Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Memory tip for 11th of May 2011


Today I want to give you a few tips on how to remember words when you forget them. I once wrote a post on a similar topic, but it was too general. This one is more specific. Me and I am convinced that you sometimes want to remember a word, or a name or some title, but it is just stuck somewhere in the depth of your memory and does not come out. Some believe it becomes even worse with aging, but those who practice mnemonic techniques are sure that it should not be that way. Your memory can get better and better with age, provided you follow sound mnemonic principles. 

Ok, so what do you do when you forget a word? I would encourage you not to worry too much about it, because you are not alone in the world with this problem. I don’t know a single person who hasn’t experienced that. So, do not get worried or scared for it will only make the situation worse. Don’t also try to remember a word at once. Your brain will try to block it due to stress that is involved in your attempt to remember it.  

Forgetting words is very often connected with the problem of ‘too much stuff in your head at a time’. You need to calm down and relax. If the thing that you forgot is something you have to solve pretty fast, I would advise you to go for a walk, listen to birds singing and admire the beauty of the nature. Most probably you will have the word at the end of your walk. One of US presidents used to do this when he had to solve some problem very fast. When he would get home from his short break in the nature, he would always have a solution for the problem. 

Sometimes, if you remember the first letter of the word, try to say it. It will help your memory to dig the word out. If that does not help you will have to drop the thing for the time being and I hope you will be able to remember it next day or in the evening when you go to bed. That’s the usual time when words start coming back. When you start practicing the techniques you will see that your memory starts coming back and with aging you can have a better memory than in your youth. 

Read my previous post: 

How to solve the problem of misplacing things