the word several times. Many people have anecdotes of this sort of experience. In questioning things properly, we begin to see them for what they are. Once we begin inquiring about something in a specific fashion, we prepare our brains for the provided answer. In asking ourselves to define our goals, we force ourselves to see the horizon, and the steps we need to take to get there. I believe that learning to ask a question properly, is one of the key skills that allows us to learn effectively.

Wait… why does it matter?

Our actions with their physical consequences, allow us to shape the world. More directly, does speech. Thinking proceeds speaking. When we say something out loud, we confirm to ourselves that the thought is completed, and we ship it in the form of an utterance. In terms of communication, speaking is the final part. After we have finished the utterance, the receiving party parses the words and provides us with a response. Simultaneously, when we say things to ourselves out loud we enforce our own will on ourselves. “I will never do THAT again” can be forgotten or focused upon, but either way, the presence of the utterance allows for a higher chance of that change occurring. However, that saying will not occur unless the person thinks of it in the first place.

The purpose of the Speakback Cycle is to get us to notice this feedback loop of how we think and how our thoughts shape us. Instead of merely thinking of cause and effect, we begin to think of effect and cause. This synchronizes different components of ourselves with each other. What one thinks will overlap with what one does. The synchronization occurs between who the person is, who they were and who they want to be and each of those persons finds themselves within a component of the cycle.

In the past, our words will have reflected our thoughts.

In the present, our thoughts will dictate our actions.

In the future, our actions will confirm our words.

To see the loop, we must think clearly to establish the preparation to act. The question, however, is what do we want to do? What is our direction?

Actions Confirm Our Words

Our actions in life fall into one of several, very broad, categories:

1. Things we must do
2. Things we should do
3. Things we feel like doing
4. Things we want to do

And the inverse of the categories

1. Things we don’t need to do
2. Things we should not do
3. Things we do not feel like doing
4. Things we do not want to do

Together, these create what I call “The Wheel of Possibility”

When one is thinking clearly and honest to themselves about their intentions, they choose a direction to move in. Do you do the laundry now or later? Work or play? Invite that person or no?

Any action or scenario will fall somewhere on this spectrum, and although it seems painfully obvious to even state it, bear with me for a bit.

I should do it. I need to do it.

I won’t go into things we need to do biologically, we all breathe and eat. However, this category also includes what we must do when there are external factors influencing our decisions. Sometimes we must do something to appease a friend or to gain something else. Ultimately, it is up to you to determine what it is you absolutely MUST do. We allow ourselves cheat days and wiggle room in the plans we set up for ourselves. When we begin reflecting to make clear decisions about our actions, we are faced with another side of the wheel, the things that we SHOULD do. To say that something should be done is to acknowledge a preference for this event to occur. Any utterance of “Should” possesses that viewpoint on the matter. When we reflect on ourselves and the things we should do, we put ourselves under a sort of pressure. We might begin to feel bad for neglecting the things we should do or perhaps feel joy when we do the things we should. Additionally, when we do the things we should do, we are left with the “Free Time” portion of the day. Some people don’t have that, but many do. Is there something you should be doing instead of reading this?

Free Time is the time we have, to do all the things we either WANT to do, or FEEL like doing.

I want to do it. I feel like doing it.

Unlike feelings, desires transcend this moment in time. Especially if you are thinking about your future in relation to your current point in time.

When we have free time and think about doing one thing or another (Writing a blog post vs Playing Videogames) we are confronted with a crossroad between two possibilities. Our total selves (the person we currently are now, the person we want to be in the future and the person we will have to be to become who we want to be (this is your past self from the reference point of your future self)) can all agree that certain things should be pursued and worked on. In this case we might think “No, continue working on the project”; simultaneously, the appeal of the Videogame, cheat meal or freebie is more enticing.

We may find ourselves back at the start line, working our way towards the goal. Our emotions play a key role in the operation of our actions. Which is what makes the things we want so powerful. A musician practices because they want to be better. Artists draw because they want to manifest their visions. Everybody wants something at some time. Consequentially, we behave purposefully when we commit to an action… at least we should, shouldn’t we?

Sometimes we just want to chill. To Relax. To Kickback. Either way, whether acting passively or actively, the infinitive version of a verb, “To pursue” or “to relax” is what we view when thinking about desires, as infinitive verbs are not limited to the present moment. “I want to bike” now. Later. Always.

Furthermore, when we think about actions in a present-time physical dimension (occurring now and changing the physical world), we are limited by how much we feel like committing to the action emotionally and this may conflict with our desires. The dichotomy of how we feel and what we desire in the infinitive will be elaborated upon later. But what’s important to note is that once the actions we stated we would achieve (out loud or to self) have been achieved, we undergo a new round of the Speakback cycle to guide our next action. When we finally commit an action, we confirm to ourselves that we would do such a thing. If we don’t, and we were thinking clearly, we’d at least notice that we didn’t perform what we said we would and reflect upon it. With proper reflection, you’ll be better prepared next time to carry out your desire.

Our actions guide us throughout our lives as we try new things and reach for the opportunities in front of us. If we can think about who we are now (and the thoughts we are thinking), who we want to be (in the actions we choose to commit) and what we need to do to get there (as we maintain honesty with ourselves to get there), we have begun thinking in what I call “total self”. Total self allows us to synchronize our thoughts, methods and actions across all three points in time and becomes one of the first steps to thinking in potential time instead of kinetic time, which will be expanded upon in the next entry.