Do you want the best memory trick ever? I must be honest, I was super pumped about my memory progress today until a bizarre incident occurred. I caught myself staring aimlessly in the middle of our bedroom saying to myself, “Where is my ‘Ageless Memory’ book? I know I put it somewhere! For the life of me, I can’t remember where!”
Not to be discouraged by such a minor setback (considering I had already read the first 4 chapters), I plowed ahead. After searching for 30 minutes, the priceless book was found and tonight I discovered the best memory trick ever!
Before unveiling the trick, ponder these ideas from the book.
- You don’t forget most of your thoughts. You simply were not present minded when an action occurred.
- “Information must register in your mind in the first place in order to be remembered or forgotten.”
- Force yourself to be present in ordinary, mundane actions.
- Your thoughts are fleeting. You must capture them. (2 Cor. 10:5)
- You need devices to capture your thoughts – memory techniques.
- Connecting what you want to remember with what you already know is key.
- The connection must be silly, absurd, larger than life, ridiculous.
- Picture the silly connection in your head to remember!!
For example, you need to remember a list of 5 things – a flower, pillow, bat, dog, q-tip. Imagine a giant orange and black striped sunflower like Jack in the Beanstalk, having a pillow fight with a pink polk-a-dot pillow, against a teeny, tiny bat, when a huge purple dog, like Clifford, jumps on the the pillow and pulls out a gazillion q-tips. When you imagine the extraordinary, your memory saves the ordinary.
Try remembering the following list – jaquar, paperclip, computer, apple, ocean, hair, blanket. How’d you do? Make up your own list and practice. Ask friends and relatives to challenge you with a list. Continue practicing until the images flood your brain easily and your memory takes on a whole new life.
Stephanie Chase 