An Unusual Way to Remember More and Forget Less
One day, mind scientists will be able to prove that the human mental operations are basically ironical. In the meantime, I have arrived at this truth by reflection and, hereby make known my rational – before the laboratory or clinical – findings, while proposing how it can help the human memory faculty.
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Over the years, humans got to be aware of this: they seem to get what they abhor while losing what they cherish. This is how Paul, a Bible author put it, the good I wish to do, I cannot; the evil I hate, I do. Although this reality has been a source of worry to generations upon generations of humanity, it can actually be used to advantage. All you need to do is seek the opposite of what you want in each case. You will often get pleasantly surprised by a sudden arrival at what you really desire. After all, of what use is life if one keeps getting hurt? In this article, you are to read about how to harness this discovery to improve your faculty of memory.
Talking about memory, there are several people who complain of being too forgetful. It might be a school child who is fond of forgetting the last lesson, or it could be a house wife who keeps forgetting this or that item when she goes shopping. It could even be a psychological counselor who needs to be remembering his clients’ names but does not. The list is endless. There is even this humorous but non-fictional event wherein a motivational speaker arrived to deliver a lecture on ‘Improving Your Memory’. He arrived while it rained. He had spoken very well and for a long time. By the time he was through with the lecture, it was no longer raining. Then, he stalked out of the lecture room leaving his umbrella behind. Imagine the excitement and the ridicule that resulted from this! The doctor of memory was, himself a patient.
Well, the inability to remember the necessary things in our lives is always attended by this sort of embarrassment; and no one should expect anything more or less. In any case, there is the good news about exploiting our weaknesses and turning them into strength. To employ the mind’s basic irony in this case involves first of all, that you do not get tensed up about your inability to remember as you would wish. Then, more than just passive acceptance, you actually make an effort to forget even more. Did you get me right? I mean, instead of striving to remember, do just the opposite: consciously strive to forget, instead. As you do this, you will be surprised at how easily you remember the stuff. This can be employed in all cases but it is especially tenable in a cognitive environment such as in academic studies. The mental irony is at work here: You wish to remember while you make active effort to forget. It could be difficult to do, but with sheer will power, it becomes possible.
And, this can be explained with some scientific or quasi-scientific background thus: The human mind is similar to the computer, or rather, the computer is similar to the human mind. The stuffs in our minds exist as ‘files’. The sources for these files include everything we come accross in our day-to-day existence. Worry, for example, because of its gravity, has the tendency to take up more ‘files’ than any other kind of content. Now, when you worry about anything, the worry takes up the ‘files’ of your mind for that moment. It crowds out any other thing including what you wish to remember, thereby making you to forget.
So, worry less about your inability to remember and you will remember more. What an irony!
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