How We Remember - Part 1

Hello My Lovelies .... you caring individuals who work to strengthen your memory every day and for those who want to start. Today I'll give you a brief tutorial on

How Memory Works and How We Remember.

FIRST STEP: ACQUIRE INFORMATION

We live in a world bombarded with information at a rate faster than previous generations.

Information coming from the internet, television, phones, twitter feeds, conventional and online newspapers , radio and podcasts, educational classes, conferences, networking events, meetings, personal conversations, books and hundreds of other sources. Surprisingly your brain is a SUPER COMPUTER and has the capacity to STORE everything you see, hear and experience by all your senses. EVERYTHING - EVERYDAY - FOREVER!

Surprised to hear that? You're probably thinking..."Well, if my brain is a permanent recorder, why can't I remember it when I want to ... when I need it?"

Good question! But here's the thing... Although your brain can permanently store all your experiences, it's not efficient at RETRIEVING it. RETRIEVING information is called MEMORY or REMEMBERING.

Let me give you a visual image that will explain How We Remember:

Picture yourself standing at the end of a dock with water all around you. Now bend down and release a small boat into the water. It bobs and weaves in the water and eventually floats away, caught in a subtle stream. Now release one boat for every bit of information you hear, read and learn that day. Also release a boat for every sensory and emotion you experience - hot, cold, angry, jealous, worried, sleepy, excited.

How many boats are on your lake now? Hundreds? Thousands? The ones you released earlier are probably further away and out of reach...possibly forever. The ones you released more recently can probably be retrieved with a net or an extended hand.

But what if you tied a string around a boat before you released it? That would mean you could always retrieve it regardless of how far it floated away from the dock. In other words, you would be able to remember whatever information that boat was carrying.

SECOND STEP: SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Memory is broken down into two parts: Short-Term Memory and Long-Term Memory. The boats nearest the dock would be termed Short-Term Memory. They're more recent, easier to retrieve but will likely be lost, out of reach and forgotten within a day.

The boats with the strings attached to them would be termed Long-Term Memory. Regardless of how far away they bob & weave they can be pulled out from the depths of the lake (or from the depths of your brain) and brought to the surface.

Stay tuned for next week when we'll discuss in detail How to Convert Short-Term Memory into Long-Term Memory. Cheers My Lovlies! Keep up the good work and remember that a good memory improves your performance leading to long-term success.