Memory Strategy Exercise
…September is the month of the Forget me not flower so I thought it was appropriate to talk about memory and how we may feel that it could do with some improvement. How many times have you run up the stairs for something only to forget what you were going up there for?Or talking to someone and suddenly forgetting the name of the place you were talking about or a name of a person? I know I certainly have! Memory or lack of remembering can be caused by many factors such as stress, overwhelm, distraction, noise, age, or during the perimenopause or menopause. So let’s look at memory and simple strategies that we may use that help us to remember more easily. The exercise offered to you will help you to identify your preference and therefore help you to use when trying to remember something.
Types of Memory
Memory is related to the development of our representational systems.
Visual = remembering what we see.
Auditory= remembering what we heard.
Kinaesthetic= remembering movement and feelings
Memory very simple put is the process of input, storage, and retrieval of information. When most people say they have a bad memory, what they really mean is that they have a hard time recalling. We all retrieve information differently using our senses. These simple exercises will help you to identify if you find remembering more easily either visually, Auditory or Kinaesthetically. In NLP language this is known as VAKOG. Therefore, by acknowledging which is your strongest preference will enable you to recall information more easily. The exercise is the same exercise repeated three times each time using a difference preference. Visual, Auditory, kinaesthetic Please let me know how you get on as I would love to know what you discover!
Memory Strategy Exercise
2 people required. One to speak and one to memorise!
First exercise is a Visual Exercise. You will need some paper and a pen for this. Remember this isn’t a test to see how many things you can remember so please do not cheat and write them down before the other person tells you the 30 seconds is up.
Firstly
Look at the box below and remember as many things on the list as possible for 30 seconds!
Now place the table with the words on away so that you can’t see them, remember no cheating!
Now write down on your paper all the words from the table that you can remember. Set yourself 30 seconds to do this.
Once you have done this, write down what you noticed what was going on for you. Were you reading the words out loud? Were you grouping the words together? Were you telling yourself a story about the words to remember them? Did you feel stressed when doing the exercise? Did you feel panic at all in trying to remember? Did you sing the words to yourself.
Now look at the words you have written down. Did you remember the animals’ names in a cluster or order? Bear, Fox, Rabbit, Horse, Dog, Mouse, Otter. One thing that helps anchoring our storage and retrieval is by mnemonics for example Roy G BIV = Richard of York gave battle in vain. Another way of remembering if through association think of how easy it is to remember a situation when you look at a photo of somewhere you have visited, how easy is it for you to remember the time of year, the weather, people around you, what was happening at that time. This is because it is easier for us to remember aspects of an event when you are in an internal state that is similar to the one you were in all the time that the event initially occurred.
Auditory exercise
It may help to close your eyes for this exercise.
One of you speaks out nine letters or numbers for example 21NARD3CB
The person speaking reads this out 3 times slowly
Now open your eyes and write down what you can remember. Remember this is not a test to see what you can remember it is a way of discovering what preference you are!
Again notice what you noticed about yourself during the exercise. Were you grouping the letters and numbers together, were you repeating this out loud? Were you saying them to yourself in your head?
Kinethetic Exercise
For this exercise I want you to use your finger as your pen and to write down as the person says the letters and numbers to you on your leg. The person speaking out the numbers and letters repeats these to you 3 times and each time you use your finger as your pen and write it down on your leg. (You may remember this exercise from your childhood when someone would write a letter or word on your back with their finger and you had to guess what the word or letter was).
An example of the numbers or letters you could use could be 83ER2KN7AU
So sitting comfortably with your finger ready as the person reads out the letters and numbers write them down on your leg as they say them. The person saying the letters and numbers repeat them 3 times to you. Now get your pad and pen out and write down what you can remember. Again notice what you notice, how were you feeling? What was you saying to yourself? How did you do?
So what stragety was easier for you?
What did you do mentally to try to remember the characters?
What was happening internally?
What were you most aware of?
Did you attempt to engage other senses to help you remember?
If you would like to talk about how you can find your new purpose contact me on nickidennis66@googlemail.com