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A Guide To Memory Increase
By Rocco Oppedisano
Index
1 - Eight Laws Of Memory
2 - Help Relieve Two Memory Invaders
3 - How Good Is Your Memory?
4 - Is Sugar A Memory Killer?
5 - The Secret Principles For A Super Power Memory
6 - Happiness Is Important For A Good Memory
7 - Remembering Names And Faces
8 - Discovering The Success Mechanism (Within You)
9 - How To Remember (Speeches, Jokes, Books, Poems, Dramatic Parts, Articles and Examinations)
10 - For A Clear Memory (You Must Stop Emotional Disorders)
11 - Healing Foods (For The Mind And A Sharper Memory)
12 - Memory And It's History
13 - The Link System
14 - The Roman Room System
15 - Re-remembering (Remembering What You Have Forgotten)
16 - Frustration
17 - Salt-Free Program (Helps To Relieve Tensions Which In Turn Improves Your Memory)
18 - A Bad Temper Will Cut Your Memory
1 - Eight Laws Of Memory
1. The Law Of Comprehension.
This is the simplest, but also the most important. According to the German writer Georg Lichtenberg,
people poorly remember what they read because "they do too little thinking". The more deeply you
grasp what you memorise, the more easily and the more in detail it will remain in your memory.
2. The Law Of Interest.
"For knowledge to be digested, it must be absorbed with relish," wrote Anatole France. The
interesting and "the appetising" is remembered easily as man does not have to make special efforts, as
the ability to spontaneously memorise comes into play.
3. The Law Of Previous Knowledge.
The more one knows on a certain subject, the more easily one memorises everything new pertaining
to it. Everyone must have noticed that when he opens a book read long ago, he reads it as if he had
never read it before. This means that when he read it for the first time he lacked the relevant
experience and information but by this time he has accumulated them. Thus reading forms
connections between the accumulated and the new knowledge. This is the result of memorisation.
4. The Law Of Readiness For Memorisation.
The reader derives the information he sets out to derive from the text. The same goes for the duration
of memorisation. When one wants to remember something for long, one will remember it in any case
better than when one wants to remember something for a brief while.
5. The Law Of Associations.
This was formulated back in the 4th century B.C. by Aristotle. The concepts which arose
simultaneously summon each other up from the memory bank by association. For instance, the
atmosphere of a room evokes recollections about events which took place in it (or recollection of what
you read staying in it, and this is exactly what you need).
6. The Law Of Sequences.
The alphabet is easy to recite in its regular order and difficult in the reverse order. The conceptions
learned in a certain sequence, when recalled, summon each other up in the same sequence.
7. The Law Of Strong Impressions.
The stronger the first impression of what is being memorised, the brighter the image. The greater the
number of information channels, the more strongly the information is retained. Hence, the task is to
achieve the strongest possible initial impression of the material subject.
8. The Law Of Inhibition.
Any subsequent memorisation inhibits the previous. The learned portion of information must "settle"
before the next is taken up. The best way to forget newly memorised material is by trying to memorise
something similar directly afterwards. This is why school children are advised not to learn physics
after mathematics and literature after history and to learn poetry before going to bed.
Memorisation Advice
Before you set about reading a book, article or document, try to guess from its title what is written in
it (or what you would write in the author's place). The same "forecasting" applies to the heads of
chapters and the first paragraphs of the text.
Before reading (listening and glancing through) think of what information you want to derive, and
what for. This will stimulate your interest and prepare you for its cognition.
Where the author, citing a number of arguments, is going to draw a conclusion, make a deduction
yourself first and only then continue to read.
Before reading recall all relevant information known to you. In other words, "brush up" your
knowledge.
Try to imitate Ancient Roman orators, who learned their speeches pacing up and down and
"establishing connections" between the text and the atmosphere of their homes and then would recall
the speech by taking "mental strolls".
If you want to memorise a text in detail don't learn it piecemeal. Learn the whole text, and learn it in
its natural sequence.
To avoid forgetting the name of a new acquaintance, strengthen the first impression left by him by
repeating his name aloud ("Excuse me, have I heard you right?"), using it in the conversation and
when parting. Write down this name, if only with your finger in the air. imagine in whose honour this
man may have been named, etc.
Try to evoke the strongest possible emotions connected with the information you memorise.
Incidentally, this is exactly what Lenin did. The margins of the books he read bristle with categorical
and profoundly emotional notes: "True!", "What nonsense!", "Ha-ha!", and "You've hit the nail on the
head!"
When preparing for intensive mental efforts consider the state you are in at the moment. Sadness,
irritation, uncertainty and fear are enemies of memory.
Never write down things without an attempt to grasp and memorise them!
To these rules you may add a host of your own, based on the laws of memory. In short, the knowledge
of these laws will enable you to memorise much more than before even if you had complaints about
your memory.
Abridged from the Russian magazine EKO
2 - Help Relieve Two Memory Invaders
Two leading causes of emotional unrest and mental breakdown are mental depression and hysteria.
Where chemotherapy was once used exclusively to treat them, now doctors are beginning to use
nutritional therapy.
To understand how proper nutrition can help us meet the emotional challenges of daily living, we
need to understand the nature of these two distressing conditions:
(1) Mental Depression.
Known as "the blues" or "hanging on", this is a melancholy and downcast mood. When extreme and
prolonged, it may lead to more serious disorders. Typical emotional symptoms include fear, anxiety,
worry, indecision, pessimism, brooding and unwillingness to co-operate.
Involutional melancholia is a form of mental depression seen in late middle-age, more commonly in
women than in men, and appears to have some relationship with the change in the endocrine pattern
that follows the middle years. Here is where proper nutrition may help to boost endocrine substances
and maintain a healthful glandular balance.
To a certain extent, depression is also a psychosomatic illness. When a depressed person comes to the
doctor and says he aches here or there, he is constipated, he can't taste his food, he may not be
imagining it. Many emotionally depressed people do have endocrine and neuromuscular or autonomic
system dysfunctions.
During emotional depression there is a major functional disruption of the autonomic nerves, the
adrenal, the thyroid, which upsets the homeostasis (body balance) of the organism. Prolonged
depression may lead to tissue depletion, forms of arthritis and ulcers. To tell the individual "it's all in
your mind" is to do him a disservice. These days many doctors are seeking nutritional means to help
restore body homeostasis and ease depression.
Hysteria.
Usually regarded as a "neurosis", this emotional disruption is often marked by shouting, gesticulating,
wild weeping and other similar behaviour. Often a temper tantrum is a good example of hysteria. The
hysterical person often converts his emotional conflicts into physical symptoms.
Because of prolonged stress and neurological abuse, hysteria can lead to visual disturbances, hearing
defects, paralysis, choking, convulsions, pains and fever. A number of doctors have found that
corrective food programs with emphasis on certain vitamins, minerals, proteins can help boost
resistance to stress and ease the problem. Let's see what has been reported:
A Doctor's Plan For "Mind Food".
Dr. George A. Wilson spent over 40 years in practice, testing some thousands of patients who were
victims of depression and hysteria and who had physical ailments induced by the emotional upsets. He
believes that a delicate acid-alkaline balance is necessary to boost healthful metabolism and to feed
the body the nutrients that then work to feed the mind.
Writing in A New Slant to Diet, Dr. Wilson reports that (1) the more alkaline in the digestive system,
the more nervous the person is; (2) the more acid, the more he is able to digest nutrients and be able to
fight problems of stress. He feels that a balance which he terms "bio-electric force" would help
the body withstand tensions and strains and help heal emotional disorders.
Dr. Wilson lists six stress-tension disorders that disturb the acid balance and lead to alkalinity.
Furthermore, such stresses destroy the body supply of Vitamin C ascorbic acid needed by the
adrenal glands to help boost emotional health. The key to better health, Dr. Wilson believes, is to
avoid these six stress-tension situations: shocks, keen disappointments, intense emotional upsets,
excess fear and worry, overwork and inadequate rest. Dr. Wilson also notes that most people have:
(1) More acid in the afternoon, more alkaline in early morning.
(2) More acid in summer, more alkaline in winter.
(3) More acid during exercise, more alkaline during rest.
(4) More alkaline when chilled, tired, chronically sick or at the onset of illness.
To boost the acid-reserves in the early morning, in winter, during prolonged rest and during the onset
of an illness, Dr. Wilson suggests taking a "tonic" of one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and honey
in a glass of water at those times. He also recommends it when a person feels tired, irritable, has cold
hands and feet (often a symptom of choked-up, tension-induced poor circulation); for aches and
stiffness, and digestive upset.
Also, any fresh fruit juice will provide a good supply of vital nutrients as well as the acid needed to
maintain a proper balance. Needless to say, Dr. Wilson's tonic should get your own doctor's okay
before you take it. There may be some other reason for your symptoms.
Dr. Wilson further suggests eating properly balanced meals to help stabilise metabolism. He suggests
the reduction or elimination of starches and sweets, and he offers this program to his patients:
(1) Meat once a day. Other proteins were acceptable at other meals.
(2) One slice of whole-grain, unbleached bread daily.
(3) Select vegetables whose leaves are exposed to the sun's rays. Examples: alfalfa, celery (stalks and
leaves), dandelion greens, endive, kale, mustard greens, turnip leaves, watercress, parsley, asparagus,
red-beet leaves and carrot leaves.
(4) Eat fruit between meals rather than with meals. Dr. Wilson's theory: fruits do not necessarily
energise but they do cleanse and are important between meals to help prepare the digestive system for
the next meal. (Note: Other findings indicate that natural fruit sugar helps promote energy, but Dr.
Wilson feels that in combination with other foods, the energising effect is somewhat abated.)
Dr. Wilson also warns his nervous and tense patients NOT to eat a heavy meal at night. This leads to
tossing and turning and prolonged emotional stress.
The doctor may well be on the threshold of healing mental depression and hysteria through corrective
nutrition. At any rate, he reports being able to "emotionally strengthen" hundreds of patients with his
natural foods program.
How Magnesium Helps Ease Nervous Tremors.
The mineral magnesium has been hailed as a "nerve food" by leading physicians. A team of doctors
reported to the Journal of the American Medical Association on its emotion-healing power. Here are
some of its reported benefits.
Magnesium therapy soothed such emotion-based problems as irritability, anxiety, muscle weakness,
unsteady gait, staggering, vertigo-twitching, numbness, and cramps in hands and feet. It was also
suggested for anyone feeling depression, or hysteria, or some other related emotional upsets coming
on, as a soothing and all-natural relaxer.
Food sources of magnesium include green leafy vegetables, liver, meat, eggs, whole grain products.
Blackstrap molasses and whole wheat products like wheat germ are other good sources.
According to Mildred S. Seelig, M.D., in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, patients with
emotional disorders who need magnesium should have this minimum intake: 385 milligrams daily for
a 140-lb. woman; 500 milligrams daily for a 185-lb. man. Says Dr. Seelig: "The diet should be
supplemented with magnesium at least until equilibrium is noted and then possibly reduced to meet
the body need." Correct dosage, of course, is up to the physician.
That magnesium therapy can work is pointed up in the case of a 68-year-old man, who, following an
abdominal operation, suddenly became irrational, noisy, wildly restless, confused and combative. His
case, reported in the American Journal of Internal Medicine (1955), describes how he experienced
hallucinations, was depressed and also-showed symptoms of hysteria. His brain and heart pattern were
abnormal.
Vitamins, dextrose, potassium and calcium were prescribed without much help. Then the doctors gave
him magnesium and calcium. In 18 hours, after he received the magnesium prescription, the man was
rational, oriented and reported to be completely free of neuro-muscular disorder. In three days, he was
up and around.
Calcium To Calm The Nervous System.
Researcher Catharyn Elwood in Feel Like a Million, lauds the use of calcium to help calm the nervous
system. She explains:
"Without calcium, in solution in the blood, the nerves cannot send messages. The nerves become
tense. They cannot relax. In children, this shows in unpleasant dispositions, temper tantrums and easy,
fretful crying. In serious deficiencies, the muscles twitch, have spasms and even convulsions. In
adults, they show calcium deficiencies with nervous habits such as finger tapping and tensing of the
foot, or swinging it when the leg is crossed. They are impatient and snap at their loved ones when they
really want to be patient and kind. They are easily annoyed, jump at slight noises and often are
grouchy. They become restless and cannot sit still very long. They usually suffer from insomnia."
Dairy products, turnip and mustard greens, collards, kale, broccoli are natural food sources of
calcium. Calcium tablets are available. Catharyn Elwood suggests:
"For nerves to relax and to send your impulses, you need calcium. No calcium can be absorbed unless
phosphorus and Vitamin D are also on the job. See that you get at least two grams of calcium and
never less than one hour of sunbathing or 800 to 4000 units of Vitamin D daily. Use a safe, raw milk
and unrefined vegetable oils."
She also recommends magnesium, Vitamins B1 and B6 as mineral-vitamin emotion "soothers":
"Vitamin BI is the most important nerve relaxer of all the B-complex vitamins ... Lack of Vitamin B1
indirectly starves the nerves, for their one and only food is sugar. Sugar comes from completely
digesting carbohydrates, which is impossible if B1 is lacking ... Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is gaining
fame as another important member of the family for calm and steady nerves."
The "Nerve-Building Vitamin".
To meet the challenge of emotional stress with proper nutrition, doctors have found that one nutrient
Vitamin B12 has an amazing power to insulate the nervous system against emotional upset.
A deficiency of Vitamin B12 may adversely affect the nervous system, writes J. MacDonald Holmes,
M.D. in Medical News (4:67). Dr. Holmes makes note of the fact that Vitamin B12 helps to maintain
the integrity of the "myalin sheath", the fat like substance which forms a protective insulating sleeve
around delicate nerve fibres. A deficiency can cause such emotional symptoms as tingling sensations
in the limbs, numbness, shooting pains and feelings of hot and cold. The limbs feel stiff and weak, and
sensations of touch, pain and temperature are blunted.
3 - How Good Is Your Memory?
Your memory is phenomenal.
1. Most people remember fewer than 10 per cent of the names of those whom they meet.
2. Most people forget more than 99 per cent of the phone numbers given to them.
3. Memory is supposed to decline rapidly with age.
4. Many people drink, and alcohol is reputed to destroy 1000 brain cells per drink.
5. Internationally, across races, cultures, ages and education levels, there is a common experience, and
fear of, having an inadequate or bad memory.
6. Our failures in general, and especially in remembering, are attributed to the fact that we are 'only
human', a statement that implies that our skills are inherently inadequate.
Your memory does decline with age, but only if it is not used. Conversely, if it is used, it will continue
to improve throughout your lifetime.
There is no evidence to suggest that moderate drinking destroys brain cells. This misapprehension
arose because it was found that excessive drinking, and only excessive drinking, did indeed damage
the brain.
Across cultural and international boundaries 'negative experience' with memory can be traced not to
our being 'only human' or in anyway innately inadequate but to two simple, easily changeable factors:
(1) negative mental set and (2) lack of knowledge.
Negative Mental Set
There is a growing and informal international organisation, which I choose to name the 'I've Got an
Increasingly Bad Memory Club'. How often do you hear people in animated and enthusiastic
conversation saying things like, 'You know, my memory's not nearly as good as it used to be when I
was younger; I'm constantly forgetting things'. To which there is an equally enthusiastic reply: 'Yes, I
know exactly what you mean; the same thing's happening to me ...' And off they dodder, arms draped
around each other's shoulders, down the hill to mental oblivion. And such conversations often take
place between thirty-year-olds!
Consider the younger supermemoriser to whom most people romantically refer. If you want to check
for yourself, go back to any school at the end of a day, walk into a classroom of a group of five to
seven-year-old children after they have gone home and ask the teacher what has been left in the
classroom (i.e. forgotten). You will find the following items: watches, pencils, pens, sweets, money,
jackets, physical education equipment, books, coats, glasses, erasers, toys, etc.
The only real difference between the middle-aged executive who has forgotten to phone someone he
was supposed to phone and who has left his briefcase at the office, and the seven-year-old child who
realises on returning home that he's left at school his watch, his pocket-money and his homework is
that the seven-year-old does not collapse into depression, clutching his head and exclaiming, 'Oh,
Christ, I'm seven years old and my memory's going!'
Ask yourself, 'What is the number of things I actually remember each day?' Most people estimate
somewhere between 100 and 10,000. The answer is in fact in the multiple billions. The human
memory is so excellent and runs so smoothly that most people don't even realise that every word they
speak and every word they listen to are instantaneously produced for consideration, recalled,
recognised precisely and placed in their appropriate context.
Nor do they realise that every moment, every perception, every thought, everything that they do
throughout the entire day and throughout their lives is a function of their memories. In fact, its
ongoing accuracy is almost perfect. The few odd things that we do forget are like odd specks on a
gigantic ocean. Ironically, the reason why we notice so dramatically the errors that we make is that
they are so rare.
There is now increasing evidence that our memories may not only be far better than we ever thought
but may in fact be perfect. Consider the following arguments for this case:
1. Dreams
Many people have vivid dreams of acquaintances, friends, family and lovers of whom they have not
thought for as many as twenty to forty years. In their dreams, however, the images are perfectly clear,
all colours and details being exactly as they were in real life. This confirms that somewhere in the
brain there is a vast store of perfect images and associations that does not change with time and that,
with the right trigger, can be recalled.
2. Surprise Random Recall
Practically everyone has had the experience of turning a comer and suddenly recalling people or
events from previous times in his life. This often happens when people revisit their first school. A
single smell, touch, sight or sound can bring back a flood of experiences thought to be forgotten. This
ability of any given sense to reproduce perfect memory images indicates that if there were more
correct 'trigger situations' much more would and could be recollected. We know from such
experiences that the brain has retained the information.
3. The Russian 'S'
In the early part of this century a young Russian journalist (in The Mind of a Mnemonist, by A. R.
Luria, he is referred to as 'S') attended an editorial meeting, and it was noted to the consternation of
others that he was not taking notes. When pressed to explain, he became confused; to everyone's
amazement, it became apparent that he really did not understand why anyone should ever take notes.
The explanation that he gave for not taking notes himself was that he could remember what the editor
was saying, so what was the point? Upon being challenged, 'S' reproduced the entire speech, word for
word, sentence for sentence, and inflection for inflection.
For the next thirty years he was to be tested and examined by Alexander Luria, Russia's leading
psychologist and expert on memory. Luria confirmed that 'S' was in no way abnormal but that his
memory was indeed perfect. Luria also stated that at a very young age 'S' had 'stumbled upon' the
basic mnemonic principles (see pages 39ff.) and that they had become part of his natural functioning.
'S' was not unique. The history of education, medicine and psychology is dotted with similar cases of
perfect memorisers. In every instance, their brains were found to be normal, and in every instance
they had, as young children, 'discovered' the basic principles of their memory's function.
4. Professor Rosensweig's Experiments
Professor Mark Rosensweig, a Californian psychologist and neurophysiologist, spent years studying
the individual brain cell and its capacity for storage. As early as 1974 he stated that if we fed in ten
new items of information every second for an entire lifetime to any normal human brain that brain
would be considerably less than half full. He emphasised that memory problems have nothing to do
with the capacity of the brain but rather with the self-management of that apparently limitless
capacity.
5. Professor Penfield's Experiments
Professor Wilder Penfield of Canada came across his discovery of the capacity of human memory by
mistake. He was stimulating individual brain cells with tiny electrodes for the purpose of locating
areas of the brain that were the cause of patients' epilepsy.
To his amazement he found that when he stimulated certain individual brain cells, his patients were
suddenly recalling experiences from their past. The patients emphasised that it was not simple
memory, but that they actually were reliving the entire experience, including smells, noises, colours,
movement, tastes. These experiences ranged from a few hours before the experimental session to as
much as forty years earlier.
Penfield suggested that hidden within each brain cell or cluster of brain cells lies a perfect store of
every event of our past and that if we could find the right stimulus we could replay the entire film.
6. The Potential Pattern-Making Ability of Your Brain
Professor Pyotr Anokhin, the famous Pavlov's brightest student, spent his last years investigating the
potential pattern-making capabilities of the human brain. His findings were important for memory
researchers. It seems that memory is recorded in separate little patterns, or electromagnetic circuits,
that are formed by the brain's interconnecting cells.
Anokhin already knew that the brain contained a million million (1,000,000,000,000) brain cells but
that even this gigantic number was going to be small in comparison with the number of patterns that
those brain cells could make among themselves. Working with advanced electron microscopes and
computers, he came up with a staggering number.
Anokhin calculated that the number of patterns, or 'degrees of freedom', throughout the brain is, to use
his own words, 'so great that writing it would take a line of figures, in normal manuscript characters,
more than ten and a half million kilometres in length. With such a number of possibilities, the brain is
a keyboard on which hundreds of millions of different melodies can be played'.
Your memory is the music.
7. Near-Death-Type Experiences
Many people have looked up at the surface ripples of a swimming pool from the bottom, knowing that
they were going to drown within the next two minutes; or seen the rapidly disappearing ledge of the
mountain from which they have just fallen; or felt the oncoming grid of the 10-ton lorry bearing down
on them at 60 miles per hour. A common theme runs through the accounts that survivors of such
traumas tell. In such moments of 'final consideration' the brain slows all things down to a standstill,
expanding a fraction of a second into a lifetime, and reviews the total experience of the individual.
When pressed to admit that what they had really experienced were a few highlights, the individuals
concerned insisted that what they had experienced was their entire lire, including all things they had
completely forgotten until that instant of time. 'My whole life flashed before me' has almost become a
clich้ that goes with the near-death experience. Such a commonality of experience again argues for a
storage capacity of the brain that we have only just begun to tap.
8. Photographic Memory
Photographic, or eidetic, memory is a specific phenomenon in which people can remember, usually
for a very short time, perfectly and exactly anything they have seen. This memory usually fades, but it
can be so accurate as to enable somebody, after seeing a picture of 1000 randomly sprayed dots on a
white sheet, to reproduce them perfectly. This suggests that in addition to the deep, long-term storage
capacity, we also have a shorter-term and immediate photographic ability. It is argued that children
often have this ability as a natural part of their mental functioning and that we train it away by forcing
them to concentrate too much on logic and language and too little on imagination and their other
range of mental skills.
9. The 1000 Photographs
In recent experiments people were shown 1000 photographs, one after the other, at a pace of about
one photograph per second. The psychologists then mixed 100 photographs with the original 1000,
and asked the people to select those they had not seen the first time through. Everyone, regardless of
how he described his normal memory, was able to identify almost every photograph he had seen as
well as each one that he had not seen previously. They were not necessarily able to remember the
order in which the photographs had been presented, but they could definitely remember the image
an example that confirms the common human experience of being better able to remember a face than
the name attached to it. This particular problem is easily dealt with by applying the Memory
Techniques.
10. The Memory Techniques
The Memory techniques, or mnemonics, were a system of 'memory codes' that enabled people to
remember perfectly whatever it was they wished to remember. Experiments with these techniques
have shown that if a person scores 9 out of 10 when using such a technique, that same person will
score 900 out of 1000, 9000 out of 10,000, 900,000 out of 1,000,000 and so on. Similarly, one who
scores perfectly out of 10 will score perfectly out of 1,000,000. These techniques help us to delve into
that phenomenal storage capacity we have and to pull out whatever it is that we need.
4 - Is Sugar A Memory Killer?
Sugar is a non-food. It is a pure carbohydrate that offers illusion of energy, only to cause a downhill
slump after the initial burst has worn off. Sugar further contributes to emotional upset because it "sops
up" the Vitamin B-complex during metabolism.
These vitamins nourish the nervous system. As has been pointed out, a deficiency may lead to
emotional upset. Sugar, by its depleting action, may cause a deficiency. By upsetting the delicate
blood-sugar levels, it may cause a mind-bending, mind-destroying action. It has been reported to
distort mentality, trigger erratic behaviour and memory loss.
Joseph Wilder, M.D., writing in The Nervous Child, blames excess sugar consumption for the fact
that so many children display neurotic symptoms. Youngsters, according to Dr. Wilder, consume a lot
of sugar in their cravings for sweets and so are more susceptible to these emotional disorders. Because
of this, they face a serious threat in their mental health "for the importance of nutrition for mental (and
physical) functioning is much greater in children than in adults".
An excess of sugar, says Dr. Wilder, is emotionally hazardous. "In adults faulty or insufficient
nutrition may alter or impair specific or general mental functions, and eventually cause reparable or
even irreparable structural damage of the central nervous system. In children, we face a serious
additional factor. The development of the brain may be retarded, stopped, altered, and thus the mental
functions may become impaired in indirect and not less serious ways".
Sugar metabolism leaches out the nerve-breeding vitamins and distress signals are noted. The person
overeats or does not want to eat at all. Often, memory is impaired. Nightmares, sleepwalking, poor
learning, absent-mindedness, mischievousness, inability to get things done all these may result.
"Laziness may be caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)," says Dr. Wilder, "with mental fatigue,
dullness, indifference, lack of initiative and above all, severe inability to make decisions".
A serious condition of an overloaded sugar system may lead to violence. Dr. Wilder explains, "The
child may be neurotic, psychopathic or have criminal tendencies and be subject to anxiety, running
away tendencies, aggressiveness, a blind urge to activity and destructiveness, with impairment of
moral sensibilities like shame.
"In its simplest form, it is the tendency to deny everything, contradict everything, refuse everything at
any price ... It is no wonder that a considerable number of criminal and semi-criminal acts have been
observed in children in ... [low blood sugar] states, ranging from destructiveness or violation of traffic
regulations all the way to arson and homicide".
Dr. Wilder also says that "the well-known problem of the relation of poverty to crime calls for an
investigation from the angle of hypoglycemia ... In such an investigation, we must also keep in mind
the possible irreparable anatomical damage and arrest of development in young brains caused by
malnutrition in childhood, even if the patient or criminal does not present any metabolic abnormalities
at the time of investigation".
In an article in The Handbook of Correctional Psychology, Dr. Joseph Wilder offers a number of
cases of criminal acts performed by individuals who had a history of high sugar intake and showed
symptoms of hypoglycemia. The crimes included homicide, arson, mutilation.
Throughout Dr. Wilder's report are statements like this:
"After the patient's arrest, his family physician notified the defense that two years prior to the crime, a
sugar tolerance curve (blood sugar test) had shown a tendency to hypoglycemia".
Hitler has been called a "sugar drunkard" and this may have been one reason for his being a triggerbrained,
raving, rabble-rousing maniac. His over consumption of sugar may have created a low blood
sugar condition and the consequent screaming fits of rage.
Hitler's Love for Sweets. Ernst Hanfstaengl, the Fuhrer's personal pianist, in his book, Unheard
Witness, tells how Hitler loved sweets and favoured whipped-cream cakes. There was always a box of
candy around. The pianist writes that Hitler could not drink wine unless he put sugar Into it! In his
early years, when he was in jail, his friends deluged him with boxes of candy, knowing of his
addiction.
Hanfstaengl writes, "Hitler ... had the most incredibly sweet tooth of any man I have ever met ..."
While there certainly were many other factors involved in Hitler's distorted mind, his sugar
consumption may have been the hypoglycemia "trigger" that exploded other symptoms.
Sugar is an artificial creation. The sugar molecule is something like Cn H<2>n On (Carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen). It has no nutrients. It is water soluble and rushes into the bloodstream, spending little
time in the digestive system. It is regarded as a chemical compound and disrupts normal health
patterns of the biological system. It could well cause an abnormal strain on the mental processes.
H. Stutte, M.D., a court physician to officials in Marburg, Germany writing on the problems of excess
sugar in Das Neue Zeitalter, alerts us to the possibility of a connection between low blood sugar
(hypoglycemia) and some auto accidents:
"A person with hypoglycemia who is suddenly overcome in the thickest of the traffic in a large city
with disorders of his vision or a state of weakness ... who reacts incorrectly as a result of loss of
initiative or blurred consciousness, this person can easily provoke an accident in which he himself or
another person can be the victim."
This condition "threatens special danger when it overcomes the driver at the steering wheel and as
is often the case this person is not conscious of the fact that he is disturbed and continues to drive
... When a car suddenly cuts out into the opposite lane and has a collision where there are good
lighting conditions on a curve that can be seen well or for that matter even on a straight highway, one
should not satisfy himself with the laconic statement 'going too fast', but also think about the
possibility of hypoglycemia ..."
Dr. Sutte would like to see medical tests given in such cases:
"An intensification of the investigation of the causes (in the area of medicine as well as in the area of
technology) would probably be of essentially greater value for the prevention of accidents than the
continual increase of punitory regulations."
The Sugar Energy Fallacy.
There is a popular -and erroneous theory that sugar supplies energy. Here is what Dr. Michael J.
Walsh, a nutritionist, has to say about this, in Modern Nutrition.
"Acting on the false-to-fact identification that sugar is energy, people eat more and more sugar in the
naive belief that they are going to get more and more energy. Instead of more and more, they are
likely to get less and less energy if the more and more sugar is in the form of the 'concentrated,
refined, fermentable carbohydrates' which includes sugar out of the sugar bowl, sweetened gelatin
desserts, sweetened breads, rolls, doughnuts, pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, sweetened alcoholic
beverages, sweetened processed cereals, syrup from canned fruits, etc."
Dr. Michael Walsh explains that this type of sugar reduces energy because it is "not likely to be
accompanied by sufficient quantities of other factors (such as Vitamin B1) which are needed to ensure
the completion of the intermediate stages of carbohydrate metabolism ... A consequence of failure to
complete the energy transformation is fatigue ..."
Consumer Bulletin had the following item of interest regarding the so-called energy power of sugar:
"The 'quick energy' that comes from carbohydrates and is so much praised in advertising of the sugar
interests is short-lived. The malnourished Child who is fed much sugar will quickly lose interest in
activity after his bottle of soft drink or an ice cream soda, and soon sink back into his prior passive
state".
Many parents may be guilty of inducing mental sluggishness in a child by allowing him to overload
his system with sugar-containing foods.
A Sugar-Free Program For Marital Problems.
A California physician has suggested that many marital conflicts could be resolved if the couple went
on a sugar-free diet. Cecelia Rosenfeld, M.D., writing in the medical journal New Medical Materia
declares:
"One of the prime causes of marital discord nutritional deficiency is too often overlooked. In
my own practice, I have found that a surprising number of 'broken marriage' spouses suffered from a
blood-sugar imbalance.
"Many of these husbands and wives showed symptoms of irritability, violent temper, abnormal
sensitivity and extreme fatigue. In most cases, there was no evidence of organic disease. Corrective
nutritional guidance dispelled these unpleasant symptoms for many spouses and in the process often
bolstered their crumbling marriages."
The doctor tells of the case of Mrs. R.L, a 34-year-old secretary. The woman was tired, showed poor
concentration and suffered from chronic emotional depression. Her home life had deteriorated, and
she was separated from her husband. Dr. Rosenfeld treated her with nutritional-therapy. It was four
months before any improvement was noted, but soon after she was able to rejoin her husband and try
again for a happy life. It is believed she still follows the natural food program and has eliminated
sugar from her food program.
Mr. T.E., a 53-year-old business executive, suffered from nervous tensions, including pounding
migraine headaches. The man's wife said he was the victim of such chronic irritability and nervous
unrest that no one could live with him. They were on the verge of a divorce.
Dr. Rosenfeld put them both on an all-natural nutritional program with no white sugar. In two
months, the husband's headaches ended and he became easier to live with. He and his wife not only
didn't get a divorce, they took a six-month voyage around the world!
Obviously many other factors may enter into marital discord. But know that improper sugar
metabolism and resulting hypoglycemia can make an individual emotionally unstable, incapable of
reasoning out basic differences. It is gratifying that more and more doctors are checking out the
possibility of low blood sugar as a contributing factor when an unhappy man and wife seek help.
Only a healthy body can build a healthy mind. Together, they add up to a healthy marriage!
Sugar And Psycho-Neurotic Disorders.
In his book, Body, Mind and Sugar, Dr. E.M. Abrahamson tells the story of a 48-year-old woman,
P.J., who suffered from claustrophobia, loss of memory and other emotional disorders. She had
undergone expensive psychoanalysis, shock treatments, injections of insulin. She was so depressed,
she no longer wanted to live.
When she came to Dr. Abrahamson he noted from various tests that she was a sugar-holic. He put her
on a high-protein, low-starch and very low-sugar program.
"Within a week, she began to feel better, both physically and emotionally. In two weeks she was able
to travel alone, which had been impossible for her for years."
Through nutritional therapy, P.J. was able to recover from emotional distress when other, more
traditional, treatments failed.
Remember, sugar is not an energy-builder, it is an energy destroyer.
Play it safe. To satisfy your sweet tooth, select fresh fruits. To sweeten a beverage, try honey,
molasses, maple syrup. With some minor and tasty adjustments, you too can help feed yourself a
healthful personality.
5 - The Secret Principles For A Super Power Memory
The Greeks so worshipped memory that they made a goddess out of her Mnemosyne. It was her
name from which was derived the current word mnemonics, used to describe memory techniques such
as those you are about to learn. In Greek and Roman times, senators would learn these techniques in
order to impress other politicians and the public with their phenomenal powers of learning and
memory. Using these simple but sophisticated methods, the
Romans were able to remember, without fault, thousands of items, including statistics relating to their
empire, and became the rulers of their time.
Long before we had discovered the physiological breakdown of the functions in the left and right
hemispheres of our brains, the Greeks had intuitively realised that there are two underlying principles
that ensure perfect memory:
1. Imagination
2. Association
Whereas, in current times, most of us are actively discouraged from using our imaginative abilities,
and consequently learn very little about the nature of mental association, the Greeks emphasised these
two foundation stones of mental functioning and opened the way for us to develop the techniques
even further.
Quite simply, if you want to remember anything, all you have to do is to associate (link) it with some
known or fixed item.
The Rules
The rules for perfect memory laid down by the Greeks fit in exactly with the information recently
discovered about the left and right brains. Without a scientific basis, the Greeks realised that in order
to remember well, you have to use every aspect of your mind.
In order to remember well, you must include in your associated and linked mental landscape the
following:
1. Colour. The more colours you use, and the more vivid they are, the better. Using colour alone can
improve your memory by as much as 50 per cent.
2. Imagination. Your imagination is the powerhouse of your memory. The more vividly you can
imagine, the more easily you will remember. Sub-areas within imagination include the following:
a. Expansion: the more gigantic and enormous you can make your mental images, the better.
b. Contraction: if you can clearly imagine your picture as extremely tiny, you will remember it well.
c. Absurdity: the more ridiculous, zany and absurd your mental images are, the more they will be
outstanding and thus the more they will be remembered.
3. Rhythm. The more rhythm and variation of rhythm in your mental picture, the more that picture
will weave itself into your memory.
4. Movement. As often as possible, try to make your mental images move. Moving objects are
usually remembered better than still ones.
5. The Senses:
Tasting
Touching
Smelling
Seeing
Hearing
The more you can involve all your senses in your memory image, the more you will remember it. For
example, if you have to remember that you have to buy bananas, you stand a far better chance of not
forgetting your task if you can actually imagine smelling a banana as you touch it with your hands,
bite into it with your mouth and taste it, see it as it is approaching your face, and hear yourself
munching it.
6. Sex. Sex is one of your strongest drives, and if you apply this aspect of yourself to your magnificent
daydreaming ability, your memory will improve.
7. Sequencing and Ordering. Imagination alone is not enough for memory. In order to function well,
your mind needs order and sequence. This helps it to categorise and structure things in such a way as
to make them more easily accessible, much in the same way as an ordered filing system allows easier
retrieval of information than if that same information were simply dumped randomly on the floor.
8. Number. To make ordering and sequencing easier, it is often advisable to use numbers.
9. Dimension. Use your right-brain ability to see your memory images in 3-D.
Key Memory Image Words
In each memory system there is a Key Word. This word is the 'Key Memory Word' in that it is the
constant peg on which the reader will hang other items he or she wishes to remember. This Key
Memory Word is specifically designed to be an 'Image Word' in that it must produce a picture or
image in the mind of the person using the memory system. Thus the phrase 'Key Memory Image
Word'.
As you progress through the increasingly sophisticated mnemonic systems, you will realise the
importance of being sure that the pictures you build in your mind contain only the items you want to
remember, and those items must be associated with or connected to Key Memory Images. The
connections between your basic Memory System Images and the things you wish to remember should
be as fundamental and uncomplicated as possible:
1. Crashing things together
2. Sticking things together
3. Placing things on top of each other
4. Placing things underneath each other
5. Placing things inside each other
6. Substituting things for each other
7. Placing things in new situations
By now it will be clear to you that the systems worked out by the Greeks, and for nearly 2000 years
discarded as mere tricks, were in fact based on the way in which the human brain actually functions.
The ancients realised the importance of words, order, sequence and number, now known to be
functions of the left side of the brain; and of imagination, colour, rhythm, dimension and
daydreaming, now known to be right-brain functions.
Mnemosyne was to the Greeks the most beautiful of all the goddesses, proved by the fact that Zeus
spent more time in her bed than in that of any other goddess or mortal. He slept with her for nine days
and nights, and the result of that coupling was the birth of the nine Muses, the goddesses who preside
over love poetry, epic poetry, hymns, dance, comedy, tragedy, music, history and astronomy. For the
Greeks, then, the infusion of energy (Zeus) into memory (Mnemosyne) produced both creativity and
knowledge.
They were correct. If you apply the mnemonic principles and techniques appropriately, not only will
your memory improve in the various areas outlined in this book but your creativity, your overall
mental functioning and assimilation of knowledge will accelerate at the same fantastic pace. In the
process you will be developing a new and dynamic synthesis between the left and right side of your
brain.
6 - Happiness Is Important For A Good Memory
Memories
In living we all create memories, and we store these memories in a mental tape recorder. We can use
these memories constructively or destructively. What should we do with memories? Keep them in
proper perspective.
I remember on one occasion I was asked to attend a reunion of my medical class. I couldn't accept at
that particular time, but fortunately, twenty-five years after graduation, I attended a class reunion. I
put on my tuxedo and went to the hotel to meet my colleagues, but I couldn't find them; I couldn't
recognise them. When the guests finally seated themselves at their respective tables those who
graduated before me and those who graduated after me I looked for my table the Class of 1923
and there I saw nine people seated around the table and one empty seat, mine.
I sat down, and the man to my right, a short, fat, bald-headed man, suddenly said to me, "Maltz, what
happened to you? Your hair is grey; it used to be black!"
I looked at his bald head and remembered that he had had beautiful blond hair, and I said to myself, "I
wonder what happened to him?" Both of us abused our memories.
We must learn to use memories only to remember happy moments, so that we can utilise them for the
present undertaking. In doing that successfully, we build memories happy memories for
tomorrow. The misfortunes of yesterday must be forgotten, lost in the tomb of time. Every day is a
new lifetime that must be lived to the full: Creatively.
Remember the words of Macedonius (sixth century):
Memory and Oblivion, all hail!
Memory for goodness, Oblivion for evil!
Are You Creative?
Many of us are firmly convinced that people are born creative or non-creative, that only a limited
number of people can create in different generations. Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven,
Alexander Graham Bell, and Einstein all used their creative gifts widely. Each one had the power to
use his imagination properly, productively.
What are the characteristics of a creative mind? First, a sense of direction, a goal. Then, a problem,
clearly defined, and all the possible solutions. After that, the selection of the best solution and acting
on it. You must have the ability to forget a problem, temporarily, if it defies solution and the capacity
to rise above failures.
I believe that all of us are creative. We have a creative mechanism working for us that steers us
toward success. For example, the simple exercise of picking up a pencil. We forget that as children we
picked it up clumsily, zigzagging in the direction of the pencil until we learned to do it successfully.
This successful performance was registered in the mental tape recorder for future use. This, in a mild
sense, is a creative effort.
We all can create because we all have imagination. We use it daily without raising it. For example,
when we worry, we use imagination in a negative way to create something that doesn't exist. We
project on the screen of the mind scenes that haven't happened as yet because we fear we will fail. On
the other hand, when we are happy we use the imagination constructively. We picture a worthwhile
achievement of the goal we seek by remembering past successes to achieve pleasure in the present.
We are all made up of failures and successes, and to think creatively we must rise above the mistakes
of the past and use the self-confidence from past successes in our present undertaking. We can think
creatively when:
1. We think clearly about a problem.
2. We think of all possible solutions.
3. We accept the best and act upon it.
4. We forget the problem, temporarily, if it defies solution. The servo-mechanism within us will do
the job for us subconsciously by utilising the ingredients of our past successes.
The greatest creative effort for all of us, great or small, is to create the habit of happiness. This we can
all do by making a habit of it every day, by recalling the happiness of past successes and using this
good feeling in our present undertaking. Remember Elbert Hubbard's words, "Happiness is a habit
cultivate it!"
Ideas
What are ideas? They are the product of the imagination, of thinking and concentrating on a specific
subject. An idea is a brainchild, but what kind of a child is it? Is it a child born of resentment or
hatred? Is it a deformed child born out of deception and trickery? Or is it a beautiful child born out of
love and encouragement, out of hope and belief? These latter children of the mind and spirit are so
desperately needed in these chaotic times when it seems that a cannon is more important than a human
life, that money is more important than good will, that the destructive thought of taking exceeds the
creative thought of giving.
It is now, this very minute, that we have to search for self-respect, for the assurance that peace of
mind can be ours in this lifetime. It is at this very moment when reason and patience are undergoing
an eclipse, when wars are intended to destroy the world forever, that we must live in the hope given us
by creative ideas. We should strive to build ideas on compassion and humility, on love and friendship,
on taking less and giving more while we are alive, if life on this planet is to be sustained for the
future.
It is at this very moment that man's fulfillment demands that we see the good in others not the evil; see
the hope in others not the frustration; see the joy in others not the sorrow; see the faith in others not
the despair.
Great ideas are truths waiting to be fulfilled, and no idea is worth anything unless and until we turn it
into worthwhile performance for the benefit of all humanity.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The ultimate good is better achieved by the free trade in ideas".
Our Impulses
Should we obey an impulse? We should if the impulse is constructive. Impulses can also be
destructive. When we hate we often, through imagination, dispose of the individual. This creates
negative impulses that have no value because they distort the self-image.
We live every day with imagination. Worry is a form of imagination. Here we throw on the screen of
the mind past failures, which inhibit us in our daily tasks of the present. When we are happy, we
throw on the screen of the mind past successes, which give us the confidence we exercise in the daily
tasks for the present. A good impulse is nothing more than imagination that seeks action to improve
the self-image.
When I was a young man I had the impulse, the desire, to be a plastic surgeon. This was during a time
when the specialty was practically unknown. Despite tremendous objections from my family, I
obeyed my impulse.
I know a doctor who, twenty years ago, had the impulse to be a baby specialist. He loved children and
would have been excellent in this specialty. But he was undecided. He said he'd wait until he had
saved enough money, until he could properly provide for his wife and child. One indecision followed
another and he never became a baby specialist.
Indecision is unbelief. Unbelief is fear. And this constant fear prolongs tension and finally puts us in a
state of paralysis. This scars and distorts the self-image, making us less than what we are, preventing
us from reaching our true stature of fulfillment.
I know a married woman who has two children. She suddenly had the impulse to do abstract painting.
She followed her impulse despite objections from her family. Now she sells her paintings. She has
made her family happy and herself happy. The point to remember is to obey your impulse, the good
impulse. It is a challenge to be happy. It is a chance to put the imagination to work, to reach a
worthwhile goal, to fulfill ourselves.
Remember the words of George Herbert, "He begins to die who quits his desires".
Praise
What is praise? It is a varied expression of love and friendship, and we should use it more often to
compliment someone for a deed well done, for a word well spoken. Why be effusive in our praise of
someone when he is put to rest in a cemetery and can't hear a word of it.
What is praise? Something we all need now and then. Every human being, whether he is a beggar or a
tycoon, a peasant or a philosopher, a student or a teacher, whether he is alone or married, searches
desperately for recognition. One of the greatest goals for every human being is to feel needed, wanted
for something somewhere. We deserve this praise not when we demand it or search for it, but when
we receive it naturally in the process of doing something for others, while we are doing something for
ourselves.
On Stubbornness
Life means change. Your image changes every day simply because you are different every day and the
situations of each day are different; and that is the way it should be. Man progresses by change.
Nature progresses by change spring, summer, winter, fall. Can you imagine if a tree in the spring
were stubborn and refused to bud and bear leaves, if a flower were stubborn and refused to bloom, if a
vegetable or fruit were stubborn and refused to grow and ripen?
Are you stubborn? Do you refuse to change and grow in stature? Are you resistant to creative living,
to a smile, to friendship, to forgiveness, to the Brotherhood of Man?
Michel de Montaigne said, "Obstinacy and heat of opinion are the surest proof of stupidity".
To get more living out of life you must start getting rid of negative feelings that create stubbornness
and obstinacy, envy, indolence; they all give rise to resistance that makes you shrink to the size of a
microbe.
Are you a microbe or a whole human being? You have the answer within you, if you overcome
stubbornness through forgiveness and friendship to yourself.
There is one kind of stubbornness that is creative. If after sharp analysis you find your beliefs worthy
of humanity, fight for these beliefs. That is not pig-headedness, that is constructive determination,
growth for yourself and for others.
Faith And Belief
Often at the beginning of my career as a public speaker, I would be overcome with the panic of doubt,
a lack of belief in myself, just before I got to the platform to deliver my talk. How would I begin?
What would I say? What mistakes would I make? How could I stand there for an hour and face
hundreds of people? How could I get through? But when the time came, I was there. I carried on
because I had something to say. I did the best I could and I came through with flying colours. And I
learned that many of our best actors and actresses are especially nervous just before the curtain goes
up.
All of us have self-doubts at the beginning of some undertakings whether we are doctors, lawyers,
engineers, teachers, students, poets, or salesmen.
Where does faith and belief come from? From within ourselves. We are faith. We are belief. We are
also doubt and unbelief. We as individuals must make the decision where we want to go in life, to be
the big self or the little self. We must think of our faith and our belief as wings that can make us soar
to our destination, to achieve our goals and reach self-fulfillment no matter how crucial our times may
be.
With doubt and unbelief our creative wings are clipped for the moment and we can't get off the
ground to rise above our self-imposed dungeon. We must thank God for doubt and unbelief. It is our
moral responsibility to rise above them to make something of ourselves through faith and belief.
These characteristics are eternally within us waiting to be recognised, waiting for action. Remember
the words of William Blake:
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
On Knowledge
Aristotle said, "All men desire by nature to know". He wrote this over two thousand years ago but it is
still true today. Of course when he said "all men", he meant everybody: men and women, rich and
poor, black and white, young and old. I suppose there are about ten percent of people who never want
to learn, ten percent who know it all; but look at the potentiality of the Brotherhood of Man when
eighty percent of all people want to learn to improve, to get more living out of life, and to share this
good fortune with others.
Man lives in three worlds: the body, the mind, and the spirit. If he stops eating, something happens to
him physically. If he stops wanting to learn, something happens to him mentally and spiritually. No
food, anemia of the body. No learning, anemia of the mind and spirit. In neither instance can you
move in the world creatively and amount to your big self, because you will be working under severe
handicaps.
Aristotle tells us what we already know, that every American every human being needs,
deserves, and should have education. It is as natural for people to learn as it is for them to breathe.
Learning is their nucleus of growth and accomplishment. It is also well to remember that the greatest
adventure in learning is in getting to know yourself better, and that envy, hatred, stubbornness,
indecision, indolence, and fear prevent such an experience. We must resolve to educate our minds to
search for and find our big self.
On Vanity
Thomas A. Kempis said, "He is truly great that is little in himself and that maketh no account of any
height of honour". These words are the quintessence of humility, when one is not arrogant of his
successes nor does he complain about his misfortunes. He insists on living creatively every day, every
minute, to give happiness to himself and to share it with others.
The reverse of this characteristic is vanity, a common trait that infects the mind and spirit of
humanity. As a matter of fact, no one can escape it entirely in a lifetime.
When you have vanity, you have conceit; and in both instances you falsely believe you are more than
what you are which, as a matter of fact, you know the truth that you are less, much less, than what
you can be. Then, in your secret embarrassment, you scratch for attention, but it leads to naught. It's
like scratching on marble. If the truth be known, you wind up disliking yourself, lost to yourself,
neglecting opportunities to find your big self and worthwhile goals. There is nothing in vanity but
defeat. Perhaps you would think twice before being vain if you realised that you are playing a
depression game, a losing game that automatically makes you a member of the opinionated club; that
you become a little dictator who cannot win, who cannot relax, who cannot sleep.
The cure: Think kindly of yourself, but don't gloat over successes. Be a good friend to yourself and
you will be a good friend to others. Like Thomas A. Kempis said, you will be truly great if you don't
make too great an account of your honours.
Being Yourself
Most people who have failed in an undertaking don't like what they see when they look in the mirror.
Young people particularly are affected by this kind of emotional reaction to a problem that seems to
defy solution. Just remember that as long as you live you'll be making mistakes now and then; and
when you do, it is only natural for you not to like yourself, not to like the image you see of yourself in
the mirror, not to like your little self. The point to remember on being yourself is that you must rise
above your little self. You must rise above mistakes and misfortunes of yesterday. You must try to
reach your big self.
People are mistake makers, but they are also mistake breakers. The business of being yourself your
big self is to accept yourself for what you are when you make mistakes. Look at yourself in the
mirror with kind eyes and realise that you are much bigger than any error, any blunder, any
misfortune, any heartache.
You must live beyond your mistakes instead of with them. You must accept your weaknesses, stand
on your feet in moments of crisis, and rely on the confidence from past successes to turn crises into
creative opportunities.
If you don't like what you are, get off your own back. Stop living with this hang-up, because you and
you alone can either like or dislike what you are. Realise now that you can be your better self, your
big self, by rising above your mistakes. That's what successful living is all about. That's what being
yourself is all about.
By Maxwell Mate M.D., E.I.C.S.
America's Wisest Man
7 - Remembering Names And Faces
Remembering names and faces is one of the most important aspects of our lives, and one of the most
difficult. The reason for the difficulty lies in the fact that in most instances the names have no real
'connection' lo the faces. In earlier ages it was exactly the opposite, and the whole system developed
for giving people names was based on memory and association: the man you regularly saw covered in
white flour with dough all over his hands was Mr. Baker; the man you regularly saw in his own and
everyone else's garden was Mr. Gardener; the man who laboured all day over a hot fire pounding
metal was Mr. Blacksmith, and so on.
As the generations changed and the family name became more and more removed from its original
meaning, the task of the memorisation of names and faces became increasingly difficult, reaching the
current situation in which the name is a word with no immediate associations with the face.
Method for Remembering Names and Faces
You will never again find yourself in a situation where you are introduced rapidly to five people and
hurriedly repeat, 'Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you,
pleased to meet you', having been introduced only to the five pairs of shoes at which you look in
embarrassment because you know you are immediately going to forget all the names anyway (which
you do!).
Memory Steps
1. Mental Set. Before you enter a situation in which you will meet people, mentally prepare yourself
to succeed and not to fail. Many people enter such situations 'knowing' that they have a bad memory
for names and faces and consequently set about proving it to themselves. If you 'know' that your
memory is going to improve, you will notice immediate improvement. When preparing yourself for
meeting people, try to make sure that you are as poised and relaxed as possible and, also, that
wherever possible you have given yourself a two-to five-minute break for p
From India, Pune
7Friends who cannot Download can Read here
orelse pls c the attachment
A Guide To Memory Increase
By Rocco Oppedisano
Index
1 - Eight Laws Of Memory
2 - Help Relieve Two Memory Invaders
3 - How Good Is Your Memory?
4 - Is Sugar A Memory Killer?
5 - The Secret Principles For A Super Power Memory
6 - Happiness Is Important For A Good Memory
7 - Remembering Names And Faces
8 - Discovering The Success Mechanism (Within You)
9 - How To Remember (Speeches, Jokes, Books, Poems, Dramatic Parts, Articles and Examinations)
10 - For A Clear Memory (You Must Stop Emotional Disorders)
11 - Healing Foods (For The Mind And A Sharper Memory)
12 - Memory And It's History
13 - The Link System
14 - The Roman Room System
15 - Re-remembering (Remembering What You Have Forgotten)
16 - Frustration
17 - Salt-Free Program (Helps To Relieve Tensions Which In Turn Improves Your Memory)
18 - A Bad Temper Will Cut Your Memory
1 - Eight Laws Of Memory
1. The Law Of Comprehension.
This is the simplest, but also the most important. According to the German writer Georg Lichtenberg,
people poorly remember what they read because "they do too little thinking". The more deeply you
grasp what you memorise, the more easily and the more in detail it will remain in your memory.
2. The Law Of Interest.
"For knowledge to be digested, it must be absorbed with relish," wrote Anatole France. The
interesting and "the appetising" is remembered easily as man does not have to make special efforts, as
the ability to spontaneously memorise comes into play.
3. The Law Of Previous Knowledge.
The more one knows on a certain subject, the more easily one memorises everything new pertaining
to it. Everyone must have noticed that when he opens a book read long ago, he reads it as if he had
never read it before. This means that when he read it for the first time he lacked the relevant
experience and information but by this time he has accumulated them. Thus reading forms
connections between the accumulated and the new knowledge. This is the result of memorisation.
4. The Law Of Readiness For Memorisation.
The reader derives the information he sets out to derive from the text. The same goes for the duration
of memorisation. When one wants to remember something for long, one will remember it in any case
better than when one wants to remember something for a brief while.
5. The Law Of Associations.
This was formulated back in the 4th century B.C. by Aristotle. The concepts which arose
simultaneously summon each other up from the memory bank by association. For instance, the
atmosphere of a room evokes recollections about events which took place in it (or recollection of what
you read staying in it, and this is exactly what you need).
6. The Law Of Sequences.
The alphabet is easy to recite in its regular order and difficult in the reverse order. The conceptions
learned in a certain sequence, when recalled, summon each other up in the same sequence.
7. The Law Of Strong Impressions.
The stronger the first impression of what is being memorised, the brighter the image. The greater the
number of information channels, the more strongly the information is retained. Hence, the task is to
achieve the strongest possible initial impression of the material subject.
8. The Law Of Inhibition.
Any subsequent memorisation inhibits the previous. The learned portion of information must "settle"
before the next is taken up. The best way to forget newly memorised material is by trying to memorise
something similar directly afterwards. This is why school children are advised not to learn physics
after mathematics and literature after history and to learn poetry before going to bed.
Memorisation Advice
Before you set about reading a book, article or document, try to guess from its title what is written in
it (or what you would write in the author's place). The same "forecasting" applies to the heads of
chapters and the first paragraphs of the text.
Before reading (listening and glancing through) think of what information you want to derive, and
what for. This will stimulate your interest and prepare you for its cognition.
Where the author, citing a number of arguments, is going to draw a conclusion, make a deduction
yourself first and only then continue to read.
Before reading recall all relevant information known to you. In other words, "brush up" your
knowledge.
Try to imitate Ancient Roman orators, who learned their speeches pacing up and down and
"establishing connections" between the text and the atmosphere of their homes and then would recall
the speech by taking "mental strolls".
If you want to memorise a text in detail don't learn it piecemeal. Learn the whole text, and learn it in
its natural sequence.
To avoid forgetting the name of a new acquaintance, strengthen the first impression left by him by
repeating his name aloud ("Excuse me, have I heard you right?"), using it in the conversation and
when parting. Write down this name, if only with your finger in the air. imagine in whose honour this
man may have been named, etc.
Try to evoke the strongest possible emotions connected with the information you memorise.
Incidentally, this is exactly what Lenin did. The margins of the books he read bristle with categorical
and profoundly emotional notes: "True!", "What nonsense!", "Ha-ha!", and "You've hit the nail on the
head!"
When preparing for intensive mental efforts consider the state you are in at the moment. Sadness,
irritation, uncertainty and fear are enemies of memory.
Never write down things without an attempt to grasp and memorise them!
To these rules you may add a host of your own, based on the laws of memory. In short, the knowledge
of these laws will enable you to memorise much more than before even if you had complaints about
your memory.
Abridged from the Russian magazine EKO
2 - Help Relieve Two Memory Invaders
Two leading causes of emotional unrest and mental breakdown are mental depression and hysteria.
Where chemotherapy was once used exclusively to treat them, now doctors are beginning to use
nutritional therapy.
To understand how proper nutrition can help us meet the emotional challenges of daily living, we
need to understand the nature of these two distressing conditions:
(1) Mental Depression.
Known as "the blues" or "hanging on", this is a melancholy and downcast mood. When extreme and
prolonged, it may lead to more serious disorders. Typical emotional symptoms include fear, anxiety,
worry, indecision, pessimism, brooding and unwillingness to co-operate.
Involutional melancholia is a form of mental depression seen in late middle-age, more commonly in
women than in men, and appears to have some relationship with the change in the endocrine pattern
that follows the middle years. Here is where proper nutrition may help to boost endocrine substances
and maintain a healthful glandular balance.
To a certain extent, depression is also a psychosomatic illness. When a depressed person comes to the
doctor and says he aches here or there, he is constipated, he can't taste his food, he may not be
imagining it. Many emotionally depressed people do have endocrine and neuromuscular or autonomic
system dysfunctions.
During emotional depression there is a major functional disruption of the autonomic nerves, the
adrenal, the thyroid, which upsets the homeostasis (body balance) of the organism. Prolonged
depression may lead to tissue depletion, forms of arthritis and ulcers. To tell the individual "it's all in
your mind" is to do him a disservice. These days many doctors are seeking nutritional means to help
restore body homeostasis and ease depression.
Hysteria.
Usually regarded as a "neurosis", this emotional disruption is often marked by shouting, gesticulating,
wild weeping and other similar behaviour. Often a temper tantrum is a good example of hysteria. The
hysterical person often converts his emotional conflicts into physical symptoms.
Because of prolonged stress and neurological abuse, hysteria can lead to visual disturbances, hearing
defects, paralysis, choking, convulsions, pains and fever. A number of doctors have found that
corrective food programs with emphasis on certain vitamins, minerals, proteins can help boost
resistance to stress and ease the problem. Let's see what has been reported:
A Doctor's Plan For "Mind Food".
Dr. George A. Wilson spent over 40 years in practice, testing some thousands of patients who were
victims of depression and hysteria and who had physical ailments induced by the emotional upsets. He
believes that a delicate acid-alkaline balance is necessary to boost healthful metabolism and to feed
the body the nutrients that then work to feed the mind.
Writing in A New Slant to Diet, Dr. Wilson reports that (1) the more alkaline in the digestive system,
the more nervous the person is; (2) the more acid, the more he is able to digest nutrients and be able to
fight problems of stress. He feels that a balance which he terms "bio-electric force" would help
the body withstand tensions and strains and help heal emotional disorders.
Dr. Wilson lists six stress-tension disorders that disturb the acid balance and lead to alkalinity.
Furthermore, such stresses destroy the body supply of Vitamin C ascorbic acid needed by the
adrenal glands to help boost emotional health. The key to better health, Dr. Wilson believes, is to
avoid these six stress-tension situations: shocks, keen disappointments, intense emotional upsets,
excess fear and worry, overwork and inadequate rest. Dr. Wilson also notes that most people have:
(1) More acid in the afternoon, more alkaline in early morning.
(2) More acid in summer, more alkaline in winter.
(3) More acid during exercise, more alkaline during rest.
(4) More alkaline when chilled, tired, chronically sick or at the onset of illness.
To boost the acid-reserves in the early morning, in winter, during prolonged rest and during the onset
of an illness, Dr. Wilson suggests taking a "tonic" of one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and honey
in a glass of water at those times. He also recommends it when a person feels tired, irritable, has cold
hands and feet (often a symptom of choked-up, tension-induced poor circulation); for aches and
stiffness, and digestive upset.
Also, any fresh fruit juice will provide a good supply of vital nutrients as well as the acid needed to
maintain a proper balance. Needless to say, Dr. Wilson's tonic should get your own doctor's okay
before you take it. There may be some other reason for your symptoms.
Dr. Wilson further suggests eating properly balanced meals to help stabilise metabolism. He suggests
the reduction or elimination of starches and sweets, and he offers this program to his patients:
(1) Meat once a day. Other proteins were acceptable at other meals.
(2) One slice of whole-grain, unbleached bread daily.
(3) Select vegetables whose leaves are exposed to the sun's rays. Examples: alfalfa, celery (stalks and
leaves), dandelion greens, endive, kale, mustard greens, turnip leaves, watercress, parsley, asparagus,
red-beet leaves and carrot leaves.
(4) Eat fruit between meals rather than with meals. Dr. Wilson's theory: fruits do not necessarily
energise but they do cleanse and are important between meals to help prepare the digestive system for
the next meal. (Note: Other findings indicate that natural fruit sugar helps promote energy, but Dr.
Wilson feels that in combination with other foods, the energising effect is somewhat abated.)
Dr. Wilson also warns his nervous and tense patients NOT to eat a heavy meal at night. This leads to
tossing and turning and prolonged emotional stress.
The doctor may well be on the threshold of healing mental depression and hysteria through corrective
nutrition. At any rate, he reports being able to "emotionally strengthen" hundreds of patients with his
natural foods program.
How Magnesium Helps Ease Nervous Tremors.
The mineral magnesium has been hailed as a "nerve food" by leading physicians. A team of doctors
reported to the Journal of the American Medical Association on its emotion-healing power. Here are
some of its reported benefits.
Magnesium therapy soothed such emotion-based problems as irritability, anxiety, muscle weakness,
unsteady gait, staggering, vertigo-twitching, numbness, and cramps in hands and feet. It was also
suggested for anyone feeling depression, or hysteria, or some other related emotional upsets coming
on, as a soothing and all-natural relaxer.
Food sources of magnesium include green leafy vegetables, liver, meat, eggs, whole grain products.
Blackstrap molasses and whole wheat products like wheat germ are other good sources.
According to Mildred S. Seelig, M.D., in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, patients with
emotional disorders who need magnesium should have this minimum intake: 385 milligrams daily for
a 140-lb. woman; 500 milligrams daily for a 185-lb. man. Says Dr. Seelig: "The diet should be
supplemented with magnesium at least until equilibrium is noted and then possibly reduced to meet
the body need." Correct dosage, of course, is up to the physician.
That magnesium therapy can work is pointed up in the case of a 68-year-old man, who, following an
abdominal operation, suddenly became irrational, noisy, wildly restless, confused and combative. His
case, reported in the American Journal of Internal Medicine (1955), describes how he experienced
hallucinations, was depressed and also-showed symptoms of hysteria. His brain and heart pattern were
abnormal.
Vitamins, dextrose, potassium and calcium were prescribed without much help. Then the doctors gave
him magnesium and calcium. In 18 hours, after he received the magnesium prescription, the man was
rational, oriented and reported to be completely free of neuro-muscular disorder. In three days, he was
up and around.
Calcium To Calm The Nervous System.
Researcher Catharyn Elwood in Feel Like a Million, lauds the use of calcium to help calm the nervous
system. She explains:
"Without calcium, in solution in the blood, the nerves cannot send messages. The nerves become
tense. They cannot relax. In children, this shows in unpleasant dispositions, temper tantrums and easy,
fretful crying. In serious deficiencies, the muscles twitch, have spasms and even convulsions. In
adults, they show calcium deficiencies with nervous habits such as finger tapping and tensing of the
foot, or swinging it when the leg is crossed. They are impatient and snap at their loved ones when they
really want to be patient and kind. They are easily annoyed, jump at slight noises and often are
grouchy. They become restless and cannot sit still very long. They usually suffer from insomnia."
Dairy products, turnip and mustard greens, collards, kale, broccoli are natural food sources of
calcium. Calcium tablets are available. Catharyn Elwood suggests:
"For nerves to relax and to send your impulses, you need calcium. No calcium can be absorbed unless
phosphorus and Vitamin D are also on the job. See that you get at least two grams of calcium and
never less than one hour of sunbathing or 800 to 4000 units of Vitamin D daily. Use a safe, raw milk
and unrefined vegetable oils."
She also recommends magnesium, Vitamins B1 and B6 as mineral-vitamin emotion "soothers":
"Vitamin BI is the most important nerve relaxer of all the B-complex vitamins ... Lack of Vitamin B1
indirectly starves the nerves, for their one and only food is sugar. Sugar comes from completely
digesting carbohydrates, which is impossible if B1 is lacking ... Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is gaining
fame as another important member of the family for calm and steady nerves."
The "Nerve-Building Vitamin".
To meet the challenge of emotional stress with proper nutrition, doctors have found that one nutrient
Vitamin B12 has an amazing power to insulate the nervous system against emotional upset.
A deficiency of Vitamin B12 may adversely affect the nervous system, writes J. MacDonald Holmes,
M.D. in Medical News (4:67). Dr. Holmes makes note of the fact that Vitamin B12 helps to maintain
the integrity of the "myalin sheath", the fat like substance which forms a protective insulating sleeve
around delicate nerve fibres. A deficiency can cause such emotional symptoms as tingling sensations
in the limbs, numbness, shooting pains and feelings of hot and cold. The limbs feel stiff and weak, and
sensations of touch, pain and temperature are blunted.
3 - How Good Is Your Memory?
Your memory is phenomenal.
1. Most people remember fewer than 10 per cent of the names of those whom they meet.
2. Most people forget more than 99 per cent of the phone numbers given to them.
3. Memory is supposed to decline rapidly with age.
4. Many people drink, and alcohol is reputed to destroy 1000 brain cells per drink.
5. Internationally, across races, cultures, ages and education levels, there is a common experience, and
fear of, having an inadequate or bad memory.
6. Our failures in general, and especially in remembering, are attributed to the fact that we are 'only
human', a statement that implies that our skills are inherently inadequate.
Your memory does decline with age, but only if it is not used. Conversely, if it is used, it will continue
to improve throughout your lifetime.
There is no evidence to suggest that moderate drinking destroys brain cells. This misapprehension
arose because it was found that excessive drinking, and only excessive drinking, did indeed damage
the brain.
Across cultural and international boundaries 'negative experience' with memory can be traced not to
our being 'only human' or in anyway innately inadequate but to two simple, easily changeable factors:
(1) negative mental set and (2) lack of knowledge.
Negative Mental Set
There is a growing and informal international organisation, which I choose to name the 'I've Got an
Increasingly Bad Memory Club'. How often do you hear people in animated and enthusiastic
conversation saying things like, 'You know, my memory's not nearly as good as it used to be when I
was younger; I'm constantly forgetting things'. To which there is an equally enthusiastic reply: 'Yes, I
know exactly what you mean; the same thing's happening to me ...' And off they dodder, arms draped
around each other's shoulders, down the hill to mental oblivion. And such conversations often take
place between thirty-year-olds!
Consider the younger supermemoriser to whom most people romantically refer. If you want to check
for yourself, go back to any school at the end of a day, walk into a classroom of a group of five to
seven-year-old children after they have gone home and ask the teacher what has been left in the
classroom (i.e. forgotten). You will find the following items: watches, pencils, pens, sweets, money,
jackets, physical education equipment, books, coats, glasses, erasers, toys, etc.
The only real difference between the middle-aged executive who has forgotten to phone someone he
was supposed to phone and who has left his briefcase at the office, and the seven-year-old child who
realises on returning home that he's left at school his watch, his pocket-money and his homework is
that the seven-year-old does not collapse into depression, clutching his head and exclaiming, 'Oh,
Christ, I'm seven years old and my memory's going!'
Ask yourself, 'What is the number of things I actually remember each day?' Most people estimate
somewhere between 100 and 10,000. The answer is in fact in the multiple billions. The human
memory is so excellent and runs so smoothly that most people don't even realise that every word they
speak and every word they listen to are instantaneously produced for consideration, recalled,
recognised precisely and placed in their appropriate context.
Nor do they realise that every moment, every perception, every thought, everything that they do
throughout the entire day and throughout their lives is a function of their memories. In fact, its
ongoing accuracy is almost perfect. The few odd things that we do forget are like odd specks on a
gigantic ocean. Ironically, the reason why we notice so dramatically the errors that we make is that
they are so rare.
There is now increasing evidence that our memories may not only be far better than we ever thought
but may in fact be perfect. Consider the following arguments for this case:
1. Dreams
Many people have vivid dreams of acquaintances, friends, family and lovers of whom they have not
thought for as many as twenty to forty years. In their dreams, however, the images are perfectly clear,
all colours and details being exactly as they were in real life. This confirms that somewhere in the
brain there is a vast store of perfect images and associations that does not change with time and that,
with the right trigger, can be recalled.
2. Surprise Random Recall
Practically everyone has had the experience of turning a comer and suddenly recalling people or
events from previous times in his life. This often happens when people revisit their first school. A
single smell, touch, sight or sound can bring back a flood of experiences thought to be forgotten. This
ability of any given sense to reproduce perfect memory images indicates that if there were more
correct 'trigger situations' much more would and could be recollected. We know from such
experiences that the brain has retained the information.
3. The Russian 'S'
In the early part of this century a young Russian journalist (in The Mind of a Mnemonist, by A. R.
Luria, he is referred to as 'S') attended an editorial meeting, and it was noted to the consternation of
others that he was not taking notes. When pressed to explain, he became confused; to everyone's
amazement, it became apparent that he really did not understand why anyone should ever take notes.
The explanation that he gave for not taking notes himself was that he could remember what the editor
was saying, so what was the point? Upon being challenged, 'S' reproduced the entire speech, word for
word, sentence for sentence, and inflection for inflection.
For the next thirty years he was to be tested and examined by Alexander Luria, Russia's leading
psychologist and expert on memory. Luria confirmed that 'S' was in no way abnormal but that his
memory was indeed perfect. Luria also stated that at a very young age 'S' had 'stumbled upon' the
basic mnemonic principles (see pages 39ff.) and that they had become part of his natural functioning.
'S' was not unique. The history of education, medicine and psychology is dotted with similar cases of
perfect memorisers. In every instance, their brains were found to be normal, and in every instance
they had, as young children, 'discovered' the basic principles of their memory's function.
4. Professor Rosensweig's Experiments
Professor Mark Rosensweig, a Californian psychologist and neurophysiologist, spent years studying
the individual brain cell and its capacity for storage. As early as 1974 he stated that if we fed in ten
new items of information every second for an entire lifetime to any normal human brain that brain
would be considerably less than half full. He emphasised that memory problems have nothing to do
with the capacity of the brain but rather with the self-management of that apparently limitless
capacity.
5. Professor Penfield's Experiments
Professor Wilder Penfield of Canada came across his discovery of the capacity of human memory by
mistake. He was stimulating individual brain cells with tiny electrodes for the purpose of locating
areas of the brain that were the cause of patients' epilepsy.
To his amazement he found that when he stimulated certain individual brain cells, his patients were
suddenly recalling experiences from their past. The patients emphasised that it was not simple
memory, but that they actually were reliving the entire experience, including smells, noises, colours,
movement, tastes. These experiences ranged from a few hours before the experimental session to as
much as forty years earlier.
Penfield suggested that hidden within each brain cell or cluster of brain cells lies a perfect store of
every event of our past and that if we could find the right stimulus we could replay the entire film.
6. The Potential Pattern-Making Ability of Your Brain
Professor Pyotr Anokhin, the famous Pavlov's brightest student, spent his last years investigating the
potential pattern-making capabilities of the human brain. His findings were important for memory
researchers. It seems that memory is recorded in separate little patterns, or electromagnetic circuits,
that are formed by the brain's interconnecting cells.
Anokhin already knew that the brain contained a million million (1,000,000,000,000) brain cells but
that even this gigantic number was going to be small in comparison with the number of patterns that
those brain cells could make among themselves. Working with advanced electron microscopes and
computers, he came up with a staggering number.
Anokhin calculated that the number of patterns, or 'degrees of freedom', throughout the brain is, to use
his own words, 'so great that writing it would take a line of figures, in normal manuscript characters,
more than ten and a half million kilometres in length. With such a number of possibilities, the brain is
a keyboard on which hundreds of millions of different melodies can be played'.
Your memory is the music.
7. Near-Death-Type Experiences
Many people have looked up at the surface ripples of a swimming pool from the bottom, knowing that
they were going to drown within the next two minutes; or seen the rapidly disappearing ledge of the
mountain from which they have just fallen; or felt the oncoming grid of the 10-ton lorry bearing down
on them at 60 miles per hour. A common theme runs through the accounts that survivors of such
traumas tell. In such moments of 'final consideration' the brain slows all things down to a standstill,
expanding a fraction of a second into a lifetime, and reviews the total experience of the individual.
When pressed to admit that what they had really experienced were a few highlights, the individuals
concerned insisted that what they had experienced was their entire lire, including all things they had
completely forgotten until that instant of time. 'My whole life flashed before me' has almost become a
clich้ that goes with the near-death experience. Such a commonality of experience again argues for a
storage capacity of the brain that we have only just begun to tap.
8. Photographic Memory
Photographic, or eidetic, memory is a specific phenomenon in which people can remember, usually
for a very short time, perfectly and exactly anything they have seen. This memory usually fades, but it
can be so accurate as to enable somebody, after seeing a picture of 1000 randomly sprayed dots on a
white sheet, to reproduce them perfectly. This suggests that in addition to the deep, long-term storage
capacity, we also have a shorter-term and immediate photographic ability. It is argued that children
often have this ability as a natural part of their mental functioning and that we train it away by forcing
them to concentrate too much on logic and language and too little on imagination and their other
range of mental skills.
9. The 1000 Photographs
In recent experiments people were shown 1000 photographs, one after the other, at a pace of about
one photograph per second. The psychologists then mixed 100 photographs with the original 1000,
and asked the people to select those they had not seen the first time through. Everyone, regardless of
how he described his normal memory, was able to identify almost every photograph he had seen as
well as each one that he had not seen previously. They were not necessarily able to remember the
order in which the photographs had been presented, but they could definitely remember the image
an example that confirms the common human experience of being better able to remember a face than
the name attached to it. This particular problem is easily dealt with by applying the Memory
Techniques.
10. The Memory Techniques
The Memory techniques, or mnemonics, were a system of 'memory codes' that enabled people to
remember perfectly whatever it was they wished to remember. Experiments with these techniques
have shown that if a person scores 9 out of 10 when using such a technique, that same person will
score 900 out of 1000, 9000 out of 10,000, 900,000 out of 1,000,000 and so on. Similarly, one who
scores perfectly out of 10 will score perfectly out of 1,000,000. These techniques help us to delve into
that phenomenal storage capacity we have and to pull out whatever it is that we need.
4 - Is Sugar A Memory Killer?
Sugar is a non-food. It is a pure carbohydrate that offers illusion of energy, only to cause a downhill
slump after the initial burst has worn off. Sugar further contributes to emotional upset because it "sops
up" the Vitamin B-complex during metabolism.
These vitamins nourish the nervous system. As has been pointed out, a deficiency may lead to
emotional upset. Sugar, by its depleting action, may cause a deficiency. By upsetting the delicate
blood-sugar levels, it may cause a mind-bending, mind-destroying action. It has been reported to
distort mentality, trigger erratic behaviour and memory loss.
Joseph Wilder, M.D., writing in The Nervous Child, blames excess sugar consumption for the fact
that so many children display neurotic symptoms. Youngsters, according to Dr. Wilder, consume a lot
of sugar in their cravings for sweets and so are more susceptible to these emotional disorders. Because
of this, they face a serious threat in their mental health "for the importance of nutrition for mental (and
physical) functioning is much greater in children than in adults".
An excess of sugar, says Dr. Wilder, is emotionally hazardous. "In adults faulty or insufficient
nutrition may alter or impair specific or general mental functions, and eventually cause reparable or
even irreparable structural damage of the central nervous system. In children, we face a serious
additional factor. The development of the brain may be retarded, stopped, altered, and thus the mental
functions may become impaired in indirect and not less serious ways".
Sugar metabolism leaches out the nerve-breeding vitamins and distress signals are noted. The person
overeats or does not want to eat at all. Often, memory is impaired. Nightmares, sleepwalking, poor
learning, absent-mindedness, mischievousness, inability to get things done all these may result.
"Laziness may be caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)," says Dr. Wilder, "with mental fatigue,
dullness, indifference, lack of initiative and above all, severe inability to make decisions".
A serious condition of an overloaded sugar system may lead to violence. Dr. Wilder explains, "The
child may be neurotic, psychopathic or have criminal tendencies and be subject to anxiety, running
away tendencies, aggressiveness, a blind urge to activity and destructiveness, with impairment of
moral sensibilities like shame.
"In its simplest form, it is the tendency to deny everything, contradict everything, refuse everything at
any price ... It is no wonder that a considerable number of criminal and semi-criminal acts have been
observed in children in ... [low blood sugar] states, ranging from destructiveness or violation of traffic
regulations all the way to arson and homicide".
Dr. Wilder also says that "the well-known problem of the relation of poverty to crime calls for an
investigation from the angle of hypoglycemia ... In such an investigation, we must also keep in mind
the possible irreparable anatomical damage and arrest of development in young brains caused by
malnutrition in childhood, even if the patient or criminal does not present any metabolic abnormalities
at the time of investigation".
In an article in The Handbook of Correctional Psychology, Dr. Joseph Wilder offers a number of
cases of criminal acts performed by individuals who had a history of high sugar intake and showed
symptoms of hypoglycemia. The crimes included homicide, arson, mutilation.
Throughout Dr. Wilder's report are statements like this:
"After the patient's arrest, his family physician notified the defense that two years prior to the crime, a
sugar tolerance curve (blood sugar test) had shown a tendency to hypoglycemia".
Hitler has been called a "sugar drunkard" and this may have been one reason for his being a triggerbrained,
raving, rabble-rousing maniac. His over consumption of sugar may have created a low blood
sugar condition and the consequent screaming fits of rage.
Hitler's Love for Sweets. Ernst Hanfstaengl, the Fuhrer's personal pianist, in his book, Unheard
Witness, tells how Hitler loved sweets and favoured whipped-cream cakes. There was always a box of
candy around. The pianist writes that Hitler could not drink wine unless he put sugar Into it! In his
early years, when he was in jail, his friends deluged him with boxes of candy, knowing of his
addiction.
Hanfstaengl writes, "Hitler ... had the most incredibly sweet tooth of any man I have ever met ..."
While there certainly were many other factors involved in Hitler's distorted mind, his sugar
consumption may have been the hypoglycemia "trigger" that exploded other symptoms.
Sugar is an artificial creation. The sugar molecule is something like Cn H<2>n On (Carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen). It has no nutrients. It is water soluble and rushes into the bloodstream, spending little
time in the digestive system. It is regarded as a chemical compound and disrupts normal health
patterns of the biological system. It could well cause an abnormal strain on the mental processes.
H. Stutte, M.D., a court physician to officials in Marburg, Germany writing on the problems of excess
sugar in Das Neue Zeitalter, alerts us to the possibility of a connection between low blood sugar
(hypoglycemia) and some auto accidents:
"A person with hypoglycemia who is suddenly overcome in the thickest of the traffic in a large city
with disorders of his vision or a state of weakness ... who reacts incorrectly as a result of loss of
initiative or blurred consciousness, this person can easily provoke an accident in which he himself or
another person can be the victim."
This condition "threatens special danger when it overcomes the driver at the steering wheel and as
is often the case this person is not conscious of the fact that he is disturbed and continues to drive
... When a car suddenly cuts out into the opposite lane and has a collision where there are good
lighting conditions on a curve that can be seen well or for that matter even on a straight highway, one
should not satisfy himself with the laconic statement 'going too fast', but also think about the
possibility of hypoglycemia ..."
Dr. Sutte would like to see medical tests given in such cases:
"An intensification of the investigation of the causes (in the area of medicine as well as in the area of
technology) would probably be of essentially greater value for the prevention of accidents than the
continual increase of punitory regulations."
The Sugar Energy Fallacy.
There is a popular -and erroneous theory that sugar supplies energy. Here is what Dr. Michael J.
Walsh, a nutritionist, has to say about this, in Modern Nutrition.
"Acting on the false-to-fact identification that sugar is energy, people eat more and more sugar in the
naive belief that they are going to get more and more energy. Instead of more and more, they are
likely to get less and less energy if the more and more sugar is in the form of the 'concentrated,
refined, fermentable carbohydrates' which includes sugar out of the sugar bowl, sweetened gelatin
desserts, sweetened breads, rolls, doughnuts, pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, sweetened alcoholic
beverages, sweetened processed cereals, syrup from canned fruits, etc."
Dr. Michael Walsh explains that this type of sugar reduces energy because it is "not likely to be
accompanied by sufficient quantities of other factors (such as Vitamin B1) which are needed to ensure
the completion of the intermediate stages of carbohydrate metabolism ... A consequence of failure to
complete the energy transformation is fatigue ..."
Consumer Bulletin had the following item of interest regarding the so-called energy power of sugar:
"The 'quick energy' that comes from carbohydrates and is so much praised in advertising of the sugar
interests is short-lived. The malnourished Child who is fed much sugar will quickly lose interest in
activity after his bottle of soft drink or an ice cream soda, and soon sink back into his prior passive
state".
Many parents may be guilty of inducing mental sluggishness in a child by allowing him to overload
his system with sugar-containing foods.
A Sugar-Free Program For Marital Problems.
A California physician has suggested that many marital conflicts could be resolved if the couple went
on a sugar-free diet. Cecelia Rosenfeld, M.D., writing in the medical journal New Medical Materia
declares:
"One of the prime causes of marital discord nutritional deficiency is too often overlooked. In
my own practice, I have found that a surprising number of 'broken marriage' spouses suffered from a
blood-sugar imbalance.
"Many of these husbands and wives showed symptoms of irritability, violent temper, abnormal
sensitivity and extreme fatigue. In most cases, there was no evidence of organic disease. Corrective
nutritional guidance dispelled these unpleasant symptoms for many spouses and in the process often
bolstered their crumbling marriages."
The doctor tells of the case of Mrs. R.L, a 34-year-old secretary. The woman was tired, showed poor
concentration and suffered from chronic emotional depression. Her home life had deteriorated, and
she was separated from her husband. Dr. Rosenfeld treated her with nutritional-therapy. It was four
months before any improvement was noted, but soon after she was able to rejoin her husband and try
again for a happy life. It is believed she still follows the natural food program and has eliminated
sugar from her food program.
Mr. T.E., a 53-year-old business executive, suffered from nervous tensions, including pounding
migraine headaches. The man's wife said he was the victim of such chronic irritability and nervous
unrest that no one could live with him. They were on the verge of a divorce.
Dr. Rosenfeld put them both on an all-natural nutritional program with no white sugar. In two
months, the husband's headaches ended and he became easier to live with. He and his wife not only
didn't get a divorce, they took a six-month voyage around the world!
Obviously many other factors may enter into marital discord. But know that improper sugar
metabolism and resulting hypoglycemia can make an individual emotionally unstable, incapable of
reasoning out basic differences. It is gratifying that more and more doctors are checking out the
possibility of low blood sugar as a contributing factor when an unhappy man and wife seek help.
Only a healthy body can build a healthy mind. Together, they add up to a healthy marriage!
Sugar And Psycho-Neurotic Disorders.
In his book, Body, Mind and Sugar, Dr. E.M. Abrahamson tells the story of a 48-year-old woman,
P.J., who suffered from claustrophobia, loss of memory and other emotional disorders. She had
undergone expensive psychoanalysis, shock treatments, injections of insulin. She was so depressed,
she no longer wanted to live.
When she came to Dr. Abrahamson he noted from various tests that she was a sugar-holic. He put her
on a high-protein, low-starch and very low-sugar program.
"Within a week, she began to feel better, both physically and emotionally. In two weeks she was able
to travel alone, which had been impossible for her for years."
Through nutritional therapy, P.J. was able to recover from emotional distress when other, more
traditional, treatments failed.
Remember, sugar is not an energy-builder, it is an energy destroyer.
Play it safe. To satisfy your sweet tooth, select fresh fruits. To sweeten a beverage, try honey,
molasses, maple syrup. With some minor and tasty adjustments, you too can help feed yourself a
healthful personality.
5 - The Secret Principles For A Super Power Memory
The Greeks so worshipped memory that they made a goddess out of her Mnemosyne. It was her
name from which was derived the current word mnemonics, used to describe memory techniques such
as those you are about to learn. In Greek and Roman times, senators would learn these techniques in
order to impress other politicians and the public with their phenomenal powers of learning and
memory. Using these simple but sophisticated methods, the
Romans were able to remember, without fault, thousands of items, including statistics relating to their
empire, and became the rulers of their time.
Long before we had discovered the physiological breakdown of the functions in the left and right
hemispheres of our brains, the Greeks had intuitively realised that there are two underlying principles
that ensure perfect memory:
1. Imagination
2. Association
Whereas, in current times, most of us are actively discouraged from using our imaginative abilities,
and consequently learn very little about the nature of mental association, the Greeks emphasised these
two foundation stones of mental functioning and opened the way for us to develop the techniques
even further.
Quite simply, if you want to remember anything, all you have to do is to associate (link) it with some
known or fixed item.
The Rules
The rules for perfect memory laid down by the Greeks fit in exactly with the information recently
discovered about the left and right brains. Without a scientific basis, the Greeks realised that in order
to remember well, you have to use every aspect of your mind.
In order to remember well, you must include in your associated and linked mental landscape the
following:
1. Colour. The more colours you use, and the more vivid they are, the better. Using colour alone can
improve your memory by as much as 50 per cent.
2. Imagination. Your imagination is the powerhouse of your memory. The more vividly you can
imagine, the more easily you will remember. Sub-areas within imagination include the following:
a. Expansion: the more gigantic and enormous you can make your mental images, the better.
b. Contraction: if you can clearly imagine your picture as extremely tiny, you will remember it well.
c. Absurdity: the more ridiculous, zany and absurd your mental images are, the more they will be
outstanding and thus the more they will be remembered.
3. Rhythm. The more rhythm and variation of rhythm in your mental picture, the more that picture
will weave itself into your memory.
4. Movement. As often as possible, try to make your mental images move. Moving objects are
usually remembered better than still ones.
5. The Senses:
Tasting
Touching
Smelling
Seeing
Hearing
The more you can involve all your senses in your memory image, the more you will remember it. For
example, if you have to remember that you have to buy bananas, you stand a far better chance of not
forgetting your task if you can actually imagine smelling a banana as you touch it with your hands,
bite into it with your mouth and taste it, see it as it is approaching your face, and hear yourself
munching it.
6. Sex. Sex is one of your strongest drives, and if you apply this aspect of yourself to your magnificent
daydreaming ability, your memory will improve.
7. Sequencing and Ordering. Imagination alone is not enough for memory. In order to function well,
your mind needs order and sequence. This helps it to categorise and structure things in such a way as
to make them more easily accessible, much in the same way as an ordered filing system allows easier
retrieval of information than if that same information were simply dumped randomly on the floor.
8. Number. To make ordering and sequencing easier, it is often advisable to use numbers.
9. Dimension. Use your right-brain ability to see your memory images in 3-D.
Key Memory Image Words
In each memory system there is a Key Word. This word is the 'Key Memory Word' in that it is the
constant peg on which the reader will hang other items he or she wishes to remember. This Key
Memory Word is specifically designed to be an 'Image Word' in that it must produce a picture or
image in the mind of the person using the memory system. Thus the phrase 'Key Memory Image
Word'.
As you progress through the increasingly sophisticated mnemonic systems, you will realise the
importance of being sure that the pictures you build in your mind contain only the items you want to
remember, and those items must be associated with or connected to Key Memory Images. The
connections between your basic Memory System Images and the things you wish to remember should
be as fundamental and uncomplicated as possible:
1. Crashing things together
2. Sticking things together
3. Placing things on top of each other
4. Placing things underneath each other
5. Placing things inside each other
6. Substituting things for each other
7. Placing things in new situations
By now it will be clear to you that the systems worked out by the Greeks, and for nearly 2000 years
discarded as mere tricks, were in fact based on the way in which the human brain actually functions.
The ancients realised the importance of words, order, sequence and number, now known to be
functions of the left side of the brain; and of imagination, colour, rhythm, dimension and
daydreaming, now known to be right-brain functions.
Mnemosyne was to the Greeks the most beautiful of all the goddesses, proved by the fact that Zeus
spent more time in her bed than in that of any other goddess or mortal. He slept with her for nine days
and nights, and the result of that coupling was the birth of the nine Muses, the goddesses who preside
over love poetry, epic poetry, hymns, dance, comedy, tragedy, music, history and astronomy. For the
Greeks, then, the infusion of energy (Zeus) into memory (Mnemosyne) produced both creativity and
knowledge.
They were correct. If you apply the mnemonic principles and techniques appropriately, not only will
your memory improve in the various areas outlined in this book but your creativity, your overall
mental functioning and assimilation of knowledge will accelerate at the same fantastic pace. In the
process you will be developing a new and dynamic synthesis between the left and right side of your
brain.
6 - Happiness Is Important For A Good Memory
Memories
In living we all create memories, and we store these memories in a mental tape recorder. We can use
these memories constructively or destructively. What should we do with memories? Keep them in
proper perspective.
I remember on one occasion I was asked to attend a reunion of my medical class. I couldn't accept at
that particular time, but fortunately, twenty-five years after graduation, I attended a class reunion. I
put on my tuxedo and went to the hotel to meet my colleagues, but I couldn't find them; I couldn't
recognise them. When the guests finally seated themselves at their respective tables those who
graduated before me and those who graduated after me I looked for my table the Class of 1923
and there I saw nine people seated around the table and one empty seat, mine.
I sat down, and the man to my right, a short, fat, bald-headed man, suddenly said to me, "Maltz, what
happened to you? Your hair is grey; it used to be black!"
I looked at his bald head and remembered that he had had beautiful blond hair, and I said to myself, "I
wonder what happened to him?" Both of us abused our memories.
We must learn to use memories only to remember happy moments, so that we can utilise them for the
present undertaking. In doing that successfully, we build memories happy memories for
tomorrow. The misfortunes of yesterday must be forgotten, lost in the tomb of time. Every day is a
new lifetime that must be lived to the full: Creatively.
Remember the words of Macedonius (sixth century):
Memory and Oblivion, all hail!
Memory for goodness, Oblivion for evil!
Are You Creative?
Many of us are firmly convinced that people are born creative or non-creative, that only a limited
number of people can create in different generations. Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven,
Alexander Graham Bell, and Einstein all used their creative gifts widely. Each one had the power to
use his imagination properly, productively.
What are the characteristics of a creative mind? First, a sense of direction, a goal. Then, a problem,
clearly defined, and all the possible solutions. After that, the selection of the best solution and acting
on it. You must have the ability to forget a problem, temporarily, if it defies solution and the capacity
to rise above failures.
I believe that all of us are creative. We have a creative mechanism working for us that steers us
toward success. For example, the simple exercise of picking up a pencil. We forget that as children we
picked it up clumsily, zigzagging in the direction of the pencil until we learned to do it successfully.
This successful performance was registered in the mental tape recorder for future use. This, in a mild
sense, is a creative effort.
We all can create because we all have imagination. We use it daily without raising it. For example,
when we worry, we use imagination in a negative way to create something that doesn't exist. We
project on the screen of the mind scenes that haven't happened as yet because we fear we will fail. On
the other hand, when we are happy we use the imagination constructively. We picture a worthwhile
achievement of the goal we seek by remembering past successes to achieve pleasure in the present.
We are all made up of failures and successes, and to think creatively we must rise above the mistakes
of the past and use the self-confidence from past successes in our present undertaking. We can think
creatively when:
1. We think clearly about a problem.
2. We think of all possible solutions.
3. We accept the best and act upon it.
4. We forget the problem, temporarily, if it defies solution. The servo-mechanism within us will do
the job for us subconsciously by utilising the ingredients of our past successes.
The greatest creative effort for all of us, great or small, is to create the habit of happiness. This we can
all do by making a habit of it every day, by recalling the happiness of past successes and using this
good feeling in our present undertaking. Remember Elbert Hubbard's words, "Happiness is a habit
cultivate it!"
Ideas
What are ideas? They are the product of the imagination, of thinking and concentrating on a specific
subject. An idea is a brainchild, but what kind of a child is it? Is it a child born of resentment or
hatred? Is it a deformed child born out of deception and trickery? Or is it a beautiful child born out of
love and encouragement, out of hope and belief? These latter children of the mind and spirit are so
desperately needed in these chaotic times when it seems that a cannon is more important than a human
life, that money is more important than good will, that the destructive thought of taking exceeds the
creative thought of giving.
It is now, this very minute, that we have to search for self-respect, for the assurance that peace of
mind can be ours in this lifetime. It is at this very moment when reason and patience are undergoing
an eclipse, when wars are intended to destroy the world forever, that we must live in the hope given us
by creative ideas. We should strive to build ideas on compassion and humility, on love and friendship,
on taking less and giving more while we are alive, if life on this planet is to be sustained for the
future.
It is at this very moment that man's fulfillment demands that we see the good in others not the evil; see
the hope in others not the frustration; see the joy in others not the sorrow; see the faith in others not
the despair.
Great ideas are truths waiting to be fulfilled, and no idea is worth anything unless and until we turn it
into worthwhile performance for the benefit of all humanity.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The ultimate good is better achieved by the free trade in ideas".
Our Impulses
Should we obey an impulse? We should if the impulse is constructive. Impulses can also be
destructive. When we hate we often, through imagination, dispose of the individual. This creates
negative impulses that have no value because they distort the self-image.
We live every day with imagination. Worry is a form of imagination. Here we throw on the screen of
the mind past failures, which inhibit us in our daily tasks of the present. When we are happy, we
throw on the screen of the mind past successes, which give us the confidence we exercise in the daily
tasks for the present. A good impulse is nothing more than imagination that seeks action to improve
the self-image.
When I was a young man I had the impulse, the desire, to be a plastic surgeon. This was during a time
when the specialty was practically unknown. Despite tremendous objections from my family, I
obeyed my impulse.
I know a doctor who, twenty years ago, had the impulse to be a baby specialist. He loved children and
would have been excellent in this specialty. But he was undecided. He said he'd wait until he had
saved enough money, until he could properly provide for his wife and child. One indecision followed
another and he never became a baby specialist.
Indecision is unbelief. Unbelief is fear. And this constant fear prolongs tension and finally puts us in a
state of paralysis. This scars and distorts the self-image, making us less than what we are, preventing
us from reaching our true stature of fulfillment.
I know a married woman who has two children. She suddenly had the impulse to do abstract painting.
She followed her impulse despite objections from her family. Now she sells her paintings. She has
made her family happy and herself happy. The point to remember is to obey your impulse, the good
impulse. It is a challenge to be happy. It is a chance to put the imagination to work, to reach a
worthwhile goal, to fulfill ourselves.
Remember the words of George Herbert, "He begins to die who quits his desires".
Praise
What is praise? It is a varied expression of love and friendship, and we should use it more often to
compliment someone for a deed well done, for a word well spoken. Why be effusive in our praise of
someone when he is put to rest in a cemetery and can't hear a word of it.
What is praise? Something we all need now and then. Every human being, whether he is a beggar or a
tycoon, a peasant or a philosopher, a student or a teacher, whether he is alone or married, searches
desperately for recognition. One of the greatest goals for every human being is to feel needed, wanted
for something somewhere. We deserve this praise not when we demand it or search for it, but when
we receive it naturally in the process of doing something for others, while we are doing something for
ourselves.
On Stubbornness
Life means change. Your image changes every day simply because you are different every day and the
situations of each day are different; and that is the way it should be. Man progresses by change.
Nature progresses by change spring, summer, winter, fall. Can you imagine if a tree in the spring
were stubborn and refused to bud and bear leaves, if a flower were stubborn and refused to bloom, if a
vegetable or fruit were stubborn and refused to grow and ripen?
Are you stubborn? Do you refuse to change and grow in stature? Are you resistant to creative living,
to a smile, to friendship, to forgiveness, to the Brotherhood of Man?
Michel de Montaigne said, "Obstinacy and heat of opinion are the surest proof of stupidity".
To get more living out of life you must start getting rid of negative feelings that create stubbornness
and obstinacy, envy, indolence; they all give rise to resistance that makes you shrink to the size of a
microbe.
Are you a microbe or a whole human being? You have the answer within you, if you overcome
stubbornness through forgiveness and friendship to yourself.
There is one kind of stubbornness that is creative. If after sharp analysis you find your beliefs worthy
of humanity, fight for these beliefs. That is not pig-headedness, that is constructive determination,
growth for yourself and for others.
Faith And Belief
Often at the beginning of my career as a public speaker, I would be overcome with the panic of doubt,
a lack of belief in myself, just before I got to the platform to deliver my talk. How would I begin?
What would I say? What mistakes would I make? How could I stand there for an hour and face
hundreds of people? How could I get through? But when the time came, I was there. I carried on
because I had something to say. I did the best I could and I came through with flying colours. And I
learned that many of our best actors and actresses are especially nervous just before the curtain goes
up.
All of us have self-doubts at the beginning of some undertakings whether we are doctors, lawyers,
engineers, teachers, students, poets, or salesmen.
Where does faith and belief come from? From within ourselves. We are faith. We are belief. We are
also doubt and unbelief. We as individuals must make the decision where we want to go in life, to be
the big self or the little self. We must think of our faith and our belief as wings that can make us soar
to our destination, to achieve our goals and reach self-fulfillment no matter how crucial our times may
be.
With doubt and unbelief our creative wings are clipped for the moment and we can't get off the
ground to rise above our self-imposed dungeon. We must thank God for doubt and unbelief. It is our
moral responsibility to rise above them to make something of ourselves through faith and belief.
These characteristics are eternally within us waiting to be recognised, waiting for action. Remember
the words of William Blake:
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
On Knowledge
Aristotle said, "All men desire by nature to know". He wrote this over two thousand years ago but it is
still true today. Of course when he said "all men", he meant everybody: men and women, rich and
poor, black and white, young and old. I suppose there are about ten percent of people who never want
to learn, ten percent who know it all; but look at the potentiality of the Brotherhood of Man when
eighty percent of all people want to learn to improve, to get more living out of life, and to share this
good fortune with others.
Man lives in three worlds: the body, the mind, and the spirit. If he stops eating, something happens to
him physically. If he stops wanting to learn, something happens to him mentally and spiritually. No
food, anemia of the body. No learning, anemia of the mind and spirit. In neither instance can you
move in the world creatively and amount to your big self, because you will be working under severe
handicaps.
Aristotle tells us what we already know, that every American every human being needs,
deserves, and should have education. It is as natural for people to learn as it is for them to breathe.
Learning is their nucleus of growth and accomplishment. It is also well to remember that the greatest
adventure in learning is in getting to know yourself better, and that envy, hatred, stubbornness,
indecision, indolence, and fear prevent such an experience. We must resolve to educate our minds to
search for and find our big self.
On Vanity
Thomas A. Kempis said, "He is truly great that is little in himself and that maketh no account of any
height of honour". These words are the quintessence of humility, when one is not arrogant of his
successes nor does he complain about his misfortunes. He insists on living creatively every day, every
minute, to give happiness to himself and to share it with others.
The reverse of this characteristic is vanity, a common trait that infects the mind and spirit of
humanity. As a matter of fact, no one can escape it entirely in a lifetime.
When you have vanity, you have conceit; and in both instances you falsely believe you are more than
what you are which, as a matter of fact, you know the truth that you are less, much less, than what
you can be. Then, in your secret embarrassment, you scratch for attention, but it leads to naught. It's
like scratching on marble. If the truth be known, you wind up disliking yourself, lost to yourself,
neglecting opportunities to find your big self and worthwhile goals. There is nothing in vanity but
defeat. Perhaps you would think twice before being vain if you realised that you are playing a
depression game, a losing game that automatically makes you a member of the opinionated club; that
you become a little dictator who cannot win, who cannot relax, who cannot sleep.
The cure: Think kindly of yourself, but don't gloat over successes. Be a good friend to yourself and
you will be a good friend to others. Like Thomas A. Kempis said, you will be truly great if you don't
make too great an account of your honours.
Being Yourself
Most people who have failed in an undertaking don't like what they see when they look in the mirror.
Young people particularly are affected by this kind of emotional reaction to a problem that seems to
defy solution. Just remember that as long as you live you'll be making mistakes now and then; and
when you do, it is only natural for you not to like yourself, not to like the image you see of yourself in
the mirror, not to like your little self. The point to remember on being yourself is that you must rise
above your little self. You must rise above mistakes and misfortunes of yesterday. You must try to
reach your big self.
People are mistake makers, but they are also mistake breakers. The business of being yourself your
big self is to accept yourself for what you are when you make mistakes. Look at yourself in the
mirror with kind eyes and realise that you are much bigger than any error, any blunder, any
misfortune, any heartache.
You must live beyond your mistakes instead of with them. You must accept your weaknesses, stand
on your feet in moments of crisis, and rely on the confidence from past successes to turn crises into
creative opportunities.
If you don't like what you are, get off your own back. Stop living with this hang-up, because you and
you alone can either like or dislike what you are. Realise now that you can be your better self, your
big self, by rising above your mistakes. That's what successful living is all about. That's what being
yourself is all about.
By Maxwell Mate M.D., E.I.C.S.
America's Wisest Man
7 - Remembering Names And Faces
Remembering names and faces is one of the most important aspects of our lives, and one of the most
difficult. The reason for the difficulty lies in the fact that in most instances the names have no real
'connection' lo the faces. In earlier ages it was exactly the opposite, and the whole system developed
for giving people names was based on memory and association: the man you regularly saw covered in
white flour with dough all over his hands was Mr. Baker; the man you regularly saw in his own and
everyone else's garden was Mr. Gardener; the man who laboured all day over a hot fire pounding
metal was Mr. Blacksmith, and so on.
As the generations changed and the family name became more and more removed from its original
meaning, the task of the memorisation of names and faces became increasingly difficult, reaching the
current situation in which the name is a word with no immediate associations with the face.
Method for Remembering Names and Faces
You will never again find yourself in a situation where you are introduced rapidly to five people and
hurriedly repeat, 'Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you,
pleased to meet you', having been introduced only to the five pairs of shoes at which you look in
embarrassment because you know you are immediately going to forget all the names anyway (which
you do!).
Memory Steps
1. Mental Set. Before you enter a situation in which you will meet people, mentally prepare yourself
to succeed and not to fail. Many people enter such situations 'knowing' that they have a bad memory
for names and faces and consequently set about proving it to themselves. If you 'know' that your
memory is going to improve, you will notice immediate improvement. When preparing yourself for
meeting people, try to make sure that you are as poised and relaxed as possible and, also, that
wherever possible you have given yourself a two-to five-minute break for p
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