memory excercises

[ladycolorado]

well posting this for fun and well the ol' memory not so good for us at times. so i will cut and paste some memory exercises: Quick Memory Exercises And Techniques

Memory exercises increase brain power because in your conscious mind you can only work with what you can remember. Intelligence without memory is like a builder without tools. What could he build?

The simplest memory exercise is to start telling yourself to remember. If you just learned a person's name, for example, tell yourself, "remember that". This signals the unconscious mind to rank this input higher in importance.

Other good memory exercises involve telling yourself why you want to remember something, and how you will remember it. If you just learned a person's name, think about how that person will be important to you in the future, where you are likely to see them next, and anything you notice about them. Clearly seeing the importance of remembering will motivate the brain to retain the name, and the additional associations in the brain (where you expect to see the person next, for example) fix the name even more firmly in your memory.
Mnemonic Techniques
Memory exercises and techniques involving "peg words" and other mnemonic devices work well if you master them. They really do! Scores of books have been written on the subject. But do you want to study and master a mnemonic technique? Honestly, most of us don't want to take the time and effort to do so. The good news is that not all memory techniques are that complicated or time-consuming.

One memory technique you can learn and use right now starts with a walk around the house. Pick ten locations or permanent objects in your home or office. Memorize these in some logical order (this is the hardest part). Now when you want to remember a list of things, associate each item on the list with with one of your ten locations or objects. Do this with mental imagery and even sounds, always in a ridiculous way. When you need to consult your list, you'll simply walk around your home in your mind, and you will "see" the items on the list.

Make the images very vivid and this technique rarely fails. It was used two thousand years ago by Roman orators who would "place" parts of their speech in locations along a garden path, then mentally walk the garden "picking up" the topics as they gave the speech. I use this one a lot, when I can remember to, and it always works.

An example: My own place-list is a window in the kitchen, the microwave oven, the sink, the stove, the refrigerator, the front door, the television and so on. Now, I can't normally remember a list of three things by the time I get to the grocery store. If, however, I imagine wads of toilet paper hitting the window, dish
soap boiling in the microwave, cucumbers dancing in the sink, potato chips burning on the stove, and the refrigerator full of magazines, I can even wait until the next day to go shopping. With a quick mental walk through the house, I'll recall that I need toilet paper, dish soap, cucumbers, potato chips, and a magazine. Try it.

here is a article on memory techniques:

Don't Forget Your Memory
By Steve Gillman

Remembering Things
I remember a birthday party I went to as a child. There was a contest that involved looking at a table covered in 15 various items. After a few minutes, the things were taken away, and then we each got a piece of paper and a pencil. The object was to write down as many items as we could remember. I struck out after seven or eight, but one little boy got all 15 items, and won the prize.

Only years later did I learn why he was able to do that. His father had taught him a simple technique that none of us other kids knew. All you have to do is tie the items together in an imaginative story. Imagine, for example, that you want to remember a list of the following things: milk, soap, forks, honey, and flowers.

Create a story, and see it vividly in your head: You are in front of the bathroom sink, and you reach for the soap. The soap dish is filled with milk, so you wash your hands with that, then comb honey into your hair with a fork, pick up a bouquet of flowers and smile at yourself in the mirror. Say each item as you review this "movie" in your imagination, and you'll remember all five things, even the next day.

Some Other Memory Tricks
Start telling yourself to remember. If you just learned a person's name, for example, tell yourself, "remember that". This signals the unconscious mind to rank this input higher in importance.

Tell yourself why you want to remember something, and how you will remember it. To remember a person, think about how that person will be important to you in the future, where you'll see them next, and anything you notice about them. Clearly seeing the importance of remembering will help a lot, and the additional associations (where you expect to see the person next, for example) will set the memory more firmly in your brain.

Have you ever forgotten where you set down your car keys? You have probably tried retracing your steps, or at least doing it in your imagination. This works fairly well, but do you ever create the scenario beforehand, so you won't forget? Try it. When you set down the keys on the chair, see yourself walking in and setting the keys on the chair. You'll remember where they are if you do this.

Create Good Memory Habits
Do you know what the biggest problem with memory techniques is? Remembering to use them. No joke. Many popular methods work, but if you don't have the habit of using them, you'll forget to when you need
them most. So if you take the time to learn a technique, make a conscious effort to use it until it becomes automatic.

Steve Gillman has been studying brain improvement, concentration, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. You can visit his website, and subscribe for free to his Brain Power Newsletter at: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/newsletter.html

If you liked the article on memory techniques, you can also visit the page on memory exercises.


How To Increase Brainpower Home Page | Don't Forget Your Memory


(LC).

[Franky]

Good tips there! I used various and modified versions of different techniques available. I used them to great success in high school and college. By the way its called mnemonics.

[ladycolorado]

thanks franky some of the new posts done today regarding health , (LC). really hard to find this most want to sell you a book. :P