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What do you do if your performing mentalism and they ask you tell me what I'm thinking right now? I'm pretty new to mentalism so I need someone more experienced to the situation. I've tried to use something Max Maven said and Genii Magazine and say "I'm not that good" but sometimes people continue to insist. I need help!

-Thanks,
Ian

But once someone said I'm going to think of an animal and you tell me what it is, so I said a tiger and it freaked the girl out even though I just made it up as I went along. I love not being prepared for a trick and ending up getting it right. But Anywho... I do need help.

id say "your thinking i cant know what your thinking"

Perhaps go with a gag, and something to slightly embarrass them so they desist, such as (to a guy), "interesting - what I want to know is why would your uncle have the banana in the first place?" or the less descriptive, "Look into my eyes... what the...?! I don't think that's something you want share, is it?! (could include: your (mother/sister) wouldn't be very happy with me!)"
If you were going down the slightly insulting lane, you could try, "with you, it's far easier to tell what you're NOT thinking." Or "what are you thinking? that's easy - you're not." Or, "you're thinking... wait, I've got it... breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out."

On a more serious note, the key is not to set yourself up like that. If you want to do mentalism that in some ways is classed as "mind reading", talk about things being an experiment, or "we'll try this out, it sometimes works", or "a theory of forced coincidences" etc, rather than just making out you can read minds full on. If you're doing that, you're just asking for this kind of trouble!

Finally, another reply I have heard (but wouldn't use... ahem) to "if you're such a good mind reader, why can't you tell me what I'm thinking?" is,

"if you're such w***er, why are you behaving... no, wait - you're spot on."

'You're thinking that no way can I know what you're thinking - and you're right!'

Actually when some one says to me "Can you really read minds what am I thinking?" I always say "you are thinking can I read minds" Gets a laugh and then In to a nice effect nothing over the top. Maybe a shape force or something.

Ian Rowland covers this very point in his Lecture Notes from Blackpool 2007. They're still available from the Magician's Only Section of his website (go Google for it and figure out the password yourselves!) but the relevant item (details quoted from Ian's Site) is:

Can You Read Minds?: What do you do if someone asks if you can really read minds? There are many options, but I think this routine is one of the finest. It's very simple and direct, and an absolutely sure way to win and hold attention (you will have to read the patter to see why it works so well). So what's the essence of the trick? Well, you play an entirely imaginary game of choice and chance with a spectator, yet you prove you can read her mind! Entertaining, easy to do, and (after some simple one-time preparation) you can do it any time, any place, anywhere.

I can add that the person asking you will just have to go along with this because they've asked for proof and you're now providing it. They also get the chance to win some money, depending on how you want to do it this can be a tenner or twenty, nothing too ostentatious, but it can be done with just about any currency note for overseas Mentalists. And just because I'm in a very helpful mood, Ian's website address is www.ianrowland.com

Thanks for your help I really appreciate the advice.

-Ian The Magic-Ian

always carry a swami and a piece of paper

abraxus wrote:always carry a swami and a piece of paper

I agree.

I do but then they ask me without writing it down tell them.

Ah I am going to sound harsh here but it seems to me you run around saying "I can read minds" and you arent prepared to do so. From the sound of it you are confident in your ablities. I would suggest you take stock of how you perform first,

If you got Corinda and other books on mentalism I am sure you can find certian bits and bobs one can carry in there wallet.

I now carry a pencil, esp , cards a note pad and a swami almost every where I go. Re read step one of 13 steps (I feel dirty i told some one to read 13 steps)

Also read about billets they can be a life saver. Of course there is naked style mentalism but from the sounds of it you havent got the performace to pull it of. Then again neither did I when I started.

And stop telling people you can read minds would be my best advice.

I don't tell them I can read minds I call them experiments. But they still assume that I can.

Tell them that reading minds is not like they see in films or on TV. Tell them that in real life "reading minds" is about picking up on certain images, vibrations, and energies. It is not about picking up for example the colour blue. (If they were thinking "blue" then you've just freaked them out, if not you just gave a plausible explanation as to why what they're suggesting is impossible).

Also state (quite correctly) that the human mind never thinks of just one thing - it is a continious whirl of ideas, thoughts, and observations. Therefore reading a mind in the hollywood sense is quite impossible. However if they were to select a card and then focus their mind on it, perhaps they would allow you to try out a little experiment...?

You get the idea.

As a little stunt in email conversations I've been known to pose as a time traveller from the future and say: "The answer to the question you are about to ask is: Yes I did, and what's more, I enjoyed it very much."

Whatever happens next is bound to be entertaining, if nothing else.

Also never present your self as a mind reader. As you quite rightly say call them expirments. Be a bit vague about what you presenting say something aliong the lines of :

"What I do is not magic per say, but if you would like to try something its quite interesting" they usualy say yes and then you can build routine after routine on top getting darker and darker if this is your wish.

You do seem to put your self in challange situations, how do these people know you can "read minds" after all?