Sharing - This Will Improve Your Memory by Ritta Rayan

This article was sent to me by Ritta and I thought it makes an interesting point that we can actually improve our memory by just some simple understanding on what we can do to help retain the things we hear, see and do.

Here's a simple exercise to begin with. Answer this question, 'Do you remember what you were seeing or doing before reading this?' I am sure you can do this with a little thinking. Good.

Now try to remember what you were doing, this time yesterday. Ha! You need a longer time to recall it don't you? And you probably could not remember all of it, but it's okay.

Now try to remember what you were doing last week, this day, this time? Maybe need a longer time to remember or totally nothing could be remembered. Right, it’s okay.

This exercise makes us worry doesn't it? We have no idea how much of our lives are just slipping away from our memory. The normal everyday activities we perform, the things we see and hear, they just seem to disappear. We are letting our lives disappear right before our noses.

Well, thanks to Ritta, help is on the way! It is fixable!

The Big Secret About Memory
For most people, the problem does not lie within memory.
Sure, we blame our bad memory, but usually, that's not the real problem. The real problem is with attention. We are used to not paying attention to so many things! How can we remember something if we did not really attend to it in the first place? The answer: we can't.

Don't believe this? Okay, answer these simple questions . . .

Do you know whether a cow's ears are above, below, behind, or in front of her horns? Where are they? Would you bet anyone a hundred dollars on that?

Try this one. Have you ever seen cats climb trees and descend them? Now, do they come down head or tails first? If you answered head first, then think about the shape of the claws!

Okay, one more. You've probably seen cows and horses lie down and rise. Do they rise on their fore or hind feet first? Do cows and horses even rise in the same way?

If you haven't been able to answer some of these questions, it is probably not because you haven't seen the things or the events before -- but that you didn't pay attention.

How To Remember Anything
The way to train the mind to receive clear sight-impressions (visuals), and therefore to retain them in the memory is simply to concentrate the will and attention upon objects of sight, endeavoring to see them plainly and distinctly, and then to practice recalling the details of the object some time afterward.

It is astonishing how rapidly you may improve in this respect by a little practice. And it is amazing how great a degree of proficiency in this practice you may attain in a short time. Do not try to perceive the whole thing at once.

Think about the parts, and the attributes. What color is it? Does that color remind you of something else? Is it the color of moss? Of an avocado? Which way is it bent? Does it have scratches? How does it reflect the light?

If you do this, you'll quickly discover a whole new world around you. Your surroundings will become more interesting, and you will start cherishing the details. As your emotions are attached to the details of everything, you will start not only noticing them better, but also remembering them better.