How do mentalists work? – Magic Tricks Cards

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Mentalists use a range of techniques to work on their ideas. These are discussed in the following sections. In some cases, they are combined. The most typical approach to mental work is a set of processes that take a mentalist from a ‘no confidence’ state towards a positive state. This can be done by using the following methods (see Appendix C for a more complete list of techniques):


Approach 1 – Select mental acts or events

The simplest type of mental operation is the selection of a mental act or event. By selecting a mental act or event, the mentalist allows them to ‘think’ about those events in a way which is useful for them.

Selecting a mental act or event usually can be done in the following ways:

In the head in a spontaneous state, with a ‘flow’ to the mental act or event – a way of thinking that gives you a feeling of ‘flow’.

Talking in conversation with their friends in the mind. In a conversation, many people use various forms of telepathy to talk about their own experiences when they have a difficult time at work. In this example, in conversation the mentally active listener can listen to one person speaking but then hear the person thinking in their own unique way.

In the mind in a thoughtless or non-attentive state. In non-attentive or thoughtless states, mentally active listeners often talk freely and in detail.

By doing this the mentalist is able to select their thoughts and feelings to fit into a pattern of their working.

The process of choosing a mental act or event may be called ‘selecting for mental actions’. Selecting a mental act or event may be called ‘selecting’ a mental act in its proper sense. The process of selecting a mental act or event is different from merely selecting a mental or verbal event. In mental work, there is a more subtle way of selecting – for example, by using the ‘mind and body’ method. The selection process may continue if the mentalist is unable to make a mental or verbal decision (e.g. if their attention moves so quickly from an important thought to something else that they might not be able to make that decision). In this case they may resort to using an act of imagination rather than a verbal decision.

There are many other techniques for selecting mental acts or events which are not part of the standard mental work technique. A more complete list of mental techniques is given in Appendix

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