I was thinking about how unfortunate it is that my grandmother doesn't remember things as well as she used to, and I started thinking about everything that I have learned about memory. The processes that facilitate memory formation are complex. Not only memory creation, but memory storage and recall can all be affected by mood and health. This article is a product of one of my missions to take over complete control of all of my mind and body functions someday.

 

Memory is what makes us who we are. It is a complex record of our past experiences, and a guide to our future. We all act upon our past experiences, good or bad, right or wrong. We rely on memory to help us perform the simplest of tasks. We remember what we can and can't do, our likes and dislikes, past events, and how we feel. So, I ask, why do we simply take our memory for granted? Why do we use it until we are old, then allow it to slip through our fingers? Iti s important to understand memory and use that understanding to protect and improve our ability to have clear brilliant memories of our experiences, and even to forget the bad ones.

 

In order to understand memory better, we must first understand a few other things about the mind. For instance, there is a conscious part of the mind, and an other part of the mind. The conscious part of the mind is your ability to experience things in the moment. It is able to record memories in an area often called the short term memory. The conscious mind marks memories as good or bad and as important or unimportant. The other part of the mind is just a housekeeper. It controls everything that the brain's hardware is capable of, but the conscious mind does not know how to control. A person can live an entire lifetime without changing a thing from this point.

 

On a more cutting edge scientific note, it has been found that brain cells are made like a two-sided recordable disk. They store two types of information together. In most cases, if the information on one side of the 'brain cell disk' is worthless, the entire memory is ignored. That is why you will forget things that have no meaning to you, and why you will remember interesting or important things more clearly and easily. It is possible to stimulate memories by increasing their importance status. It is also possible to mark memories as worthless, and forget them. The brain is very complex, and science is still figuring it all out, and there is always more to find out. For instance, I am not completely certain how memory is physically destroyed, whether the brain cell loses connection, dies, or is simply ignored.

 

There is also a developmental process that involves memory. As children grow up, their  conscious minds gain access to processes that the 'subconsious' or 'unconscious' mind was previously controlling. Different people develop to different levels, and if you are a people person, you understand this well. Taking over your own mind is a complex and puzzling task. It involves proving to your subconscious that you are ready, willing, competent, and responsible with the tasks you will be inheriting control over. For example, some people are never quite able to remember exactly what they want to remember. They wander through life doing things they don't care about, and learning things that have no relation to their activities. They wonder why they have such useless memories, but can not master the tasks at hand.

 

It is a fact that the conscious mind can eventually take control of any and all body functions from the subconscious. The conscious mind can also tell the subconscious mind how to work itself. The thing is, the conscious mind is the ruler of the body, it is you, and the subconscious mind is simply there to manage your life until you are responsible with it. After years of not being in control, you may find that you have a lot of catching up to do if you want to learn to control yourself. It may be that your subconscious has so much experience, and has created so many mental facilities, that you feel unable to master it all. It is always good to start practicing something when you are very young, but anyone can do it. You can even simply take control of the subconscious' processes without making your own. Luckily, you also have the option to simply take temporary control, and gradually build up to full control, such as meditating to change your heartbeat.

 

The conscious mind is very simple. Its original hardware is stored on a few tiny spots of the brain. This hardware was supposedly developed at the begining of creation, before the others existed. They are functions such as pleasure imprints, emotional response, and reflexes. It is important to clarify the hardware capabilities of the brain. They are memory filters which feed information to your conscious mind in a way it can understand. There is the visual system which processes the understanding of what you see. The hearing system processes what you hear. The balance system, which helps you balance even before you know what balance is. The tactile system, which processes what you touch, telling you hot or cold, rough or smoothe, and so on. There is also the smell and taste center. There may be more that I have forgotten or never knew about, nevermind those.

 

Now you should understand where to start, and how to start improving your memory. Here are a few examples that may clarify further. A person listens to music that is obviously very enjoyable. That person's conscious is writing two streams of data into the short term memory, they are extreme enjoyment, and the sound itself. Now, whenever that person wants to remember enjoyment, s(he) doesn't really have to play the song over, but simply remembering the strong enjoyment should trigger the sound of the music. This also leads to an unfortunate side effect in which the person is able to sing the words to the song by heart, but not have any idea what the song means. The reason for this is that memories were meant to be written with two certain types of information, the data itself on one side, and what it means on the other. This is how you know immediately what is making the noise if you hear a cat meow or a dog bark. Your brain searches for the sound, and reads the other side of the brain cells at the same time, which say CAT or DOG on them.

 

Now for the truly far out stuff. Imagine someone is having trouble remembering the order of verses in a song. They know the verses by heart, but they can't quite figure out which one goes first, and which comes after. This person simply recorded separate verses of the song, along with the meaning, which could be anything. Here is the proper way to remember a song easily: First think of the first verse. All the while you are learning it or simply remembering it, think of the name of the song, whatever else you want to remember about it, and the fact that it is the first one. About halfway through the verse, try to remember the next one. You should be able to combine two 'meaning' markers into the same verse. When you remember the verse again, you will remember the name of the song, the other information, then near the end of the verse you will remember the next verse, and immediately be able to start it. This is not only true with music, it is true with anything.

 

Memory has a cascading effect of association. This means that you can make multiple memories with the same meanings, and instantly connect them when you think of the meaning. You can also connect multiple meanings together. For example, think of cats and dogs long enough, and you will immediately think of dogs when you think of cats, and so on. Thinking of seemingly unrelated subjects together can make your memories more vibrant. For example, thinking of the ocean waves and the sandy beach at the same time will make your memories of going to the beach more memorable. Taking it a step further, think of the sky, the ocean, the beach, and whatever else you liked, and you'll have a greater chance of remembering them together the next time you are reminded of one or the other.

 

In the old days, people used to think that when they got an idea from nowhere, they were being given a message from god. Regardless of whether that was true, it is also possible that it was the work of the subconscious mind, simply doing its job of housekeeping in the brain. I have tested all of the above activities on myself, so I know they are real. I used no substances to enhance or augment my experiences, but they may help/harm the process.