Dreaming in shorthand

I can see a dramatic improvement in my shorthand since I began learning it five weeks ago. My normal handwriting has even got progressively worse since I started writing the shorthand outlines for certain letters. The prime example is a letter B which I now write as a 6. I also do the / through the line instead of the full-stop symbol.

I also find myself thinking in shorthand regularly. When I am in a discussion with someone my mind is thinking what the outlines are from what they are saying. In those lovely hours of the day spent on the District and Piccadilly Lines I outline, in my head, what appears on the information boards inside the train. I’m getting good at writing ‘This train is delayed while we are waiting for a platform in the next station.”

I’m outlining what I’m thinking as I try to switch off after a busy day – shorthand is certainly playing its way into my sub-conscious. At university I studied Freud’s theories about the subconscious – I certainly wonder what he would make of shorthand appearing in dreams, given some of his other theories.

The target is, of course, to obtain the 100 wpm mark. I feel I’ve made a steady, but not spectacular start. I’m certainly not fast yet, but I can understand a lot of the theory. Only five weeks have gone so far – plenty of time to get the speed. I am hoping it is a bit like maths and there will be a ‘clicking point’ where everything makes sense and then the speed will flow.

Tom Moore