Do you find yourself forgetting things easily these days? The problem may lie in the way you observe your surroundings. Learn how you can tune up your observation skills and use simple tips to boost your memory.
The single biggest reason people don’t remember is that they don’t pay attention. Think about the last few people you ran into today. Can you recall the color of your friend’s shirt? Was your boss wearing the blue tie or the red one? Or was he wearing one at all? Which blouse did your wife wear this morning? Most people don’t notice all the detail so they don’t have the information to remember it in the first place.
You can remember better, by merely choosing to focus your attention, you can begin to actively observe these and other details. Making a conscious attempt to absorb the information gets you on track to improve your memory. You need to make a conscious effort to observe so that your brain can make sense and remember the information. Sometimes, just looking or listening carefully is enough to fix the information into your memory stores. Think of your brain as a sponge, you want to absorb as much detail as possible to augment your memory skills.
To help your memory recall, slow down, take your time, and decide at the start that you want to remember something will help with the “observing” step. Taking interest often translates into getting involved. For example, let’s say you are driving and you got lost. If you listen intently to directions and drive to your destination, chances are, you’ll be able to remember how to drive there again, days or even weeks later. The goal in active observation is therefore to mentally stay in the driver’s seat.
Most of us have our five senses to help us observe. For instance, our sense of smell can bring back the most vivid memories. Whenever I pass a bakery and smell the aroma of freshly baked bread, it never fails to bring back memories of my childhood when as a kid, I lived near a bread shop. The memories seem to be hardwired to feelings I can recall as a child. It is interesting that the brain center that modulates our sense of smell is right next to the amygdala, a major brain center for emotions. Therefore to “observe” is to use all five senses, look, listen, feel, taste and smell.
To help you improve your memory, it is also important to recreate images in your mind’s eye. For better memory recall, try creating a mental snapshot of the information our wish to remember. Transforming information into visual images is one of the most effective ways to fix them into our long-term memory storage. It’s like taking a photograph with a camera, CLICK!, and you will develop a second basic memory skill.
CLICKs can take two forms, real or imagined. A real CLICK involves active observation, concentrating on what you see, and making a conscious effort to fix the observed image into a mental image. Imagined CLICKs are those you create from your own memories and fantasies, but they still become fixed in your memory as a mental snapshot. Imagined CLICKs can be a fantasy distortion of an image you observe.
As a rule, bright, colorful, enhanced pictures stick best in memory, as do those with movement, three dimensions and lots of detail. The more vivid and detailed the image, the easier it will be to recall later. The very act of focusing on details helps us to pay better attention and learn the information contained in the image.
Animating, distorting or exaggerating one or more aspects of your CLICKs can also give them personal meaning, making them easier to learn and to recall alter.
The more vibrantly and creatively we visualize new information for ourselves, the more effectively it will stick in our minds. Exaggeration and playfulness enhance our ability to store and recall.
If I park my car on level 2D in a multi-level car park, I might imagine 2 big dogs guarding my car. I am especially afraid of big fierce dogs and this gives me an extra emotional connection to use my CLICK. I make it very unpleasant to approach my car with those dogs snarling at me. If I take a mental CLICK of that image, the emotional charge of my mental CLICK helps to fix it in my memory.
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