Personal Improvement - A Broad Perspective

Most of us have heard the term personal improvement, but what does it really mean to us? Reference to this term seems to be confined to factors pertaining to such abstract terms as, emotions, success, mind, goal setting, health, and other such words; but not much is said about other factors that help to bring about positive development in a person's life.

I say 'positive' development because I must stress the difference in the meaning of the words improvement and development. These two words are not really synonymous and cannot generally be used interchangeably. Something can develop from a good state into a bad one, or from a bad state into a good one; whereas nothing can ever improve from bad to worse! At this point I must mention that there is also a difference between the terms self improvement and personal improvement. Self improvement is personally enhancing your self; for example, your health, appearance, education, and such like; whereas personal improvement goes deeper than that. It embodies all of self improvement as well as benefits gained from your personal possessions, belongings, and involvement which contribute to your well being and upliftment, thereby enhancing your personal life. While personal improvement can aptly be defined by the abstract words mentioned above, and others such as, stress, inspiration, education, time managment, to name a few more, I view it from a broader perspective. According to the Dictionary, the adjective 'personal' means "concerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality"; and the word 'improvement' means "a change for the better." From the foregoing, when these two words are put together, they can only mean the effect that anything has on a person's life and personality in a postive manner; in other words, the term covers anything under the sun that can affect a person so as to bring about a change for the better in that person's life. Hence, I feel that the meaning also encompasses your livelihood, possessions, encounters, surroundings, lifestyle, actions, and all other areas in which you may be personally involved; for, as long as you are able to attach a personal possessive adjective such as 'my' appropriately to anything, ownership is suggested; that object becomes personal to you and some measure of benefit is, or could be, derived. One might ask, "What does my work at home business, real estate, or electronics, etc., have to do with my personal improvement?" Think about it. Do you expect to improve your lifestyle by getting involved in any of these or any other business for that matter? If you do, then you do expect some profit or personal benefit for your efforts. You work, obtain money, purchase whatever you wish - maybe a place of residence - and furnish it with whatever you desire so that you may enjoy the rewards of your labor. Now, can that property have the experience of being owned by you or anyone else? It cannot care who lives in it, whether you pay for it or not, whether it is equipped with electricity, whether it has a roof or floor; it cannot enjoy the good things of life; it is never happy or sad. Why? Because it is inanimate, it has no life; therefore, it cannot have emotions. Who becomes emotional? You, of course! Those things affect you personally. If I sent you a personal letter, it may not have anything to do with your physical self, but it may have to do with your finances; therefore it is indeed personal; it does not affect your body, but it certainly could affect your mind positively or negatively. I guess that by now you have got the point. No? Take a look at science and technology. Would you classify them under personal improvement? Maybe not. Now, think about it: Nothing can be accomplished by man without human involvement - hence, personal involvement. The inception and continuance of every venture is totally dependent upon the talent and ability of people. Even after being put into operation, technology cannot be fully functional without people and it is all for the benefit of the humana race. God has given mankind dominion over everything in the world, so as long as we have life, everything in this world affects us directly or indirectly in some small or great way for good (or evil because of sin). Needless to say that from creation, people have been involved in every facet of life irrespective of what category. The increase in knowledge throughout the ages has always been for the advancement and benefit of mankind. Human resource or workforce is a key ingredient for the progress and advancement of any business. There could be no human resources without personal involvement. Who have benefited from all the innovations throughout the ages? Must I elaborate? I really do not think it is necessary. An employer takes into consideration, certain characters of the employee - habits, capabilities, ethics, experience, education, skill, potential (as far as the advancement of the employer's business is concerned). The employer is interested in what the employee can contribute to the promotion of the business and for his (the employer's) improvement. Why do you think that an employer likes to engage someone with a good skill, education and learning? Equipment and technology cannot raise the standard of an organization unless there is human involvement. Who gets the reward from the profit of a business? Is it the business or its owner? We all know that a business cannot spend money; so when it is said that the profit belongs to the business (What a 'laff'!), that is only a front! When that business makes a profit or loss, a human being is either happy or sad. Anything that you are involved with, be it your vehicle or your job, as long as you can gain some sort of benefit, it enhances your life. Yes, you can achieve personal improvement from your possessions and involvement. Perhaps I am alone in my thinking on this subject, but I maintain that anything (yes, anything!) that brings you benefit from a good source, enhances your life and contributes to your personal improvement. Go ahead, work towards your personal improvement and enjoy life! Just my opinion.Jem Bacchus http://1-personal-improvement.com

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

What makes you tick? 10 Questions you should ask yourself for self improvement

This article seeks to lay down a few pointers to guide a person on the road to self improvement. One must weigh up what the options are and then decide what direction to take. Is it about earning more money or purely about improving ones mind. It could be about getting fitter and losing weight and feeling better as a result. The spark or motivating factor will determine the course to follow and the end result.
Be all you can be, but it's not always in the Army. I often see myself as somewhat contented with my life the way things are, but of course it's hard to think of anything else when where are real issues to be discussed.

Still I aspire for something deeper and more meaningful.

So we're all pelted with problems. Honestly it shouldn't even bother or even hinder us to becoming all we ought to be. Aspirations as kids should continue to live within us, even though it would be short-lived or as long as we could hold on to the dream. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks… or can they?

1. What do I really want? The question of the ages. So many things you want to do with your life and so little time to even go about during the day.

Finding something that you are good at can help realize that small step towards improvement. Diligence is the key to know that it is worth it.

2. Should I really change? Today's generation has taken another level of redefining 'self', or at least that's what the kids are saying. Having an army of teenage nieces and nephews has taught me that there are far worse things that they could have had than acne or maybe even promiscuity. So how does that fit into your lifestyle?If history has taught us one thing, it's the life that we have gone through. Try to see if partying Seventies style wouldn't appeal to the younger generation, but dancing is part of partying. Watch them applaud after showing them how to really dance than break their bones in break-dancing.

3. What's the bright side in all of this? With so much happening around us there seems to be no room for even considering that light at the end of the tunnel. We can still see it as something positive without undergoing so much scrutiny. And if it's a train at the end of the tunnel, take it for a ride and see what makes the world go round!

4. Am I comfortable with what I'm doing? There's always the easy way and the right way when it comes to deciding what goes with which shoes, or purse, shirt and whatnot. It doesn't take a genius to see yourself as someone unique, or else we'll all be equally the same in everything we do. Variety brings in very interesting and exciting questions to be experimented.

5. Have I done enough for myself? Have you, or is there something more you want to do? Discontentment in every aspect can be dangerous in large doses, but in small amounts you'll be able to see and do stuff you could never imagine doing.

6. Am I happy at where I am today? It's an unfair question so let it be an answer! You love being a good and loving mom or dad to your kids, then take it up a notch! Your kids will love you forever. The same goes with everyday life!

7. Am I appealing to the opposite sex? So maybe I don't have an answer to that, but that doesn't mean I can't try it, though. Whether you shape-up, change the way you wear your clothes or hair, or even your attitude towards people, you should always remember it will always be for your own benefit.

8. How much could I have? I suppose in this case there is no such thing on having things too much or too little, but it's more on how badly you really need it. I'd like to have lots of money, no denying that, but the question that raises is, how much are you willing to work for it?

9. What motivates me? What motivates you? It's an answer you have to find out for yourself. There are so many things that can make everyone happy, but to choose one of them may be the hardest part. It's not like you can't have one serving of your favorite food in a buffet and that's it. Just try it piece by piece.

10. What Really Makes You Tick? So? What really makes you tick? You can be just about anything you always wanted to be, but to realize that attaining something that may seem very difficult is already giving up before you even start that journey. Always remember, that self-improvement is not just about the physical or philosophical change you have to undergo, but it's something that you really want.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

A Starter Guide To Self Improvement

Negative influences are all around and can have a dramatic effect on your self esteem. Don't let unchecked people and circumstances pull you down. Here are 6 tips on how to minimize your exposure and how to concentrate on positive influences and as a starter guide for self improvement.

Staying calm, composed and maintaining strong self esteem in today's tough environment can be difficult but is not impossible if you follow a few simple guidelines. Here are 6 tips you can use as a starter guide to self improvement.

Everything and everyone else around you can affect your self esteem. Other people can deliberately or inadvertently damage your self image. Unchecked people and circumstances can ultimately destroy your self esteem and pull you down in ways you won't even notice. Don't let these influences get the best of you. But what should you avoid?

1 : A Negative Work Environment

Beware of a "dog eat dog" environment where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive and working extra is expected and not rewarded. In this environment no one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch, dinner, and stay at work late into the night. Unless you are very fortunate most of the time you will work too hard with no help from others around you. This type of atmosphere will ruin your self esteem. This is not just healthy competition, at its worst it is brutal and very damaging.

2: Other Peoples Behaviour

Bulldozers, brown nosers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronizers, sluffers - whatever you want to call them, all have one thing in common - an overriding desire to prosper at the expense of others. Avoid them and do not be tempted to join them. They may get some short term advantage with their behaviour but deep down most are very insecure, unhappy and ashamed of their behaviour. For most their self esteem disappeared a long time ago. Seeing someone like this prosper is sickening but do not join them - you are better than that!

3: A Changing Environment

In today's fast moving society it is difficult if not impossible to avoid change. Changes challenge our paradigms and tests our flexibility, adaptability and alter the way we think. Changes can make your life difficult and may cause stress but, if it's inevitable, you must accept it, don't fight it and in time find ways to improve your life. Try to manage change and try to avoid multiple changes at the same time. If a particular change can't be avoided welcome it. Change will be with us forever, we must learn to live with it.

4: Past Experience

We all carry "baggage" - past experiences which have moulded us to who we are today, but some people live in their past experiences - usually something that hurt and still hurts. It's okay to cry out when you experience pain but don't let pain dominate your life as it will transform itself into fears and phobias. If something painful happens, or has happened to you, find a way to minimise the effects. Discuss it with a friend, a family member or a professional if necessary and move on. Don't let it continue to dominate your life and dictate your future actions. Because something bad has happened doesn't mean it will happen again. Learn what you can from any bad experience and move on.

5: Negative World View

The television news is full of doom and gloom and it is true that around the world there are many people suffering war, famine or other natural or man-made disasters. Whilst I do not suggest you should not care and do nothing, remember that there are many beautiful positive things happening too. Don't wrap yourself up with all the negative aspects around the world. Learn to look for beauty too for, in building self esteem, we must learn how to be positive in a negative world.

6: Determination Theory

Are we a product of our biological inherited characteristics (nature) or a result of the influences we absorb throughout out lives (nurture)? I believe how we are is due to a mixture of both nurture and nature and as a result our behavioural traits are not fixed. Whilst it is true that some things are dictated by genetics (for example race, color and many inherited conditions) your environment and the people in your life have a major effect on your behaviour. You are your own person, you have your own identity and make your own choices. The characteristics your mother or father display are not your destiny. Learn from other people's experience, so you don't suffer the same mistakes.

Are some people are born leaders or positive thinkers? I don't believe so. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self esteem and drawing on positive experiences for self improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. No-one will come to you and give you permission to build your self esteem and improve your self. It is in your control.

It can be hard to keep positive, especially when others and circumstances seem to be conspiring to pull you down. You need to protect yourself and give yourself a chance to stay positive. Improving your self esteem gives you that protection.

One way to stay positive is to minimise your exposure to harmful influences while using affirmations to boost the positive influences in your life. Constantly reminding yourself of the good things in your life will keep the impact of negative influences to a minimum.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

Memory Improvement Skills Can Be yours Today

Have you wanted to know more memory improvement skills? Does it fascinate you to think that there are memory improvement skills that can be yours today? Want to know how some very simple strategies can enhance your memory beyond belief? Read on...

Have you ever seen someone in town and you knew you should know there name but could not recall it? Have you ever gone to dial a telephone number that you dialled hundreds of times before and just could not remember? Did you ever walk into a room but forgot what you went to do?

In these situations we can sometimes feel useless, distracted and unable to connect with our brain properly. That phenomena that is often referred to as 'tip of the tongue.' Then maybe your memory improvement skills need working on!

In July 1998 the University of Florida published some research findings that showed that elderly people should ignore stereotypes about memory loss.

Older people are much less likely to have major problems with their memory improvement skills if they believe in themselves and work to improve their recall, this University of Florida study finds.

The elderly are more likely than younger people to buy into the stereotype that they can't control their memory, and it affects not only their self-esteem but also how hard they try to remember, said Robin West, a University of Florida psychology professor who did the research.

In the study conducted by psychology graduate student Monica Yassuda, more than 200 older and young adults were divided into two groups. One group was told memory is a skill that can be improved with effort, and the other group that the ability to remember is fixed forever at birth, she said.

"There is some indication in the literature that older people tend to see memory as something they can't control -- you either have a good memory or you don't," West said.

"The results show that we need to encourage older adults to think of themselves as a group that has the potential to have a better memory if they work at it," she said. Other studies, which were conducted by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, have found the belief that people can control part of their lives is a good predictor of whether they age well mentally and physically, West said.

This way of looking at memory improvement skills of course does not have to only be applicable to the older generation, of course it applies to us all.

Let me give you some examples of things people say to me individually or in my seminars:

- I do not have a good memory.

- That is too much for me to remember.

- I have a memory like a sieve.

- I am afraid my memory is failing now that I am getting older.

My Granddad said something to me recently that really made me think. He and I were in his local village pub and we were joking about the fact that my Nana gave him a hard time for coming to the pub and ordered him not to drink too much, despite over 65 years of marriage.

My Nana has been quite ill for a number of years and she does not go out much and I mentioned to my Granddad that I noticed her struggling for her words every now and then, or struggling to remember a name and he said that it was nothing to do with her age, they are both well into their eighties, but rather it was that she has very little communication with others anymore. That was his opinion.

These quotes I just mentioned are beliefs but too often people say them as if they were facts. There are some very common misconceptions about memory and memory improvement skills: that it is an ability that cannot be changed; that you only have a certain amount; that it relates to age, and declines as we get older.

Memory is not about volume and it is not about content, it is about processes. It is about something we do, not something we have: it is about remembering.

Remembering is dependent on the connections we make between things. Imagine you are constructing an index. If you have referred to a book, or a person, by only one attribute, you will have only one data point and hence only one way of accessing that information. If you have used a number of different data points, each capturing a different aspect, you will have more ways to access this information.

Anyone can achieve enormous memory improvement by focusing on two particular aspects of memory: encoding and storage on the one hand and recall on the other. Today I write about encoding, next week I write about recall.

If you want to improve your ability to encode accurately and store information, you will need to check out your attitudes, beliefs and feelings:

Joan was an in-house business trainer who used to be great at remembering names. Over the past couple of years, she had come to resent an increasing workload and an ever-growing number of delegates. One day she was heard to say to a colleague: There is no way Im going to remember the names of all these delegates. Joans feelings of disappointment and resentment were affecting her beliefs about how much she could remember yet within her area of expertise she was quite capable of remembering vast bodies of information and new research. She did not actually want to remember the names of all the delegates, because in her view there were too many of them. Not surprisingly, she did find it difficult, though many years ago she had made it a matter of pride to learn all their names. But she had felt differently then.

So, consider how you think and feel about what it is you want to remember.

Feelings can affect encoding and storage in other ways too. Do you remember your first day at school? Many people do, often in considerable detail. But what about the second day? Probably not. The reason for this is that day one at school is a special day: you may have looked forward to it, or dreaded it; you may have a had a wonderful or an awful time. The teacher may have been really kind or expected you to be able to do things that you had not yet learnt. The playground may have been a great place to run around in or a terrifying place where giants a whole year older than you rushed past you and around you, yelling loudly and playing boisterously. There may have been a lot of feeling and strong feelings can make for vivid encoding.

Therefore, engage your feelings to make what you want to remember vivid.

Routes to lost information; some memory improvment skills:

1. One way to recover information is to recall the circumstances in which you first gained it. Maybe it was the name of someone at a party? Or something you heard on the radio? Remind yourself of s many details as you can of that party, involving information from all sensory systems. Who did you talk to? Where were you sitting, or standing? What music was playing? And so on. As you fill in the context, you may find the detail you want pops up or that search processes are triggered so that it pops up later.

2. Are you forgetting because you felt uncomfortable, uneasy or unhappy about something? If you need or wish to recover the information, pay attention to your feelings in the here-and-now and imagine they are like beads on a string. Very similar to the other times you have felt the same, feeling like this now is linked to all of the other times you have felt the same, feeling like this now is linked to all the other times and because the mind stores like things together, your attentiveness to these feelings now can lead you back along the string to the time and circumstances you forgot.

Paying attention as an integral part of your memory improvement skills:

From this day forward, think about how you encode every piece of information and how you experience life each day.

How much attention do you pay to the information you want to store? One of the most striking things about people who claim their memory is not very good is how good they are at remembering poorly! Suppose you are introduced to someone but as you are told their name you are pre-occupied. When later you try to remember their name all you can recall is what was bothering you then and what they looked like. In such circumstances there is nothing wrong with your memory. Your way of remembering the process of encoding that you employed has faithfully encoded exactly what was going on.

You were preoccupied and this meant you had your own internal dialogue running. So any additional auditory input like the persons name would be competing with your internally generated auditory signal. What they looked like is more memorable partly because visual data is generally easier to recall it is more vivid but also that element was less cluttered with internal signals at that moment.

What you attend to will affect what you actually commit to memory. So often, poor encoding is confused with poor memory. Be aware of this when looking to enhance those memory improvement skills.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

What Does it Mean to “Self Improve?”

Self Improvement has become mainstream. In the last few years, since I have been writing articles and submitting them to article sites, I’ve noticed that the category of “Self Improvement” has been showing up lately when it was never there before. To me, this is very good news.

But what does it really mean to “Self Improve?” What are we really improving when we self improve? And what “self” are we improving?We each have two “selves” – our wounded self and our core Self. Our core Self is our true self, our natural soul self – our essence. Our core Self is our passion, our joy, our gifts and talents, our ability to love, our creativity. We come into this life as our core Self, and when this Self is loved and valued by our parents, we continue to naturally grow our God-given gifts and talents and manifest the fullness of our beings. This Self wants to improve by learning the skills necessary to fully express itself. But when this Self is not seen and valued in the way we needed, we create an alternative self, a self we hope will have control over getting the love we need and avoiding the pain we can’t handle – a self to help us feel safe. This is our false self, our wounded self, our ego self. This self is filled with the false beliefs that we absorbed as we were growing up – beliefs that end up limiting our true, core Self. This self does not needs improving – it needs healing.

The term “self improvement” can sometimes be a bit misleading, because we do not want to improve our wounded self. We do not want to improve on the ways we lie, manipulate, and avoid in our attempts to have control over getting love and avoiding pain. We don’t want to improve on our many addictions to substance and processes. We don’t want to improve on our anger, our compliance, our withdrawal and our resistance. We want to heal it. Healing and improving are not the same thing.

We can certainly self-improve when it comes to skills. We can improve in sports, in art, music, writing, cooking. We can improve our health and wellbeing by improving our diet and exercise program. We can improve in the knowledge we need to be more successful regarding work and money. We might be able to improve our relationships by learning new communication skills. But what if acquiring new knowledge and skills does not improve our health, or our ability to earn money, or our relationships? And what if learning new skills does not bring us more joy and inner peace? It may mean that we need to heal the underlying fears and false beliefs that cause us to be anxious, depressed, stressed, guilt-ridden, shamed, withdrawn, angry, blaming, or sad. Sometimes Self Improvement just means practicing a skill, and others times it means that we need to participate in a deep healing process. For example, many people try to improve their health by losing weight and exercising. But if their food addictions are covering over unhealed pain, they might not be able to just change their diet. They might need to open to a healing process in order to eventually improve.

If you are really trying to self improve but find yourself stuck and unable to progress, or find that you have no joy or inner peace, you might want to open to the possibility that unhealed pain and beliefs are blocking your progress and causing your pain. It is easy to improve yourself when there is nothing blocking the way. But if you have old false beliefs about your adequacy and worth, these beliefs may be blocking your ability to take loving action in your own behalf. All your efforts to self improve will not bring you the satisfaction you are seeking if you have beliefs that are keeping you limited in fully expressing your true, core Self. If you are stuck, then you need to seek out a healing process, such as the Inner Bonding process we teach, that will move you out of the fears and beliefs that limit you. Healing these fears and limiting beliefs will open the door to improving your life in all ways!

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

Why is it Important to Improve your self ?

This article is about self improvement and seeks to point out that we shouldn't think that others are somehow better or more secure than us. Just because someone has apparently got it all together or looks more confident than us doesn't mean that they haven't got any room for improvement. We all have areas in our lives that could do with a bit of sharpening up so really this topic should be one that could occupy us for lifetime learning.

Sometimes, when all our doubts, fears and insecurities wrap ourselves up, we always come up with the idea of "I wish I was somebody else." More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better than us.- when in reality, the fact is, most people are more scared than us.

You spot a totally eye-catching girl sitting by herself at a party, casually sipping on a glass of Asti Spumanti. You think to yourself, "she looks so perfectly calm and confident." But if you could read through her transparent mind, you would see a bunch of clouds of thoughts and you might just be amazed that she's thinking "are people talking about why I am seated here alone?... Why don't guys find me attractive? …I don't like my ankles, they look too skinny… I wish I was as intelligent as my best friend."

We look at a young business entrepreneur and say "Wooh… what else could he ask for?" He stares at himself in the mirror and murmurs to himself, "I hate my big eyes… I wonder why my friends won't talk to me… I hope mom and dad would still work things out."

Isn't it funny? We look at other people, envy them for looking so outrageously perfect and wish we could trade places with them, while they look at us and think of the same thing. We are insecure of other people who themselves are insecure of us. We suffer from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and lose hope in self improvement because we are enveloped in quiet desperation.

Sometimes, you notice that you have an irritating habit like biting off your finger nails, having a foul mouth, and you – of all people, are the last to know.

I have a friend who never gets tired of talking. And in most conversations, she is the only one who seems to be interested in the things she has to say. So all of our other friends tend to avoid the circles whenever she's around, and she doesn't notice how badly she became socially handicapped – gradually affecting the people in her environment.

One key to self improvement is to LISTEN and TALK to a trusted friend. Find someone who you find comfort in opening up with even in the most gentle topics you want to discuss. Ask questions like "do you think I am ill-mannered?", "Do I always sound so argumentative?", "Do I talk too loud?", "Does my breath smell?", "Do I ever bore you when we're together?". In this way, the other person will obviously know that you are interested in the process of self improvement. Lend her your ears for comments and criticisms and don't give her answers like "Don't exaggerate! That's just the way I am!" Open up your mind and heart as well. And in return, you may want to help your friend with constructive criticism that will also help her improve her self.

One of Whitney Houston's songs says "Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." True enough. In order to love others, you must love yourself too. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have.

Before telling other people some ways on how to improve themselves, let them see that you yourself are a representation and a product of self improvement. Self improvement makes us better people, we then inspire other people, and then the rest of the world will follow.

Stop thinking of yourselves as second-rate beings. Forget the repetitive thought of "If only I was richer… if only I was thinner" and so on. Accepting your true self is the first step to self improvement. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others only to find out at the end that we've got 10 more reasons to envy them.

We all have our insecurities. Nobody is perfect. We always wish we had better things, better features, better body parts, etc. But life need not be perfect for people to be happy about themselves. Self improvement and loving yourself is not a matter of shouting to the whole world that you are perfect and you are the best. It's the virtue of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we then begin to feel contented and happy.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

The Memory Improvement System

I recently wrote another article here about memory improvement skills which highlighted how we can encode information differently to improvem memory. Today I follow on from that to show how to enhance retrieval of information with the memory improvement system. Read on to find out how...

I have previously touched on the subject on enhancing memory by paying more attention to how we encoded information and experience. Here, I want to move on to how we retrieve information to enhance our memory. To heighten your awareness of your own memory improvement system.

Last week I spoke about encoding information better so that we can access it more readily when required to do so. Encoding information with your own memory improvement system of course means processing it internally; and internal processing involves your senses. A number of things emerge from this:

1. We tend to find it easier to remember using certain preferred senses. So if you are strongly visual, make sure when you are being introduced to someone new that you take a mental picture of their face and perhaps see their name on their forehead, or like a badge or necklace close to their face. If you know you find it easy to remember sounds, hear the sound of them saying their name and make sure you record it internally alongside their image, so that when you see them next the visual image calls up the sound of the name. I always make a point of saying the persons name several times within the first few sentences out aloud to really get it in my mind. Looking in the appropriate direction to access the representational system you want to store the information in will help ensure you store the information in the most appropriate way too.

2. The more of your senses that are involved, the richer your internal representation and the storage will be. You can do this deliberately to help with encoding. Involve as many of your senses as possible, in order to make a memory really rich a retrievable by multiple routes. (Anything memorable about the temperature, moisture and pressure of their handshake for example)

3. Some things are best encoded using particular senses, which means attending in that system before attempting to encode anything. Consistently good spelling in English, for example, depends on visual processing. Researchers have investigated what good spellers did, and found that they all store mental pictures of how the words look. When they need to spell the word, they refer to that internal picture to get the right spelling.

People who are good at physical skills will tend to store information about them kinaesthetically, and they may not be able to explain what they do in words. I know someone who is a genius at carpentry; he does lots of work for me. When asked by his friend to explain how to use a lathe, he found that he was quite unable to explain or even remember how he did it. He had to sit down at the machine and actually work with it himself: his hands seemed to know what to do.

When developing your own memory improvement system, you can develop a facility with any of your senses if you practise. This can seem remarkable to others who have not bothered to do so. And this is true of entire cultures as well. Any culture reliant on oral transmission, for instance, will have highly developed auditory memory strategies such as rhythm, rhyme and mnemonics. So while it seems amazing to us, it was perfectly natural in ancient Greece for epic poems thousands of lines long to be committed to memory and accurately recited. Such skills still exist in parts of Africa where literacy and computer ownership are low, and also in India.

Conversely, imagine how strange it would be trying to learn a dance by reading a book about it, or learning to sing by looking at pictures of people singing. You need the right tool for the job. So check if you have the right senses alerted for what you want to learn.

Before I go further, here is a little quiz, to help you find out more about your own memory:

Exploring Your Memory:

- Get really curious about your memory. What do you find easy to remember? What do you tend to forget? Do your own patterns tell you anything about what is important to you and what is less so? Or what kinds of representation come most naturally and you store most easily? Or where your self-limiting beliefs are?

- Find out how you go about remembering. Do you: make pictures of the information? Tell yourself stories? Hear someone telling you? Try it on and experience? Like to get your hands dirty?

- What has to happen for you to forget something? Does your mind Just go blank? Do you steer away from something and find yourself thinking of something else? Do you say to yourself, I must not forget this in which case your wording itself is directing your attention to forgetting rather than remembering. Remember this is far more progressive by the way.

- How do your remembering and forgetting relate to your interest in the information and your feelings about it?

- What kind of things do you have a poor memory for, and why?

- Do you have a good memory for things you would rather not? I knew someone who easily remembered everything that went wrong and every time he was ridiculed by others. If you do, how are you encoding these experiences? Are you replaying a video? Listening to a tape? Feeling the feelings? See if you can pinpoint how you are doing this.

So let's get on to the subject of memory retrieval.

Encoding and retrieval are closely linked. Bruce Chatwin recounts a really good example of how the two processes interact in his book The Songlines. Visiting Australia, Chatwin learnt how the Aboriginal culture and history was encoded and passed on through songs that related to invisible paths winding across the land- the Songlines. So the land itself and all its natural features, every hump and hillock, encoded the stories of the ancient Dreamtime from generation to generation.

The Aborigines sing their Songlines as a series of couplets that match the length of time it takes to walk a particular stretch of land. So the land and song are one. In fact, according to Chatwin, they believe that they are singing the land into existence as they walk over it, in a wondrous mixture of geography and mythology. Each tribe has its own territory and Songline, and each knows about the history of its neighbour because of the way their Songlines interlink.

While travelling in the back country, Chatwin gave a lift to a man called Limpy, who wanted to visit a place he had never been to, which was of immense importance on his Songline. After seven hours driving, and about ten miles away from the valley, Limpy began muttering and gesticulating rapidly as he stared out of the window. He had begun to recognise places he had only previously heard about, and he was singing the Songline to himself. But he was forced to do this in great haste because of the speed of the car: the Songline he knew went at walking speed.

The Songline had been encoded through singing and walking through a landscape with close attention to detail, and in a linear sequence. Every note of the melody was linked to a feature of the landscape, and this made remembering the Songline and passing it to all tribe members and down generations much easier.

When the car journey intersected with the Songline, Limpys memory of the whole Songline was triggered, but where the man-made road deviated from the Songline Limpy switched off and only resumed the experience when the road met the line again.

A somewhat similar process was used by Roman orators when they memorised complex speeches. They would mentally link each heading of their speech in its correct sequence with the features of another sequence they already knew well such as the landmarks of a particular building or route. By linking the sequencing of the newly created speech to a sequence they already knew, they highjacked an existing memory to help them remember the new speech.

If you want to use this pattern to help remember a story, or a presentation, think of a route you know really well. Take yourself along it in your mind, stopping at each major landmark and finding ways to link the sequence of the headings in your story or presentation with the sequence of landmarks. Inventing links will help you create the links you need, and the more ridiculous or vivid the links the easier you will find them to remember.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com