Awaken Your Photographic Memory You do not have resell rights to this ebook. All rights reserved. Unauthorized resell or copying of this material is unlawful. No portion of this ebook may be copied or resold without written permission. Photographic‐Memory.org reserves the right to use the full force of the law in the protection of its intellectual property including the contents, ideas, and expressions contained herein. © Copyright Photographic‐Memory.org Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Copyright © 2009 Mentis Marketing LLP All rights reserved. Published by Greg Frost No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, scanned, or otherwise, except as permitted under Canadian copyright law, without the prior written permission of the author. Notes to the Reader: While the author and publisher of this book have made reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no liability with respect to loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, by any reliance on any information contained herein and disclaim any and all warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or reliability of said information. The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. It is the complete responsibility of the reader to ensure they are adhering to all local, regional and national laws. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering professional services. If legal, accounting, medical, psychological, or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The words contained in this text which are believed to be trademarked, service marked, or to otherwise hold proprietary rights have been designated as such by the use of initial capitalization. Inclusion, exclusion, or definition of a word or term is not intended to affect, or to express judgment upon the validity of legal status of any proprietary right which may be claimed for a specific word or term. The fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the author or publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or the recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that the websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Individual results may vary. 2 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org About Greg Frost Greg Frost is a bestselling author and self improvement coach who has helped thousands of people worldwide achieve their dreams. He believes that it is “Choice, not chance that determines destiny.” Born within a middle‐income family, he has struck out on his own and achieved great success in his relationships, career, health and life. His dream is to touch and improve the lives of at least 10 million people worldwide. You can find out more about him and his other products at: http://www.BreakthroughPrinciple.com http://www.ChargedAudio.com http://www.MindMaximus.com http://www.LawsofSuccessfulLiving.com http://www.MindSecretsExposed.com http://www.SmallTalkBigSuccess.com http://www.Photographic‐Memory.org http://www.More‐Confident.com 3 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Special Bonus: For Awaken Your Photographic Memory Customers Click Here To Get Your FREE Success Accelerator Brainwave CD 4 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Table of Contents Chapter 1: The Power of Photographic Memories............................................................ 6 The Science behind Photographic Memory .................................................................... 9 Being absent‐minded .................................................................................................... 12 How Does One Become Absent‐Minded? ..................................................................... 12 Is a Photographic Memory for you?.............................................................................. 14 The Capacity of our Memories...................................................................................... 15 The Four Wonders of the Working Memory ................................................................. 17 Wonders of the Minds Long Term Memory.................................................................. 24 Chapter 2: Photographic Memory Skills .......................................................................... 26 Keys to a Photographic Memory................................................................................... 27 Snapshot Techniques .................................................................................................... 32 Linking Techniques........................................................................................................ 41 Schemas and Scripts...................................................................................................... 45 Foreign Languages ........................................................................................................ 47 Chapter 3: Natural Memory Boosters ............................................................................. 50 Food Boosters ............................................................................................................... 51 Lifestyle Boosters .......................................................................................................... 56 Diary Boosters............................................................................................................... 59 Memory Depressant ..................................................................................................... 62 Gracefully Aging Your Brain .......................................................................................... 65 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 66 5 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Chapter Chapter 1: The Power of Photographic Memories Memories are powerful images of our past. They are the remnants of how we have lived our lives. For some people, memories are a wonderful reminder of joyful times; but for others, memories can sometimes be a painful burden to bear. Popular writers and thought‐leaders have claimed that memories are how we define ourselves. Indeed, it is the memory of our past that has shaped our current selves. Without remembering our history, we are essentially empty shells with no higher purpose. Yet, many critics claim that memories are nothing more but ‘clips’ of life that have been affected by a ‘personality filter’ or ‘belief filter’. They attest that memories are not taken directly from experience but rather influenced by our own personalities and beliefs. Basically, these experts are saying that we select only the ‘parts’ that we wish to 6 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org remember, while forgetting everything else. They have termed this phenomenon as having ‘selective memory’. This book is not designed to influence what you wish to remember. Your memories are personal possessions that no one has the right to influence. Instead, what this book can do for you is to dramatically improve the things that you choose to remember. Our memories are one of the most powerful ‘tools’ that we have, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Everything we do in our daily lives is affected by what we remember and forget. Our entire lives are driven by our memories, and we cannot function in society without them. Unfortunately, many people all around the world have not taken steps to sharpen this crucial ‘tool’ of theirs. They don’t realize the incredible potential of their memories, and just leave it operating at minimum capacity. Like a computer that hasn’t been used in years, their memories will quickly deteriorate and eventually fail. If you value your memory and wish to greatly improve it, then you’ll just have to spend some time ‘working’ with your mind. As you practice, you will quickly sharpen your mind, and remembering things will be a breeze for you. “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it” ‐ Henry Ford 7 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Of course, you wouldn’t just want to work hard at improving our memory… I’m sure you also want to work smart, don’t you? This book was written with the specific skills and techniques that will give you a short‐cut to achieving a photographic memory. These skills are based on scientific research and observations on the human mind, which helps you to essentially translate any information into an easy‐to‐remember format for your brain to store. In simple terms, this book will convert any information that you wish to remember into a ‘print photograph’ that your brain easily can easily understand and store. The revolutionary methods taught in this book are incredibly effective, as they rely on our natural memory mechanisms and triggers. Our memories don’t function in English, Spanish or in any other language in the world. They function based on they own mental ‘language’, and this book will teach you how to access that ‘language’. Once you’ve learned the techniques revealed in this book, you’ll be well‐equipped to handle almost every memory‐related task there is in this world. Yes, your mind is that powerful. 8 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org The Science behind Photographic Memory The memory process begins with the encoding of information. The encoding process is the first step into memory creation and it is a biological happening that is rooted in your senses. One example would be going back to one of your earliest memory which is the recognition of your mother. Your brain memorizes characteristics of her for instance, her facial features, the smell of her clothes and the sound of her voice. Each of these separate sensations travels to the part of the human brain called the hippocampus, which will then consolidate all the information about your mother into one single category which could be "mother". From there the information is sent to another part of the brain for permanent storage. Memory is encoded and stored in the form of electricity and chemicals. When a memory is called upon, nerves cells interact with other cells across a gap called a synapse. All action happening throughout your brain occurs at these synapses where electrical pulses carrying the messages leap across the gaps between the cells. As the leaping processing is happening, chemical messengers called neurotransmitters are triggered and release simultaneously. These neurotransmitters diffuse across the spaces that exist between cells and attaches themselves to the cells surrounding it. Each brain cells can form thousands of links similar thus leading to the creation of 100 trillion synapses in a typical brain. The portion of the brain cells that receives these electrical messages are called dendrites which when seen microscopically, has a feathery tip structure that connects the brain cells to neighboring cells. 9 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Functioning together in a network, brain cells separate and gather themselves into groups that focus on different kinds of information processing. But at the same time, the connections between them aren't permanent. As a signal is sent from one brain cell to another, the synapse between the two gets stronger which equates to a stronger connection between them. This means that the brain is flexible or what the scientist would call plasticity, the reason being that the brain automatically rewires itself when damaged. As you explore the wonders of the world, changes concurrently occur at the synapses and dendrites, thus causing a greater number of connections in your brain to be created. The brain then reorganizes itself in relation to your experiences, forming memories that come from the effect or external input. These changes are reinforced with repeated usage, so the more you learn and practice new information, intricate circuits of knowledge and memory are built in for the brain. Some refer to this as muscle memory. So the more you practice, the more your brain would recognize and pair with the memory to further strengthen and enhance it. For example, if you are memorizing your exam notes and constantly revise your notes; you'll soon be able to memorize the information easily. However, several weeks after you’ve taken your exam, you may no longer be able to recall exactly what you had memorized 10 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org because, by then, your brain had already “forgotten” what you once might have known so perfectly. Great attention is required in order for us to properly encode a memory. On most occasions, we go through our day ignoring a considerable amount of stimuli (happenings) around us, and thus filtering out many events happening in our daily lives. Only a few stimuli pass into your conscious awareness. This is a good thing because memorizing everything would cause your memory to become tagged down and overloaded. When it comes to the memorizing process, each of us has our own preferred way of memorizing, and one way is to actually think about how a word sounds when it comes to memorizing words. For instance, if you’re meeting a person by the name of Ms Carr, you could think of the word car when you both shake hands. By doing so, you're more likely to remember it. Experts believe that using images would be a better alternative because it provides a totally different kind of memory encoding. 11 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Being absent­minded When our car keys go missing or our pens disappear, we often attribute these occurrences to simple absent‐mindedness. Whenever people forget something, they tend to push the blame of being forgetful to pure absent‐mindedness. The difference between being forgetful and absent‐minded is where the individual attributes the blame. It always seems easier to put the blame on anything other than oneself; to say that one was just absent‐minded expresses the notion that forgetting something is only a one‐ time occurrence. But as I’m sure you’re aware by now, this is rarely the case. In truth, being absent‐minded and being forgetful actually means the same thing. The only difference is that when someone says that he is absent‐minded, he is not taking responsibility for the poor condition of his memory. How Does One Become Absent­Minded? Absent‐Mindedness occurs when a person fails to pay attention to what is happening around him. For example, when a man forgets where he had placed his glasses, the initial problem was that he wasn’t focusing on the moment where he placed them down. As such, no connection was made in his brain as to where his glasses were placed. Without securing the proper information on where he placed his glasses, his brain could not ‘retrieve’ this information. Absent‐mindedness is often associated with not being focused enough to notice certain cues or hints that remind a person for something he or she has to do. For example, a sick 12 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org person goes to the doctor and was instructed to take his medicine after dinner. For some reason, the person forgets all about it. In this case, if the cue word, ‘dinner’ had been taken note of by the patient, he probably would have been reminded of the medicine while having dinner, or while watching TV after dinner. This is because the cue word ‘dinner’ would have been linked to his medicine. Experts say that absent‐mindedness is actually a sin of omitting valid information, a breakdown between memory and attention. As we are living in an increasingly fast‐paced society, we often find ourselves multi‐tasking, causing us to inevitably suffer from divided attention. When a person is pre‐occupied with too many things, he easily gets distracted and will not be able to focus on all the things that he has to remember. While you are multi‐tasking, your conscious mind is actually processing and focusing on something else other than what you wish to remember. This naturally results in being absent‐minded, or being forgetful. One notorious example of absent‐mindedness is the story of YoYo Ma, the cellist. This man took a taxi in New York City and placed his $2.5 million cello in the trunk of the taxi. Upon arriving at his destination, he paid the driver and took off, completely forgetting about his cello in the trunk. This is a typical scenario in which a person’s attention and memory fails him at a most crucial moment. 13 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org An expert in the field of memory, Dr. George T. Grossberg 1 concurs that people are now living in a world where multi‐tasking has become the norm. Grossberg states, “Many people just have sensory overload, wherein they have too many things going on at once, making them more likely to be absent‐minded.” This problem further worsens as people age, or as they gets ever more busy with work and family commitments. Is a Photographic Memory for you? It is common knowledge that our brain cells deteriorate with time, and diseases related with old age would set in and affect our ability to recall things. However, it is not true that memory improvement is only reserved from the elderly. Regardless of age, we are still extremely dependant on recalling information to live our daily lives. In today’s world, we also need to be able to process multiple thoughts and memories at the same time. There is very little reason for anyone to not want to improve their memories; indeed, even our schools and workplaces have frequently rewarded those of us with exceptional memories. 1 Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine 14 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org The Capacity of our Memories Since young, we have already been taught how to remember information to aid us in our daily lives. For example, as children we are taught to remember how to tie our shoelaces, and to remember our street address and home telephone number. Without knowing it, we have already been learning various memory techniques as children. Naturally, all this information gets inputted into our memory systems, and stays with us throughout our lives. As we grow up to become teenagers, more of our memory capacity is used up… and later even more so in adulthood. As long as we are still alive and kicking, the list of things to remember will never stop growing. Some people are concerned that there is “little space” left in their minds for the storage of more information. While this is a very natural concern, I can assure you that we are no where near maximum capacity of our memories. Most of the time, the reason we keep forgetting things is not because there is “little space” left in our memories, but rather because our memories are not properly stored in the first place. This book is not about “how to increase your memory capacity”, but rather how to efficiently and effectively store and retrieve memories. 15 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org This book is for anyone who wants to: • Maximize learning • Effortlessly recall fact and figures • Move up the social ladder • Never again forget important dates, appointments and deadlines We all know the adage, ‘knowledge is power’. Keeping in mind that knowledge is just one function of memory, you can imagine how powerful having a photographic memory can be. The brain is a marvelous tool that all of us possess, and its limitation is solely based upon the limitations you set it; with the right mindset, there are infinite possibilities for your mind. In the next chapter, I will reveal to you the incredibly effective techniques that will help you develop your photographic memory. 16 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org The Four Wonders of the Working Memory In 2000, Alan Baddeley developed a working memory model which consists of four main components that allows you to hold chunks of information in your mind simultaneously. Most of the time, these bits of information are interrelated such as reading sentences and having the need to remember the beginning before you reach the end. However, as sentences gets lengthier, you may find that you are not able to understand it, particularly if you get distracted while reading it. The brain multi tasks very well. For example, think about the times when you are driving and trying to recall which exit to get off of while having a conversation with your friend. Another example would be using your working memory to achieve mental arithmetic like when balancing a checkbook, you’re thinking about a problem and attempting to figure out ways to solve it at the same time. Yet another common example in our multi tasking society would be typing your report while watching a movie at the same time at home. Out of the four working memory components there is a manager coordinating them and it is the "central executive", which manages and coordinates the three other components: the "visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, and the phonological loop." All three components work independently of each other, thus they are able to handle a series of different memory task at one instance, such as memorize a phrase from a textbook and a song that you are listening to at the same time. You might think of these separate components as parts of a work log that processes any information passing into it. Your brain variously handles and modifies various information that pass through it, 17 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org and some of this information is stored into your long‐term memory. One way that I would recommend when improving your memory is to focus on improving each element so that you can store more long‐term memory both effectively and efficiently. Below is a chart on the four working memory components based on Alan Baddeley's working memory model and it looks something like this: Central Executive Visuospatial Sketchpad Episodic Buffer Phonological Loop Long-Term Memory Looking further into each component, the Visuospatial Sketchpad should be considered as a drawing pad where visual images are placed on this sketchpad and some of the most memorable moments will move on to your long‐term memory. Not every detail will be 18 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org remembered as there are thousands of images zipping by in a minute but your memory for these images will string them all together, and as time goes by, your memory skills will see a significant improvement, enabling you to be more aware and remember much better. This section turns what you hear or think into visual images. However, on the other hand, while you might be able to visualize one image very well, you will find it increasingly difficult as the number of images increase because one image might interfere with another. For instance, if you are driving and trying to visualize a problem or calculation, you might miss a turn or worse, get into an accident. But if it's just listening to music or talking on the phone it might not have such a dire effect on you. For those of you who might be more familiar with computing terms, you might see the process as a computer task bar; as more and more files are opened, the tab for each file gets smaller and smaller and your ability to see the tabs become increasingly diminished. Now imagine that each of those tabs is in fact tabs for an Instant Messenger program, and you have a lot of conversations going on. As every person starts replying to your messages at increasing intervals, your attention would be taken from one particular tab to another, until eventually you are overwhelmed by the sheer activity going on in your task bar. Interestingly, brain researchers have found these images linked to places located in your brain. Neuroscientists have found that when you work with a visual image, the right 19 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org hemisphere of the cortex is activated, the top section of the brain and in focus, the activation of the occipital lobe located at the rear of your cortex. Then as you engage in a particular mental task involving the image, your frontal lobe will be activated as well. With new emerging technology in the 21st century, researchers have been able to tell which parts of the brain are associated with different types of thinking by using positron emission tomography scans or in short PET scans. This is where they measure the blood flow towards the brain by injecting a radioactive chemical into a person’s body before he or she performs a particular mental task. From the results gained, they were able to determine that certain sections of the brain possess greater blood flow, indicating more cerebral activity. Interestingly, the phonological loop stores a small number of sounds for a brief period as compared to your visuospatial sketchpad which stores images for a brief period of time. Researchers have found that you can hold as many words as you can mentally pronounce to yourself in 1.5 seconds. What this means is that you are able to remember more short words compared to long words. One very good example of this would be when you are trying to remember what someone else has just said to you. Without memory training to place those words into your long‐term memory, you will only be able to clearly remember the words that have been spoken to you within the last 1.5 seconds. However you will still remember the gist 20 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org of what the person had said, and because of this limit, you will pick up shorter names better than you would longer ones. When you are introduced to a group of people at a mixer or cocktail party, names like John and Tommy would be much easier to remember compared to unusual ones like Jacobsen or Danielson or worse still, Heidenburgen. In addition, you'll also find that working with multiple visual imagery at one go can cause interference as mentioned earlier, and so can working with multiple audio sounds. One example would be, if you are focusing on remembering a phone number and someone says something and interrupts you, it can interfere with your ability to remember that particular number. But if you use your visuospatial sketchpad to remember images simultaneously while using your phonological loop to remember a number, it will not cause any interference as long as you continue paying attention to remembering that number. At the same time, just as looking at similar visual imagery can potentially cause memory errors, hearing similar sounding words or numbers such as when meeting a John Joseph and Jacky at a party can also complicate the recalling process. The names tend to blend together in your mind and you'll find it hard to remember who is who exactly. Or perhaps you are trying hard to recall a phone number that you might have gotten from a message that you’ve written down. If two numbers were thrown at you instead of one, you'll certainly have trouble remembering them because the numbers can either interfere with 21 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org each other and get you mixed up or you will simply find it too mind boggling that you simply won’t be able to remember any at all. The next issue we’ll explore will be your episodic buffer. This is where you can synchronize information that you have retrieved from your visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop, along with your long‐term memory. Imagine a notebook or page in a word processing program where you are constantly working with phrases, graphic images and thinking what else can be added to what you already know. Take for example; say a fellow co‐worker says something to you at work that offends you. This is where you might consider the way he said it, the level of friendship he has with you, and the way he has treated you before. From there, this episodic buffer helps you decide quickly what to do in light of how you might have interpreted this offending remark. Finally, your central executive finishes off the deal by integrating the information from these three other systems; the visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop and the episodic buffer. In addition to this, this executive function helps filter out information that you need to focus your attention on while at the same time filter out irrelevant or unwanted information. In the same instance, it also helps you plan strategies and coordinate behavior, so you get to decide what to do next and what not to do. For example, you can think of it as the top executive or manager being in charge of all these systems, which doesn’t store information itself. It sets priorities for what other sections 22 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org of your memory should be doing instead and strategies are set to figure out how to solve problems. 23 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Wonders of the Mind’s Long Term Memory Think of a computer, particularly its random access memory (RAM) which is used in the processing of current tasks. Every computer has a limited amount of RAM. This is comparable to the average human's working memory whereby new information is added to our brain and our long‐term memory, on the other hand, is like the computer’s hard drive, where there is a considerable amount of space available to store experiences, images and information. Just like you would a hard drive, you may have to do some searching or recalling to find specific information because you haven't thought of it for a long time, and you may mistakenly think that certain information might have been deleted, but it may well be lingering somewhere in the deep recesses of that complex mind of yours. Long‐term memory can be basically split into three categories : episodic, semantic and lastly procedural memory. To begin with, episodic memory is your memory for experiences or happenings that you were involved in at any time in the past ranging from a few minutes ago to many years ago. When these memories are called up, you travel backwards to recall them so that you can experience what happened in the past. However, memory modification can happen for many reasons and one of these reasons could possibly be due to a faulty encoding of this memory. So what you might have perceived or remembered how a particular event occurred could very well be different from a recorded video of the actual event. 24 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Semantic memory, on the other hand, is an organized base of knowledge for what you know about the world. It revolves around facts and other information you have learned over the years including words or foreign language. Semantic memory is used or activated in our everyday lives; when we are reading the newspaper, watching the news or when speaking to your friends. Your semantic memory also considers the validity of new information from any source and like episodic memory, semantic memory can have errors at times and it can be caused by many factors. Last but not least, procedural memory is your memory on how things work and once this gets transferred into your long term memory, it becomes automatic and you don’t have to worry about riding a bicycle or driving a car for example. But like any skills that you learn, if it is not used again, you can forget about how to use it and some may call it becoming rusty. 25 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Chapter Chapter 2: Photographic Memory Skills This chapter of the book is dedicated to the various skills and techniques you can use to develop your mind’s natural photographic memory. Some of these techniques are universal – they can be applied to literally anything you wish to remember. I call these techniques “Keys”. The other set of skills that I will reveal to you are called “Snapshots”. They are the specific skill you can use to instantly remember names and faces, a long series of numbers, item lists and speeches. These Keys and Snapshots are intended to be used together (although you could theoretically use them separately). The more you use these skills, the more proficient you will become, and more effective they will be for you. Now, without further ado, let’s proceed to the learning the “Keys”! 26 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Keys to a Photographic Memory Key #1 – Association All our memories are based on association. Recall a point in your life where you said, “I forgot”. This may initially seem like an easy excuse to get away with whatever you were supposed to remember. But if you really think about it, you’ll probably realize that the memory you’re looking for is not lost, but somewhere deep in your mind where it seems to be unrecoverable. The crux of this problem is not that your memory had ‘disappeared’, but rather that you are unable to locate it. Most of the time, our inability to remember is due to the improper techniques that we use for the storage and retrieval of information. The system of association is one of the most powerful methods to ‘neatly’ store information in your bran for easy retrieval in the future. First of all, you should realize that you have been using the method of association all your life, probably without even knowing it. However, if you can bring it to a higher level where you can consciously ‘associate’ the things in your life to remember them, you can greatly enhance your memory power. The basic rule to this technique is this: You can easily remember any new information if it is associated to something that you already know or are familiar with. 27 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Take for example: people tend to have a problem remembering the geographical shapes of Russia or Greece… but what about Italy? Perhaps, you have already made an immediate association to a boot. Why? Italy’s shape is one that resembles a boot, so when asked to recall Italy’s shape, you would naturally think of a boot. It is actually very hard to forget something once you have made an association of something else to it. How one can really maximize this technique is to associate whatever they want to remember to something completely absurd. Many times in our lives, when we are exposed to new knowledge, we would snap our fingers and say, “That reminds me of …” What happens here is that after you learn of the new information, your mind is triggered to think of something that you’re already familiar with. Sometimes, it may be something that has absolutely no relation to the new information, but the absurd association has already been made. The next time you want to recall this new information or object, all your brain needs to do is to ‘tune in’ to this absurd association. This is how we can so easily remember the geographical shape of Italy. This is the secret to the key of association. Make sure that you ‘associate’ whatever you wish to remember to something you are already familiar with… and make that association as ridiculous as possible! This association method can be used for remembering numbers, item lists, speeches as well as names and faces. I will cover each of these topics in detail later on. 28 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Key #2 – The Link The association method you have just learned can be very powerful, but is merely an appetizer to the main course. The association method is just a small portion of the Link system that we are going to learn here. You see, when you are associating different pieces of information together, you are basically linking them up one by one to form memory ‘chains’ that help you to remember each and every item. The four rules in The Link system are ‘substitution’, ‘out of proportion’, ‘exaggeration’ and ‘action’. Substitution ‘Substitution’ means to replace an item with a different item to make a connection between the two. For example, if I were to ask you to remember an airplane and a tree; what you could do is to substitute the characteristics of the airplane with those of a tree. So you could perhaps think of a gigantic tree flying in the air instead of an airplane. Through this, you remember the tree and the airplane at the same time. Out of proportion What about ‘out of proportion’? Try to magnify the to‐be‐remembered items as much as possible. If there was an ant and an elephant standing in front of you right now, which one would catch your attention more? The mind naturally pays more attention to larger 29 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org objects, so by ‘enlarging’ the items in your mind, you will be able to remember them better. Exaggeration Exaggerate your item as much as possible to make it memorable. Remember the tree and the airplane? When you try to visualize it, think about millions, billions, zillions of gigantic flying trees! Chances are that you will be so captivated by that scene, that it your mind pays special attention to remember it. Action Our mind works very much like a video recorder. It is more fine‐tuned when we are thinking about actions. Dramatic action is always easier to remember than static pictures. A series of actions become a ‘movie’ in your head, which makes it much easier for you to store and later retrieve your memories. Let us go back to the zillions of flying trees… you can perhaps imagine them flying past you and you dodging them to prevent yourself from being hit. Can you see how you can remember a tree and an airplane so easily after using these techniques? I think it would be difficult for you to forget them even if you wanted to! 30 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Write a list of 10 unrelated items, and try to remember them using the Association and Link techniques. You may come across a little difficulty when you first try it out, but be assured that this is normal. The process will get easier as you practice more. Key #3 – Repetition The third ‘key’ we can use to sharpen our memory is through repetition, where you constantly repeat the information to yourself several times, so you can easily remember it later on when you need to. Another variation of repetition is by writing it down. However, this is not just the mindless copying down of details, but rather a conscious effort to really think about the information that you wish to remember. While writing the information down, you can also repeat it to yourself to make the impression deeper and help your mind store the information better. Although repetition by itself is not an extremely effective technique to store information into your long‐term memory, it is very useful when used in conjunction with the Association and Link techniques. Remember that the more skills and techniques you learn to use together, the better your ability for recollection will be. 31 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Snapshot Techniques This is the most interesting section of the book. In the next few pages, you’ll have access to some of the most powerful memory skills that have ever been developed. These ‘Snapshot’ and ‘Link’ techniques are specific strategies to awaken the photographic capabilities of your memory. Before I implemented these skills, I never knew how limitless my memory was. And now, you too can finally learn the secrets to effortlessly memorize names, faces, item lists, numbers and speeches. This is truly a treasure trove that you won’t want to take for granted. Take the time and effort to fully learn these skills, and I guarantee that your life will never be the same again. You’ll never forget anything that you set yourself to remember. These ‘snapshots’ will be with you for life. Snapshot Technique #1 – Names and faces One of the common problems most people face is remembering another person’s name. We can recognize a face, but we sometimes cannot seem to match a name to it. This can be very embarrassing in certain situations especially if the other person remembers your name but you have forgotten his or hers. Want to instantly be able to match a name to a familiar face? Read on to find out how… When you are being introduced to someone new, listen carefully to his or her name and politely ask for them to repeat it if you did not hear it clearly. After the name registers in 32 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org your mind, you should immediately link it to someone you already know. For example, you could link this new name to someone you know that shares the same name. If I met someone whose name was Sally, I may think about my Aunt Sally and visualize the two as being conjoined twins. This utilizes the Association technique mentioned earlier, where the more absurd the ‘association’, the more memorable it is. However, don’t just stop there. To further entrench this new name into your memory, you can link it to the person’s physical appearance. For example, John may have a prominent nose, so you remember ‘big nose John’, or Elizabeth may look gorgeous and you can mentally remember ‘gorgeous Elizabeth’. Of course, the more specific you are in your exaggerations, the better. Other than linking a name to physical appearances, you may also link the name to a personality or character trait. You will most likely meet more than one gorgeous woman in your life, and you can’t just label them all ‘gorgeous’. You’ll need to differentiate each new person you meet with a distinctive feature. I shall leave the choice of features up to your own imagination. Generally speaking, the more unique and exaggerated the feature is, the more easily you’ll be able to remember it. Also, you should repeat the name to yourself several times. Remember, memory is not just visual but also aural; repeating the name to yourself and catching the right pronunciation is essential to help you remember better. 33 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org As you are going to part ways with your new friend, make sure that you repeat his or her name again, and recall one or two parts of your conversation with him/her. This way you further enhance the memory of them. Names are a big deal for people, especially for businessmen wanting to clinch deals for their businesses. Imagine how powerful your business presentation can be if you can address all of your audience members by name! Snapshot Technique #2 – Numbers Telephone numbers, home addresses, mathematics. These are all numbers that form an important part of our daily lives life. Have you ever failed your Math test just because you forgot the consonant Pi or the Euler consonant? What about stalling the bank queue line just because you cannot find the piece of paper where you wrote down your Bank account number? Numbers can be daunting to remember, but with a photographic memory, you can easily recite any series of numbers you wish. The Major System One way you can memorize a long series of numbers is through the Major System. In this system, you do not just memorize the numbers themselves. Rather, you substitute them 34 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org with words and phrases. The words and phrases are then further linked to objects and pictures in a manner that we have previously covered. The words or phrases are formed by combining vowels and consonants that stand‐in for each digit in the number series. Each number, from 0 – 9 is assigned a consonant. It is not an exact letter‐to‐number correspondence but rather a letter‐to‐consonant sound correspondence (phonetic). The next page shows a mapping of this system. You may want to print it out for easy reference. Once you have used this system a few times, this mapping will be naturally imprinted onto your memory. 0 is substituted with an “s” or “z” …as zero starts with a “z” 1 is substituted with a “d”, “t” or “th” …as “t” has only one down stroke 2 is substituted with “n” or “ing” …as “n” has two down strokes 3 is substituted with “m” …as “m” has three down strokes 4 is substituted with “r” …as four ends with a “r” 35 Awaken Your Photographic Memory 5 is substituted with “L” Photographic‐Memory.org …as when you open up your 5‐fingered hand, you form form an L shape. 6 is substituted with “j”, “sh”, “ch” or “(soft) g” …as it is very similar to the mirror image of a capital “J” 7 is substituted with “k” …as you can make the capital “K” with two 7’s 8 is substituted with “f” or “v” …as a handwritten curly “f” looks like “8” 9 is substituted with “b” or “p” …as “P” and “9” are mirror images It is likely that you’ll find this list daunting to remember at first. However, just refer to this list when trying to memorize numbers for now. With practice, this list will soon become second nature to you. After substituting each number with the consonant, you should next place vowels in‐ between them to create a familiar word or phrase that makes sense and can easily be 36 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org remembered. For example, to remember the date when the Gettysburg Address was delivered (11‐19‐1863), first substitute the numbers with consonants as suggested by the Major System: After translating 11‐19‐1863 into consonants, we have: tt‐tp‐tvgm “tt” 1 is substituted by “t”, so 11 (or “tt”) is can be replaced by the word “that” “tp” 9 is substituted by “p”, so 19 is “t” & “p” and can be replaced by the word “top” “tvgm” 8 is substituted with “v”, 6 with “g” and 3 with “m”, so 1863 is “tvgm” and can perhaps form the phrase “tv gem”. So, to remember the date, just remember the phrase “That top TV gem” and you’ll easily recall 11‐19‐1863. Now practice using your bank account number or your friends’ telephone numbers and create words and phrases that are significant to you; ones that you can easily recall. This way, you won’t have to frantically search your bag to find that bank number or that 37 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org telephone number when you need it. Such a system is also very useful for memorizing zip codes. The Edwards System The Edwards System is not entirely different from the Major System, as it also substitutes digits with words. However, instead substituting numbers with just any word, we use the names of famous people. This system leverages on the fact that celebrity names are very easy to remember. The Edwards system uses double digits that are commonly associated with celebrities or famous characters. To use the system, map the numbers 00 through 99. Match famous characters or initials to each numerical pair. For example, you can associate 07 to James Bond (007), 08 to Kobe Bryant (8), 23 to Michael Jordan and 33 to Larry Bird. If you are lost for famous people associated with numbers, use the Major system to come up with initials of each number pair, like “GB” for 79, which stands for George Bush; SD (Saddam) for 01; MM (Mandy Moore) for 33, and so on. After mapping, you can then break any long number sequence into pairs and memorize the series of famous characters that make up those numbers. Use your imagination to have these characters interact with each other, as this will improve your ability to remember them. 38 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Remember, the more exaggeration, action and out‐of‐proportion the interaction, the easier it will be for you to remember. The Grouping System Sometimes, the Major system and the Edwards system may be too difficult to apply, or simply inappropriate for use. If that’s the case for you, you may want to consider using the Grouping system instead. This is a system devised by Mathematicians to group a long series of numbers into shorter ‘chunks’ and to associate them with whatever can help remember the sequence. For example, the first 16 digits of Euler’s consonant are 2.718281828459045. When using the Major System, one can come up with a phrase "NeGaTiVe iNnoVaTiVe uNFuRL BiZaRreLy". The capitalized alphabets represent consonants substituted for the digits. However, this entire phrase may not make any sense at all. In this case, we may want to use the Grouping system to help us remember this number series instead. By using the Grouping system, you may group the digits of Euler’s consonants into smaller ‘chunks’ as such: 2.7‐1828‐1828‐45‐90‐45 2.7: the standard approximation of e 1828: the year when President Andrew Jackson won the elections 39 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org 1828: repeat of the year 45‐90‐45: cut a square in half to get a triangle with these angles That’s all there is to it. Isn’t it easy to remember any long series of numbers now? You can use any one of the three systems, according to whichever you find to be more comfortable or appropriate for you. 40 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Linking Techniques Link Technique #1 – Item lists The famous chess player, Harry Pillsbury is famous not just for his amazing skill in chess, but also for his memory power. He was once challenged by two university professors to memorize a list of thirty words after listening to each word only once. Not only did he manage to pull it off, he even managed to repeat it backwards as well! Ignorant people may think that he possessed some supernatural talent, but essentially what he relied on was just the Link system that we have just learnt. Bear in mind too, that the words that were chosen for him to memorize were not simple words like ‘elephant’ or ‘tree’. Here is the list that he was challenged to memorize: antiphlogistine, periosteum, takadiastase, Plasmon, threlkeld, streptococcus, staphylococcus, micrococcus, plasmodium, Mississippi, freiheit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, athletics, no war, Etchenberg, American, Russian, philosophy, Piet Potgelter’s Rost, salmagundi, oomisillecootsi, Schlechter’s Nek, Manyinzama, theosophy, catechism and lastly, Madjescomalops. Now, if you were him, would you be able to repeat the same feat? It is unlikely for anyone to be able to memorize these big words in an instant, but with some practice, you can surely achieve similar results. The key is to start small with you own daily item 41 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org lists. Your grocery list or your errands list can be a starting point for you to start practicing your new‐found memory skills. It’s a good idea for you to formulate the list before going to bed at the end of the day. Just spend five to ten minutes going through what you need to accomplish the next day and compile them into a list. Then, you can try to link them up before going to bed. The next morning, go through the list again while having your breakfast or on your way to work. If something else pops up for you to do, just tag it to the end of the list and establish a new link. During the day, constantly go through the link in your mind to remind yourself and also further familiarize yourself with it; remember: repetition helps to improve your memory. While this may seem like a tedious task at first, it will become much easier as you keep on practicing. You may begin to see results as quickly as after a few days of practicing! 42 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Link Technique #2 – Speeches One of the toughest things that a person can do is to address a crowd and deliver a speech. Not only is the atmosphere tensed up and stressful, most of the time the speakers are heavily reliant on a script to deliver their speech. While it is not wrong to have a script, most presentation experts discourage the memorizing of speeches word‐for‐word. Firstly, there is no need for this since no one in the audience would know whether you’ve missed out on any of the points you planned to cover – after all, the audience hasn’t seen your script, right? Also, when you have been invited to deliver a speech, the audience would already assume that you have sufficient knowledge on the topic, and would like you to share your ideas regarding it – not for you to just follow a rigid, pre‐written script. Besides, if you memorize your speeches word‐ for‐word, you won’t be able to alter your speech based on how well the audience is responding – which is a key to delivering a killer presentation. The best way to deliver a speech is to talk in your own words, using your own language and expression. A speech should not be pre‐meditated but rather a sequence of thoughts that you want to share with others. This is where the link system can really help you shine. Associate the key idea ‘words’ together to form a story, so that you’ll be able to remind yourself of the key words from time to time during your speech. This will also ensure that you don’t go off‐topic for too long. Whenever you’re moving on to the next 43 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org point of your speech, simply remember the story in your head and you’ll be able to easily pick up the next point that you intended to talk about. Link Technique #3 – Body Parts Let’s say you have a list of grocery items to buy but can't remember them by offhand and you are just too lazy to write it down on a piece of paper. Ironically, you can use your body parts to associate them with your grocery list. Here's how it works, lets say you have a grocery list of theses items: mushrooms, chicken, vitamins, toothpaste, milk, and orange juice. Starting from your toes, you might create the following image association: - Your feet is stepping on a patch of mushrooms - A chicken is peaking on your calf - You have vitamin pills pasted on your belly button - Sticking out of your mouth is a toothbrush with toothpaste on it. - Your lips is filled with milk stains - Your hair is covered with orange juice. This is an example of how it works and the good thing about it is that it is flexible and you can alter it anyway you want it according to your own likings and preferences. 44 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Schemas and Scripts A schema is your general idea or perception about a situation, which leads you to expect things to be a particular way. In addition, you are more inclined to notice things that fit your schema and to also remember things that are so unusual that they stand out. For example, when you go to a department store, you expect the store to look a certain way in terms of interior and experiences. You expect the aisles to be dedicated to specific types of products and you expect the sales staff to know more information about each specific product. Additionally, you expect to save money through certain types of promotions or bundle deals and so on. In turn, this schema assist you in navigating the store as you become familiar in where things are and when products are moved to another section, you may feel confused. Alternatively, you may also feel angry when a clerk misguides you or is unsure when you ask for directions. New information can also be added to schemas since it was built to add in new materials as well. That’s why experts compare new materials with old ones easily. For example, if you are a hand phone gadget expert, you'll be able to compare in no time the specifications of a new model to an older one and weigh the difference. On the other hand, someone who is a newbie at hand phones will find it hard to remember the differences between the new and the old model. The only thing that will probably go through their mind would be the visible differences of the hand phone like size, color, shape, design, camera, touch screen or non‐touch screen and brand. Likewise, if you don’t know much about cars, you'll probably only remember the shape of the car and 45 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org whether it is a two or four door car. But on the other hand a car expert would be able to tell you about the car's engine power and functionality. What's more, he may even be able to compare to difference between two sets of cars. Having a schema thus helps you add in information into a structure of knowledge you already possess. So you'll not only be more observant but you'll also be able to better encode that observation into your memory for retained memory. Moving on, scripts are a type of schema that features a simple well‐structured sequence on happenings in a set order that you associate with a familiar or similar activity that occurs over a period of time. For instance, if you enter a restaurant, you'd be expected to wait in line for the hostess to attend to you so as to prepare seats for you. Following that you'd expect a waiter to come over to take your order after you have decided what you would be having. After which, you expect to have a conversation with the other party you are with, eat your dinner, leave a tip and finally pull out your credit card to sign your bill. 46 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Foreign Languages If you are interested in picking up a new language, consider the similarities between the languages you know to those that you are trying to learn. This will thus give you a basis on which to build your knowledge. For example, English shares many words with the Latin languages – French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. For example read the following sets of words and try your best to guess their meaning 1. marcher 2. animal 3. gros 4. hamburger 5. serpent 6. bébé 7. bleu 8. orange Answers: 1. walk 2. animal 3. fat 4. hamburger 47 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org 5. snake 6. baby 7. blue 8. orange Some methods that I would recommend you to use when it comes to learning about foreign languages would be through tapes, continuing education, speaking with others who speak foreign languages periodicals and radios. To start, I would recommend that you get a language tape and listen to it daily, practicing along with the tape if possible. Specific can be found for different languages and even if you don’t fully understand the words, it is important for you to hear the rhythms and tones of the language. You can start with renting video tapes or films in foreign languages and reading the English subtitles while listening or you could simply do it the other way round and listen to an English show or film while reading the subtitles. Alternatively, you could simply get hold on a foreign language instruction tape to guide you along. Taking up foreign languages courses would be another way to help you brush up your conversational skills with others. The good thing about these courses is that there will always be a qualified teacher to guide you along the way and if you prefer speaking with a teacher's guidance then you should take up these courses. These courses are readily available at 'open universities' and local colleges. 48 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org If you are keen on learning French for example, you should practice talking French with a foreign‐exchange student or a French neighbor. The reason why I recommend you to do this is because, the more contact you have with the language, the higher chances of remembering it. Do take note that people who move from a foreign country tend to forget their native vocabulary if they don’t speak it for years. Try your best to read newspapers, magazines, books or articles at least once a week in the new language because reading is one of the better ways to keep a language alive in your memory. Remember to try reading without translating in your mind from the foreign language to the native language. If adult foreign language books are too difficult for you, look into the kids section of bookstores because that is where you can find a range of simple books with lots of pictures to help you learn another language easily and painlessly. A last recommendation would be listening to the radio in foreign language. I would recommend investing in a shortwave radio to listen to radio stations all over the world. Most importantly, you have to remember to be consistent as success comes only with effort and consistency. 49 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Chapter Chapter 3: Natural Memory Boosters Spending the time to develop a good memory is an investment in your future. We will always rely on our memories in our daily lives. Whether it is remembering to complete an assignment, or to pick up your kids from school, you want to be able to count on your memory all the time without exception. In previous chapters we have already looked into the various techniques to fully maximize our mind’s infinite capacity for recollection. In the following chapter, we will look into the lifestyle aspect of improving our memory power. In Chapter 1, we have discussed how being overly stressed can cause a person to lose his focus and become absent‐minded. Such is the lifestyle of a workaholic or someone who does not have enough rest. Our brains have often been termed as a super‐computer as it is much better than a computer in so many ways. However, just like how a computer is likely to break down if you use it non‐stop, so too, will our minds if we don’t look after it 50 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org properly. When this happens, you may sink into bouts of depression or even start to manifest symptoms of mental disorders. Although a little extreme, these are all signals of a rapidly deteriorating condition that should be immediately corrected. In the next few sections, we will look into how the way you live your life affects your memory. Your diet, your lifestyle and also your choices in life can all play a significant role in influencing the effectiveness of your mind and memory. Food Boosters “You are what you eat”, this old adage certainly rings true. We are made up of the food that we consume everyday. It is a cliché to hear people say that eating the right food will help you grow your brain power, but it is true! What is lacking in most people is actually the mixing of the right foods and eating them together as a balanced diet. Together with a healthy lifestyle, you will be able to effectively boost the effectiveness of your memory many times over. When you are looking for the right kind of food to improve your memory, why not try some of the following organic and natural foods (or even supplements)? Through the use of the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) technology, researchers have been able to test the brain's capability to retain memory with the help of different food groups. 51 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Fish Oils – Fishes contain large amounts of omega 3 fatty acids that are very much needed by the cells of your brain for everyday function. Tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel and herring are all fishes rich in omega 3 fatty acids that can significantly improve your memory. Also, some sardines contain the nutrient Choline which is a chemical that is essential for the memory function in your brain. Soy products – Foods that are rich in protein are also very good in helping to boost the transmission of information in the brain for greater memory power. Soy has this benefit of containing a pure form of protein that has been extracted from soybeans. Soy can also be found in supplements rich in Isoflavone, especially soymilk, or in liquid (or powder) form in supplements. This is effective in aiding verbal and visual memory, which also contributes to mind flexibility. Eggs – Many people do not accept the idea that eggs are good for our health, especially since there has been much talk about it being bad for our cholesterol levels. However, the fact is that our brain still needs the essential fats found in eggs in order to function properly. The fatty acids found in eggs are crucial for us, since the human body does not produce it naturally. You can only obtain it through the consumption of eggs. 52 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Gingko Biloba ‐ This tree extract has been widely used in the Eastern part of the world for thousands of years, and is well known as a cure for numerous memory deficiencies. Gingko Biloba helps to increase blood circulation in the body, increasing the supply of oxygen to the brain. Also, because it eliminates free radicals in the brain, it helps in preventing brain cell damage. Rosemary – Rosemary is a special herb that can be used to minimize brain fatigue. Research has shown that it has the ability to boost your memory by as much as 18%! Another useful herb is Sage, which helps in the transmission of messages to and from the brain cells. Essentially, this herb regulates the chemicals in the brain that act as stimulants of information retrieval. Ginseng – This is another herb (it’s actually a root) that has been recommended as a natural memory booster and relaxant for those who are overworked. One of the many beneficial effects of Ginseng is its use as a natural stress reliever. Water – Not many people know this, but water actually plays a very important role in maintaining a healthy brain. The human brain is comprises of 70% water and by keeping it sufficiently hydrated you are helping it function at its peak. When you don’t provide the necessary amount of water, your brain naturally produces the hormone Cortisol, which reduces the capacity of your brain to store information. 53 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Iron‐rich foods – Foods that are rich in iron can help you concentrate better and increase your brain power. Clinical studies have shown that iron improves a person’s attention span. Iron can be found in beans, lean meat, and seafood. Alternatively, you may also find iron in the form of supplements. Fruits and Vegetables – Some good brain boosters are blueberries, strawberries and spinach. They are rich in antioxidants that help protect the brain cells and prevent the formation of blood clots. Blood clots can slow down the brain neural response to chemical messengers, which leads to slow memory processing. Complex carbohydrates – Complex carbohydrates such as whole‐wheat bread and pasta is also good for the brain. These carbohydrates are ideal because their energy‐giving glucose is slowly and consistently released into the bloodstream. It’s a good idea to eat slow‐release carbohydrates together with a protein‐rich food like chicken and boiled potatoes or fish and whole‐grained rice. Vitamin B – Vitamins have always been known to benefit our bodies in one way or another, and this also rings true in the area of brain function and memory. Vitamins boost our immune system to prevent us from becoming sick, and they also protect our vital organs. However, out of all the vitamins, those from the B complex family have proven to be the most effective in improving our memory. 54 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Folate and vitamins B12 and B6 have been shown to be very effective in bringing out the best of our mental abilities. As previously mentioned, stress is a crucial factor in our ability to process memories. Complex B vitamins reduce stress and protect our nerves, thus indirectly helping us improve our brain’s memory functions. This is because the B vitamin regulates our GABA and serotonin neurotransmitters, which are closely related to the level of stress that we experience. Evidence that B vitamins can improve our memory is the effect of Cobalamin. This vitamin causes anemia or nervous system problems when our bodies are in deficiency of it. As we know it, many other memory disorders (some associated with dementia) can be very much improved by using B vitamins to bolster our immune system. Vitamin C – Vitamin C helps to improve the iron count in our bodies. The benefits of iron have already been discussed above. Vitamin C is naturally found in citrus fruits, or can alternatively be consumed in the form of supplements. All these nutrients should be included in your daily meals. Of course, as with most other things in life, excessive intake of these nutrients is highly inadvisable. The doctors' advice: 55 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org have an egg for breakfast, green or black tea during lunch, sage in pasta sauce at dinner, and 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. You’ll be able to feel much sharper once you start enjoying a balanced diet. Lifestyle Boosters In the world today, we are constantly facing the problem of information overload, brought about by the bombardment of information in our daily lives. This has caused a strain on our memories, ‘forcing’ us to be very selective about the things we pay attention to. As a result, we only remember the things that we absolutely need to, and forget everything else. While a good diet can help ease the stress and maintain our brain functions, our lifestyle choices also play a big role in determining how well our memories are stored and retrieved. Exercise – Studies have proven that exercise is not just good for your physical health but also great for your mental health. Exercise helps to maintain the cognitive functions of your brain, and reduces memory loss in old age. Additional research has also shown that stress and anxiety levels are greatly decreased when you exercise. Exercise slows the natural decline of the brain’s cognitive function and has made aging much more tolerable. With this, your ability to think and remember information will be better maintained as you age. 56 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org The most common excuse we hear from people who don’t exercise is that they don’t have the time and are too busy with their schedules. However, they should know that exercise increases their mental and physical health, helping them to become more focused and thus more productive at work. An improvement in work productivity would in turn help them finish it sooner. Mental Games – For our minds to function properly, mental stimulation is of the utmost importance as it helps our brain accept new skills and ideas. One can stimulate his mind through games such as chess, bridge, poker or even Sudoku. Through these games, our minds are kept active, which maintain the neuron connections in our brain. In fact, by playing such games to improve memory, you’ll get to practice your skills of recollection. As you already know, the more we practice, the better our memories will be. Our brain is just like a muscle – the more we use it, the stronger it becomes. Learn something new every day – Challenging the brain to learn new things will help it stay sharp and active. Joining a tai chi club or enrolling on an arts course can really do your brain some good. Go out of town – Traveling is a good form of stimulation for the human brain. Exposing oneself to new countries and cultures is a very effective stress‐reliving activity. Immerse yourself in the new culture and enjoy the scenery. Taking a 57 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org break from your usual hectic lifestyle is a treat that your brain will appreciate, as it allows for time to recuperate and to get a fresh perspective on things that you are already familiar with. Make new friends, spend time with old friends – Making new friends can be a very mind stimulating experience. Humans are very social creatures, as any interaction with new‐found friends can be a refreshing experience. When we are surrounded with people we are familiar with, the atmosphere becomes less tensed and we can begin to relax and have a good laugh. The release of tension will give your mind a good chance to unwind and rest. Getting enough sleep – This is one of the most overlooked aspects of keeping a sharp mind. Our brain recuperates and organizes the information that we learn during the day as we sleep at night. Without sufficient sleep, our minds become disoriented, and our ability to recall things will be dramatically reduced. Enjoy life once a week – In the busy lives that we live in, stress relief has never been more important. It’s a good idea to engage in relaxing activities at least once a week to allow your mind to drift and rest. The less you take time off your schedule to relax, the more overworked your brain will be, and the faster your productivity levels will fall. 58 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org In conclusion, we must strive for balance in our lives. We need to be able to work hard when required, and also to rest when our productivity levels are falling. It is a delicate balance between growing through adversity, and growing through recuperation. Diary Boosters Your mind can only handle so much. Therefore is it vital to categorize the information from the high priority to low priority range. The reason for categorizing your information is to actually help you focus on the high priority information and at the same time take note of the low priority information. Some of these systems that I will explain in details later include creating files for storing information in one place, setting up reminder files which provide a reminder to do something on a particular day or date. Keeping a daily log or calendar, or placing notes on your computer screen or refrigerator. Password Storage File ‐ Everyone has passwords for everything today, it could easily range from email to bank accounts to online subscriptions to payment accounts. Adding to that, many services advises you to change your password from regularly in order to keep you better protected. Some people on the other hand use the same password for everything and changing one password would mean that they would change the rest to match it for easy memory purposes. However, this approach doesn't always work since some companies have different formats for passwords and some may choose to assign you a password 59 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org when signing up. Another reason why it is not recommended is because, once your password is leaked, all your accounts would be in grave danger. What we should do instead is to keep a file where you would store all your passwords in and always keep a backup copy of this file in another safe place. The file would ensure that passwords that you rarely use will be stored safely especially those really long ones that can burn your brain if you struggle to encode them. To further organize these files, you might want to print out each account and password and list them according to type of company for example, banks, writers and websites. Alternatively you can create an Excel document with this list. Event Reminder File – One of the better ways to remember a particular event on a particular day and time would be to use a calendar program that can be found on your phone or computer. What it does is that the event or activities that you record down would automatically prompt you in the form of an alarm tone that you have a particular event or activities coming up. By doing so you are less likely to forget those important dates like wedding dinners and birthday events. Placing Things In The Right Place – Many times, we tend to misplace our belongings so what I would recommend is to establish a few checkpoints for you 60 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org to place your items. These checkpoints can be placed both upstairs and downstairs and if you use this approach you wouldn’t have to turn your house upside down to find your house keys or your cellphone in the future. Of course you need the dedicated time and effort to develop a habit of putting these items are the designated checkpoints so that they will be there the next time you need them. Reminder Zones – Another technique that you could try using would be having reminder zones around your house. For instance if you are planning to return a friend a particular DVD when your meeting him/her later, you could place the DVD on the chair next to your house door. By doing so, as you leave the house you will be reminded to take the DVD along with you. So the next time you meet your friend, you won’t disappoint them by forgetting to bring their favorite DVD. Preparing The Night Before – One of the worst times of the day to remember what you need to bring is right before you are rushing out of the house. So what I would recommend is to prepare what you need the night before. Thus, instead of fighting the clock and stressing your mind early in the morning, prepare what you need before you turn in to bed the night before and start your day stress free. Carrying a Notebook or a Notepad ‐ Another simple idea would be to carry a notebook in your bag with you all the time. By doing so you could record vital 61 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org information whenever you want to and you can refer to it anytime to check for upcoming events. Memory Depressant In life, one cannot escape dualities; black and white, yin and yang, good and bad. Where memory is concerned, while there are good things to speak of, there are also certain bad elements that you need to be aware of and subsequently avoid. Memory depressants are becoming increasingly part of our daily lives in this day and age and that is why more and more people are suffering from memory loss even at younger adult ages. Smoking, caffeine, alcohol, lack of sleep, stress levels and anxiety are some of the commons stimulants that spark memory loss. Even though we may find it hard to avoid every single memory depressant, we should however try to avoid as many as we can and at the same time induce some memory boosters in our daily lives. Smoking – Studies have shown that regular intake of nicotine through smoking cigarettes can impair memory as much as consuming several alcoholic beverages. Results show that nonsmokers are able to remember a set of numbers faster than smokers, and they also scored higher on standard memory tests. Even though smoking may enhance performance of simple tasks, it however hinders more complex cognitive processes. Smokers are recommended to put off lighting up a 62 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org cigarette right before a memory task because it has been scientifically proven that smoking slows blood flow to the brain, which means less oxygen gets to the brain and thus impedes cerebral activity, particularly any process having to do with memory. Alcohol – Consumption of alcohol has shown to interfere with the capacity to learn and slow down memory functions that can lead to defective recording and storage of memory. Alcohol abuse would definitely bring about greater consequences. Without a doubt, short‐term memory loss is a classic problem that people who abuse alcohol face. However, the degree of effect on each individual varies depending on individual tolerance levels and other factors. For instance, in terms of age, people age around 40‐60 years old tend to forget certain things more easily after drinking, but younger adults can experience the same issue following excessive alcohol abuse. While a good majority of alcohol related problems seem to disappear slowly when the person stops drinking, constant alcohol abuse may cause a lifetime of damage. Stress and Anxiety – With growing pressure from your bosses and demanding jobs, don't be surprised if you have issues with your memory skills. The reason for this is that prolonged or consistent exposure to high levels of the stress hormones cortisol, have a negative effect on our memory. Although it would take several days of stress from major surgery or psychological trauma for cortisol to induce 63 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org memory impairment, memory problems can still appear from less severe but long‐term chronic stress. However these less severe chronic stresses have shown to be not harmful to the brain. Generalized anxiety on the other hand, is strongly linked with stress and it can be a major issue when it comes to memory problems because anxiety breaks down your concentration by drawing you to focus on what you may be anxious about instead of other things. In the midst of an anxiety attack, a person's memory is affected as he is in his own world focusing his mind solely on the internal disaster he is suffering from. Depression – Both memory problems and depression goes hand in hand because depression lowers the level of attention and at the same time reduces the capacity to concentrate which are two factors that can interfere with memory. Studies have shown that majority of depressed individuals aren’t good at maintain memory or storing memory that requires focused attention. 64 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Gracefully Aging Your Brain Keeping fit is one of the biggest concerns of people in the modern times. By staying fit, people are able to age gracefully. With this thought in mind, many people maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly and also try their best to manage stress as best they can. Unknowingly, these people are also helping their brain grow with age too. When the Brain Grows Old Our brain has the ability to constantly to reproduce neurons. However, as we age, the brain takes a much longer time to process an electrical response to a stimulus. This has been proven by a research team from the University of Maryland led by Professor Walter R. Bixby. The steady decline in brain function with age is inevitable. It is a natural phenomenon that everyone will experience sometime in their lives. However, people who live healthy and active lives are much more likely to stay mentally sharp in their golden years compared to those who live idle lives. The exercising of your memory is a lifelong journey, and is not something that you just do once and forget about. The more you practice, the better you’ll get. That’s all there is to it. 65 Awaken Your Photographic Memory Photographic‐Memory.org Conclusion Unfortunately, many people never get the chance to fully utilize the power of their memories, and often allow their brain cells deteriorate over time. With these techniques that I’ve shared with you, you are now light years ahead of your peers. Granted, some of these skills need a little getting used to, but once you’ve familiarized yourself with them, I guarantee that your capabilities of recollection will be boosted way beyond what you would have initially imagined. Take your time to fully understand how each of these techniques and skills work, and you’ll be handsomely rewarded in life. One last thing: always remember to practice, practice and practice! ☺ Yours Truly, 66