30 Days to Enhancing Positive Memory
Are you embarrassed at a party being unable to remember a person you've met before? Do you have a problem in recalling numbers? Are you frustrated because you forget what you want to remember? Well, there is nothing to worry, your memory can be improved.
Why we forget?
Lack of concentration
Most often we fail to remember because we don't pay complete attention to what we want to remember. Attention is like focusing a lens while shooting an object. If the lens is not adjusted well, you don't get a clear picture.
If the original impression of something seen heard, touched or tasted has not been clear, the recall is bound to be distorted. So when you meet someone or attend a sales talk, pay attention to the activity so that you'll remember it later. Attend to one thing at a time, don't be thinking about something else.
Memory not refreshed
Most us tend to forget what we have learnt within a few hours. Unless we have recalled, refreshed and revised the matter.
So, the next time you don't want to forget something, just recall the face, words, situation or object regularly and you will remember it for a long time.
Interference
Sometimes what happened before an incident, or a period of learning, and what happened after interferes with our ability to remember. We tend to forget some things because we have learnt newer things subsequently.
Interference is greater when there is similarity between the recent learning and the past learning. People tend to remember a dream vividly when they wake up in the night, but fail to recall the same in the morning. The reason being the interference by some other dream that happened later.
Repression
There is natural tendency of the mind to forget certain incidents, mostly those that are painful, unpleasant, hurt our self-esteem or conflict with our values.
Sometimes what is repressed may not be unpleasant in itself, but might be associated with something unpleasant. A child may forget the math teacher's instructions about homework, but remember his aunt's promise to buy him chocolates.
Drugs
Those who swallow a lot of pills for various illnesses experience faulty memory over a period of time. Sometimes taking drugs without medical prescription could also damage our ability to remember.