Improve your Memory
By Natalie Dee
How your memory works
Short-term memory: focuses on what is happening now; the mind filters out whats irrelevant.
Mid-term memory: the mind stores information thats bizarre, unusual, shocking, important, interesting and thats relevant to you in some way.
When doing any routine action, when youre doing it automatically, like being on auto-pilot, lets say while you are driving, if something unusual happens then youll remember it for a while e.g. a deer running across the road. Other mid-term memory events could be key scenes in a movie, or someone being exceptionally kind or horrible when its not expected.
While reading this article, you may not find all of what your reading interesting but youll remember the parts that you find of value to you, or that challenge you, or that you disagree with.
Long-term memory: applies to actions you repeat on a regular basis, like driving, or riding a bike, how to tell the time, how to tie your shoelaces; you may have noticed how difficult it can be to a child to tie their laces for the first time and how easily and unconsciously you can do it now, without even a conscious thought.
Memory is created by repetition or if something is important to you.
Im going to tell you a story about a lady called Karen, while Im telling it see if you can work out which parts of the story are related to her short, mid or long-term memory:
Karen was on her way to an interview. Its a route she knows well since she used to work near this place a few years back. On the way she saw a shop window all smashed up, lots of police and the sound of sirens screeching in the background. She started to hurry past the scene, she felt uncomfortable, a bit shaken, shed never seen anything like that before; looks like thered been a robbery, maybe someone had got hurt, she shivered inside as she scurried past. When she arrived at the building for the interview, Karen was shown down a flight of stairs, along a very long corridor, filled with some really beautiful and unusual works of art; at the end of the corridor, in a small office, she was introduced to Miss Loretta Higgins, who took her through to the interview room and the interviewer.
From Karens story, which parts are short-term, mid-term or long-term memory?
Do you have a good or bad memory?
We brain-wash ourselves by telling ourselves things like: I have an awful memory or I have a selective memory. Your brain is like a sponge, it picks up millions of pieces of information all the time all around us. When we believe we cant remember often we are blocking parts of our memory, either because weve brainwashed ourselves into believing we dont remember or it doesnt serve us to remember something at that moment in time, especially if its a painful memory.
We also say to people: Dont forget, and because the brain doesnt process negatives we hear the word forget. What you could say is: Please remember
Let me ask you a question: when you come home do you always put your keys in a specific place? So you always know exactly where they are, right? And what happens when you put them in a different place, just that once? Just like your memories, you havent actually lost your keys or your memories, you simply cant find them because theyre not where you expect them to be so you say to yourself Ive lost my keys, I cant find them. And we say the same about our memory, we brain wash ourselves about our memory telling ourselves again and again what we can or cant remember. Eventually, you do find the keys and often we do recall many memories we think weve forgotten, sometimes only moments later.
How memories are triggered
Our memory can be triggered in a number of ways using our 5 key senses:
-Visual association: where a picture reminds you of something; e.g. a photo of the sea and sand may remind you of a holiday.
-Kinaesthetic association: where a feeling reminds you of something; when someone tells a good joke and you start laughing, it often sparks of other jokes and more laughter.
-Auditory association: where a sound brings back a memory, like a song thats associated with a particular event or situation.
-Olfactory association: where a smell brings back a memory, a ladys perfume
-Gustatory association: where a taste brings back a memory; your eating a delicious chocolate brownie with hot fudge sauce and it reminds you of your last holiday to the USA!
Everybodys memory is absolutely perfect!
You remember your home phone number because youve said it so many times, you may not remember your mobile number because you dont need to tell it to people, as soon as you ring them on their mobile your number shows up and they save it! Therefore, you dont need to remember it, so you dont!
Why are there things we dont remember? Because we tell ourselves that we dont remember things.And our minds are like perfect servants, whatever we tell it over and over again, it follows our instructions.
If I were to ask you for the phone number of the previous home you lived in, whats the 1st thing you tell yourself? I cant remember. So you wont remember; we do this repeatedly with many things that we want to remember and then we tell ourselves I have a really bad memory, so you do! It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What could you say differently to yourself so that you give yourself the possibility of recalling that information? I know I know it because I used to say it so many times, Im sure itll come back to me shortly.And maybe it will, or maybe it wont at least youre leaving the door to the possibility of remembering it open rather than closing it without a 2nd chance.
There are four steps to learning and remembering:
Step 1: unconsciously unskilled
Step 2: consciously unskilled
Step 3: consciously skilled
Step 4: unconsciously skilled
If you have ever learnt to drive then this example will demonstrate the above concept: at first we dont know that we dont know how to drive; then we realise how much we dont know; then we know how to drive and need to think through each step consciously and carefully; and finally, we drive without thinking about it, unconsciously.
There are things that we do, that we know and that we remember automatically because weve repeated them so often, like brushing our teeth, knowing which drawer in which cupboard to find our clothes, routes that we take regularly, etc.
What knowledge or memories are so ingrained in your mind, that you know and remember them automatically, easily and effortlessly?
Remember to help your memory:
Change your belief and the words you say to yourself. I know that I know it, Im sure Ill remember in a short while. keep the possibility open.And you can say Please remember.. instead of the term Dont forget
Natalie Dee
Lifestyle Management
http://www.natalie-dee.com
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