It happens sometimes to remember a meeting just when you are already late for it or go to the supermarket and forget what you were supposed to buy. These are just a few reasons for people to wish for a very good memory and there is a saying an elephant never forgets.

But what if we can be just like the elephant. What if we can improve our memory skills and memorize all the important things we used to forget, wouldn’t that be a big victory? There are certain memory stimulating games and all sorts of techniques that should help someone improve their memory.

picture by Shutterscript

There are two different approaches to help your memory. Internal techniques that involve association, visualization and observation and external techniques that include written instructions, organizing, environmental factors or sound triggers.

Here are a few ways to improve memory, that helped me and you may benefit from.

1. Keep an active brain. This is probably the best advice I can give you. Your brain is not a muscle so exercising inside your head is needed to keep it “growing” and to create new nerve connections.
   How to do it. More complex ways require learning. A new language, skiing, roller-blading, dancing or playing a musical instrument are all great ways to create activity inside your brain. Just consider how many images or happenings you could associate that new French word you’ve learned. Easier tasks than learning, are puzzles and games.
2. Make associations. Creating a mental link between the things you already knew and new information is very important. Associating things is a very good memory booster. It’s like filing your documents on letters and you go to B to find Bill’s invoices. Let your imagination free when you associate things.
3. Visualize and observe. When you want to remember something in particular you should create a mental picture of what you’re interested in. Be very attentive to details and take a benchmark.
   How to do it. The most common example is forgetting where you’ve parked the car. When you get out look around and see if there are any signs near you, count the lanes to the entrance or see if you’re in front of a certain building. You will most likely remember the color or the architectural elements of that building.
4. Repeat things. Practice makes it perfect, some would say. One of the biggest concerns when talking in front of people is that you may forget your speech. It is true, but how can we make sure we won’t? The more times you hear, see or speak about something the easier you will remember it. Go in front of the mirror and tell the speech loud or focus about it in bed and do it silently.
5. Meditation. I remember when I read The Silva ”Mind Control’ Method (printed book by José Silva) for the first time I was amazed. The guy was a city planner and he lost the drawings for a proposed shopping mall in the area. What he did?
   

   He sat at his desk. In a moment his eyes closed and he became still and quiet. Anyone might have thought he was composing in the face of disaster.

   A full ten minutes later he opened his eyes, rose slowly, and walked outside to his secretary. “I think I’ve found them,” he said calmly. “Let’s look at my expense account for last Thursday, when I was in Hartford. What restaurant did I have dinner in?”

   He telephoned the restaurant. The drawings were there.

   I guess it explains things very well. I always try to meditate 10 minutes a day when everything is peaceful in the office. I put both of my hands over the abdomen, I breathe deep and I try to concentrate on the calmness that surrounds me.

6. Exercise. If you’re fighting a sedentary lifestyle and exercise daily not only your muscles will be happy. You will improve blood circulation throughout your body (brain included), be more alert and relaxed
7. Eating and sleeping. If you’ve been a reader on SocialPacks you already know that we care a big deal about eating and sleeping. There are certain things you can eat to have more energy and a few tips to getting a good night’s sleep that will keep your brain healthier. Try to include fish in your meals, foods containing anti-oxidants, Vitamin E, Niacin, Vitamin B-6.
8. Organize your life. I remember what Grandpa was saying that the way you make your bed is how you sleep. Later on I realized that he was right. Living a complicated life is not going to make it easy for your brain to remember things. If your office is filled with files and papers that no one ever try to put in order, don’t expect to find what you’re looking for. Same goes for your brain.
9. Reduce stress. A cluttered life, eating problems, sleeping problems or a bad job could lead to living a very stressed life. When you’re stressed out you won’t be able to concentrate and makes remembering a very difficult process. Declutter your desk and the whole work environment, relax when you have time and play sports when you can. All these help to have a healthier brain.

I hope these are going to help you out and I am certain you guys have more tips and tricks to improve memory. Just leave your thoughts in the comments below.

*** This is a guest article by Hazel Mawdsley.

‘Bullying’ is a term often applied to many types of inappropriate behavior. In a workplace setting ‘bullying’ (alternatively referred to as workplace aggression or harassment) can be hard to define. The context is all important. Behavior which may be seen as harmless, bonding banter in one workplace may be felt as a humiliating and isolating experience in another. However, there is general agreement amongst researchers of workplace bullying that it involves four key characteristics.

photo by DonBaird

Workplace aggression involves some form of negative behavior on the part of the perpetrator. Only rarely does this manifest itself as actual or threatened physical harm. More typically, bullying takes the form of verbal abuse or more ‘subtle’ acts which rob individuals of the ability to perform their jobs effectively and of their dignity. Withholding information which affects an individual’s performance, having opinions ignored and being exposed to unmanageable workloads are some frequently experienced examples.

Second, researchers agree that bullying is not a ‘one-off’ event but a relentless and persistent pattern of negative behavior.

Researchers also agree that workplace harassment only occurs between parties of equal power. Victims of bullying are not in a position to defend themselves. In the UK bullying is typically a ‘top down’ phenomenon, where superiors bully subordinates. However, the inequality may be informal such as membership of a clique, where bullying occurs between peers.

Finally, bullying has a detrimental impact on the recipient. It erodes a person’s self-worth and gives rise to a range of physiological and psychological ailments. The Chartered Management Institute (2005) reported that bullying accounted for one third to a half of all stress-related illness. Some researchers have even found Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms in targets of workplace aggression.

CONSEQUENCES

The adverse consequences of workplace bullying extend beyond the target to the wider organization. The costs of litigation, settlements and damaged reputations are just the start. Bullying is associated with higher absenteeism and staff turnover and lowered productivity of victims, perpetrators, witnesses, managers and investigators. The Chartered Management Institute (2005) estimated that £12.8 million working days are lost to stress.

Despite its destructive effects, harassment is prevalent in British workplaces. The DTI Fair Treatment at Work (2005) survey found 3.8% of respondents – representing about one million employees - had experienced bullying within a two year period. The existence of workplace bullying has been borne out by the perceptions of non-bullied colleagues in a number of studies.

AND CAUSES

It is therefore important to understand the causes of workplace aggression. Much research has been devoted to the role of personality and/or organizational factors in triggering bullying. Scandinavian research suggests that whilst a ‘victim personality’ may account for a minority of cases, it does not explain most reports of bullying. However, the working environment appears to be a significant factor. The struggle for ever greater profits and efficiency; unchallenging work; unclear roles; a lack of control over one’s work; unsupportive colleagues and weak leadership have all been associated with bullying. Managers tend to adopt a non-interventionist approach towards claims of bullying.

In a recent court case (Helen Green v Deutsche Bank) Helen Green was awarded considerable damages after it was held that her employers did not take reasonable steps to protect her from bullying by colleagues, despite being aware of the situation. This is consistent with the Chartered Management Institute (2005) survey which found that 60% of managers had received no training in how to tackle bullying. A picture is emerging of a need to develop strategies for preventing and intervening in incidents of workplace bullying to make our workplaces fairer and more productive places.

Hazel Mawdsley is researching the role of trade unions in addressing workplace bullying for her PhD at the Glamorgan Business School. The School is launching a new research centre for workplace behaviours in 2008 under the directorship of Professor Duncan Lewis and Professor Michael Sheehan who have established an international reputation in researching workplace bullying.

Currently, I am studying in the field of abnormal psychology. When one thinks of mental health, as in mental illnesses such as depression and obsessive compulsive personality disorder, one does not often associate these as manifesting in childhood. The reality is, however, that mental illness is a lot more predominate in children than once thought. The growing research in this area is on one hand very illuminating and informative but on the other hand very dark and saddening. Perhaps the most dark and saddening realization in the past years is that children as young as five or six can be thinking of committing suicide. What is even worse is that some, actually have a plan to do so.

Childhood is rich in emotional experience. This is a time when the human being learns to consolidate their emotional experiences to be able to understand themselves better and to be able to communicate with the outside world. What could go so wrong that a child would want to end their lives?

Although not completely understood to date, some indicators of depression have been pinpointed and include:

1. There can be a loss of interest or enjoyment in activities.
2. The child may experience a persistent sense of fatigue or loss of energy or on the other hand the child can be quite rambunctious and not able to sit still for a prolonged period of time. There may be fidgeting or pacing repeatedly as if trying to release pent up energy. This of course can cause an inability to concentrate.
3. There may be outbursts, crying or yelling for no apparent reason.
4. The depression may also manifest itself in somatic complaints, such as persistent headaches and pains in the body.
5. Change is a big indicator, as in change in sleep patterns, change in eating patterns etc…

The important thing to note is that if a child expresses suicidal thoughts or feelings, even in jest, or if there is an indication of substance abuse at a young age, (as young as five or six), to bring the child to a mental health professional (school counselor, hospital psychiatrist or psychologist, community worker) or consult online help forums or even telephone hotlines. There are many resources out there to help children get through their difficulties! One just needs to know the signs that the child is suffering.

Hypnosis, what does this word conjure for you? A shaman? A stage performance with people running around clucking like chicken? A being with power able to control the very will of the people in front of him with a single word, or even, a single glance?

Sitting in my hypnosis class my teacher stresses the fact that he has no super human powers. He is not gifted with the power to bend people to his own malicious wants. The only thing he is good at, he claims, is the power of suggestion. ‘Suggestion’ is the very thing that holds all the power when it comes to hypnosis. The hypnotist is the channel of suggestions to the audience in front of him.

Here are a few signs that you may be hypnotizable.

1. Are you suggestible? As mentioned this is highly important when it comes to hypnotism. The hypnotist simply implants a few minor ideas and then builds up from here.
2. Do you believe that hypnotism works? This ties in to the “are you suggestible”. Hypnotism will not work if you do not believe it will. Yet, on the other hand, pain medications and wart removal techniques may not work either if you believe that they won’t.
3. How good is your imagination? Can you easily picture a red apple in front of you? Can you easily picture a beach with a clear ocean lapping at the hot sand in front of you while you drink cold Pina Coladas in the shade? Once more this ties back to a person’s suggestibility. Those who are more suggestible can more readily see a scene unfold in front of them when asked to.

Hypnotism can be used to cure migraines, pain from cancer radiation and warts. It can help with time management, phobias and so much more. It isn’t magic. It is simply the path to unlocking the mechanisms inside the person. We each have the ability to cure ourselves of ailments and the hypnotist is simply one way of tapping into this power that we do not yet fully comprehend.

The hypnotist can be seen in the same light as a traditional healer who also uses the power of the mind to cure people of curses and physical ailments. The gypsy physic who uses people’s expectations and beliefs to predict the future or past. Even, the priest, who miraculously cures people because people believe in the power of God.

Hypnotism simply uses the power of suggestion and belief.

Many of us wish a perfect peaceful life, with routine keeping us safe from trying new things that could bring up disappointments in a world full of uncertainties. However, this is a bigger and sometimes smarter mechanism than us, that we belong to and it’s called comfort.

Bad Perspectives of Comfort

As long as you lose your motivation or faith for a better life just because what you’re

experiencing right now is convenient, is the biggest trap comfort can bring: you’ll say thank you to mediocrity and will be the prisoner of your daily surety. Same job, same road pattern, same restaurant, same resort for your vacation. You need to diversify your life.

Positive Comfort

Having a peaceful state of mind that will allow you to concentrate or will motivate you for fighting for your dreams then that’s a good thing. You should be able to take risks in order to get what you’ve decided, and to get past that dead point.

Now if you think you need to get out of the routine and do something new, I have 5 small steps that you can take. Some are easier to take and will take a strong will but unless you do so you will be trapped in your convenient lifestyle.

1. Set your goals. Setting goals is not an easy thing to do, but unless you know what you’re running for, you won’t be able to cross by on difficult road. Think how would you like your life to be or how to get old turned into new, and you have your goal. Taking up a sport, a better job, a dog or maybe a soul mate are just a few things people usually do to keep the comfort trap away.
2. Identify what’s wrong. You should be able to analyze your life up to the smallest detail and see if there is something you would like to change. That’s how you’re going to achieve what you planned.
3. Win some, lose some. You are going to change something to your life, therefore you should know you gain something and you give up to something. Think of changing your job that involves moving to another city or country. You leave behind all your family and friends but you’re up for a new experience, which is something you’ve wanted for so long.
4. Fight your own fears. When someone needs to change something big in their lives they always think what will others think or feel. So many times we stop doing what we desire just to make someone else happy. Unless you fight these fears you won’t step off your routine.
5. Don’t delay, just act. How many times you’ve heard of relationships where the couple won’t break up because one could be hurt or because they will have to split friends. We all need to make decisions, even if they will change our destiny more than we expect. What’s important is not to give up to your dreams when it’s harder. You’ll end up saying “I cannot believe that I did it. “

The SAFMEDS model of Remembering

Probably the most used method of studying is Flash Cards. You pick a chapter to study and take notes. You then transcribe them onto flash cards and rapid test yourself. You use them to write speeches, either by writing point form or the even whole speech. You use them for rapid learning, as with Multiplication Tables. These are just a few examples of the many uses of flash cards. They are pretty handy to have around.

Have you ever noticed that using flash cards doesn’t really benefit you? This article is for you. To put it bluntly, you are probably using them incorrectly. This leads to hours of wasted time and lots of frustration.

Ogden Lindsay invented the SAFMED method of using flash cards that has been proven through studies to actually work. The SAFMED method is used once you have transcribed the needed information onto the flash cards.

Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffle

This experimentally proven method goes as follows:

• Say the answer before you turn over the card. This will be an indicator to whether you really know the answer.
• Go through All the cards, as many as you can at a time of course, as Fast as you can. This has to be done in one Minute. Do this Each Day. Do not study your speech or your chapter notes the night before. Of course, you have heard this already. Countless studies have shown that studying the night before is helpful only up to a certain point. After this point it is detrimental to study. You will forget more easily because information will start working against you. New information will replace old information and old information will make it impossible to learn new information. These are called Retroactive Interference and Proactive Interference. These interferences will stress you out even more causing you to do even more horribly on your speech or test.
• Shuffle your cards so that you are not learning them in a specific order. Sure, you may get to the point where you can speed through the cards getting everything right. This is because you are always cueing the next answer. Shuffle them so that you will learn them out of order and then it will not matter what order they are on your test.

As with any method, this may take practice to work. With time and dedication not only will your learning and retention improve but also your learning rate will also get better. It will be difficult as first. I know when I use cue cards that I get these urges to peek at the answers. I tell myself “I know this! I need a little hint!” Don’t look at the answer. If you cannot get it right in the time allotted, put that card aside in the “not yet ready” pile. Go over that pile over and over. Then integrate it into the “I know this pile”! Don’t forget to Shuffle!!!

[Photo Source: Flickr]

Those people that are ambitious enough to have lots of goals, will agree with me that no matter how many you have over the course of your lifetime, they all go straight into one of the four distinct categories I’m going to mention below. Achieving a goal is not always easy, because sometimes it requires high levels of energy even for the smallest success.

Desire for happy relationships

We all wish to be respected, to be loved and to love those that we interact with. It’s in the human nature to desire happy relationships with other people, be it business or pleasure. We get involved with our community to meet people to give and to get something back from the society we live in. Isn’t it true that we always love to have a harmonious family life without any fights and negative discussions?

Passion for your work

Many times I am confronted with people (mostly young fellas) that think their biggest achievement at 25 or 30 years old is to have a promising career and to work with important people. That’s very true, because you feel like somebody if you made it to a successful career.

The need to be healthy

Though we disrespect healthy eating and don’t take proper care of our bodies, we all have a common goal. We want to be healthy because we don’t like pains or illness. The feeling of well-being brings a very enjoyable flow of energy. My advice for such a goal is to not take health for granted until something bad happens. Prevention is better than curing.

Financial richness

Don’t we all wish it? Is it a bad thing to desire a comfortable life without the worries for “tomorrow”? Of course not. As long as you are financial independent you are extremely lucky, because you can take decisions knowing that money is not a problem. A person that has enough money in the bank, feel less worried and less stressed.

It’s goals that we need, that we desire to achieve, that motivate us to keep going, to work or to love, and if you will think positive the will come true sooner or later.

image via Flickr

On many occasions I have heard people spew their beliefs that permanent memory is…permanent. That everything we learn is etched into “stone” in our brains. When we wish to remember an event, experience or information we simply ‘play back’ the information or experience like a DVD would. Well, if this was the case, why do we forget more often than we actually remember?

Sigmund Freud, a pioneer in the field of psychology, believed that everything we learn and experience is never forgotten. Somehow our subconscious ‘remembers’ everything even if our conscious does not. This could result in physical manifestations of our subconscious memories. An example of this would be forgetting that you were bitten by a dog but every time you see a dog you manifest symptoms of anxiety and fear.

So then, what is permanent memory if it is not permanent?

Experiencing something and learning information does require the storing of this information into what we call the ‘permanent memory’. Sometimes this information is easily forgotten because it was never encoded strongly enough from the working memory into the permanent memory. Sometimes the information is overwritten by new information and finally, sometimes the encoding was faulty to begin with. This can be related to installing a new program onto your computer to find that the program doesn’t work. You might need to reinstall the program meaning you may need to relearn the information making sure the encoding progress works and is strong.

So, just because you read a textbook once, or saw that phone number on a wall and recited it a couple of times, does not ensure you will remember this information later on. There is no proof that all information that we learn is stored “somewhere” in our brain and that if we think about it hard enough we will remember it. I have fallen into this trap many a times; sitting at a desk writing a test saying “I know I read this! It’s somewhere in the chaos of my mind!” Fact is, this is not true. It is very rare that I have remembered any information this way.

Experiences and information have been proven to shape our behavior however. As with the example of being bitten by the dog. Our behavior has changed for reasons that may be unknown. This is what psychologists call learning.

image via Flickr