Have you forgotten your memory strengths?
Have you ever reflected on your memory strengths?
And how you may have ended up with those strengths?
We may have a tendency to focus so much on having a ‘bad memory’ that we forget all the times our memory actually does work for us.
It allows us to walk and talk, perhaps pull out those old stories, random facts and figures, be aware of an upcoming dinner or figure out where we last put our phone.
And we’re all different.
So, we would understandably find some of these things easier than others.
I’ve typically found my short-term memory for day-to-day life a lot stronger than details of a trip a few years ago or random facts for example.
It’s only recently, that I’ve done a bit more pondering as to why.
It’s helped me realise a couple of things.
Firstly, I can get stronger with other areas of my memory if I want to.
Secondly, I can accept and be happy with my memory being stronger in certain areas more than others.
A common saying comes to mind - ‘there’s no such thing as perfect’.
Now getting to the question of why!
Why might I have ended up with a stronger short-term memory?
Growing up, conversations were based more around small day-to-day happenings and updates on people rather than for example historical facts, lengthy knowledge-based information or stories.
This is therefore what I learnt to be necessary to ‘survive’ - being able to operate effectively day-to-day by planning and organisation and knowing about people to build good relationships.
This is what my memory was shaped around.
I did also take a chance to consider what could be holding me back from accessing more of my memory potential?
Here’s what I came up with:
Negative thoughts about life and myself used to dominate on a day to day basis. This would have limited my capacity to think about other things. For example, thinking about information I was learning or recalling a funny occurrence that had happened in past years or more recently.
My thoughts being scattery also made it challenging to think things through and make connections with existing knowledge to allow myself to understand and remember clearly.
Having a tendency to not communicate my thoughts to others (because of the point above and because I felt I had to communicate it ‘perfectly’ - doubting I could do so).
Having a lot of time on my own during certain phases of my life meant less opportunities to talk with others to help make sense of things and recall information, both of which strengthen memory.
Feeling anxious provided another challenge to thinking clearly
These reflections on understanding why my memory has typically worked a certain way have really been key to strengthening my belief that there is more capacity there, it’s just a matter of working through the challenges.
This is something you can do to discover this power too!
Here are my 4 suggested questions you can ask yourself:
In what ways does your memory already work well?
Why do you think that is?
Do you really need to improve other parts of your memory? (It’s always best to start from a place of acceptance! Acceptance of yourself exactly as you are).
What are the challenges and what strategies could you put in place to overcome these challenges?
(Strategies could relate to your motivation, attention or the memory techniques).
Ok now here’s a get started challenge for you!
Think of one thing right now that you have a good memory for.
Why might this be?
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