I Forgot!

I would like to speak about some ways to enhance memory retrieval. But before I do that, let me extol the virtues of Forgetting. Forgetting is a good thing. If we remembered every detail, it would be very distracting, even annoying. First it would take longer to retrieve the data. Even computer with huge databases require more time when there are 500,000 events to search than when there are 5.

Also, there is less virtual memory available to analyze the data. And then there is no way to eliminate the details that are unnecessary.

Forgetting is good.

Have you ever forgotten an appointment or a chore and then realized later, when it was too late, that you forgot? And though you might feel regret for an instant, you realize, I didn't want to go anyway!

Have you ever forgotten a word? Maybe it was on the "tip of your tongue?" Or did you make a bad substitution, or "slip of the tongue?"

I find some of these slips of the tongue to be quite amusing. As when I reminded myself to take an umbrella to work. It wasn't cloudy, I was reaching for a banana. The only thing they have in common is 3 syllables. Weird. Amusing, though.

The worst thing you can do is to let it worry you. Stress is the worst thing for memory. So if you start stressing about not recalling something it will take longer to retrieve it. The best thing to do is to take a deep breath, a few might be necessary, and say to your self, It will come back to me...

It usually does. I mean, it could be the next day, but it WILL come back!

Now where was I?

Some forgetting is normal. We are on input overload every day. Radio, Television, billbords, newspapers, Email, snail mail, work schedule, meeting agendas. It is very hard to filter out the important stuff. Some of this is done for us automatically. But we can only pay attention to so much.

There will be more articles about memory and forgetting, if I don't forget!

Mother Earth is Bleeding

We punctured an artery while drilling for oil in the Gulf. Get a doctor! How can we stop the bleeding?

There are now Billions of TONS of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Florida is worried about how that will affect tourism. Not worried about how to actually clean and dispose of all the oil, nevermind the plants and animals affected.

This is a tragedy. When will we learn?

Crawl or Soar

I was thinking about Helen Keller.

She said something like

A person cannot consent to crawl, when she has the urge to soar.

I like that.

Of course, the "she" in that sentence applies to all people, all genders, just like "he" has applied to women, as well as men, for hundreds of years.

Has it been hundreds of years? I have read that "they" is now used as plural or singular, because it does apply to both genders.

What I really admire about Helen Keller, is that she was a professional speaker!

This is what she actually said:

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

Of course, she used the singular pronoun "one." You don't hear that very often these days. But it was a wise choice.

Statistics

Someone has asked me a question about statistics, or metrics, for employee evaluations. It is an interesting question. This is my answer:

Stats are useless anyway. Keep your own. Estimate about 10 TCAs (or whatever your work unit is called)finished up every day, so that gives you 50 per week. Make sure you drop that number in every conversation with a supervisor. Actually, 47.5 is more believable. Make a chart with totally incomprehensible data on it. That’s always convincing.

You know 53, I mean, 59% of all stats are made up on the spot.

LOL

How to Change

Change is difficult.

That's the first thing they said, but after a few weeks the students in my class said,
Change is exciting!

There are 6 stages of change:
1. You don't know yet that you have to change.
2. You realize that you have to change.
3. You make a decision to change.
4. You make an action plan.
5. You carry through the action plan, including a contingency plan for relapse.
6. Success.

Something that can make it easier to change, is hypnosis.

Emile Coue (1857-1926), a French pharmacist and pioneering hypnotist who said:
"Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will become so."

Another useful tool is visualization or imagination. It is particularly effective when combined with hypnosis.

And another insightful Coue-ism:
"When the will and the imagination are in conflict, the imagination invariably wins the day."

Change may not be easy, but it is inevitable. So take charge and make the decision to take action now.

I've also heard it said that change is good.

Hypnosis Songs

Days go by, I'm hypnotized. I'm walking on a wire...

From the song Sonny Came Home.

What does it mean? I have no idea.

But it doesn't sound very pleasant. And my clients always tell me it feels very good to be in trance. They come back feeling refreshed and wonderful in every way.

Is Thinking bad?

I used to think that thinking was good and when the head and heart were in conflict, the best chioce would be to go with the head. I used to agree with Einstein, who said "Thinking is difficult, that's why so few do it."

Now, or should I say, in The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle has given me a new perspective on thinking. I'm actually listening to A New Earth by ET, again, or shall I say, "anew." I'm listening to the audiobook and reading The Power of Now in written form.

ET says that most thinking is incessant, repetitious, and meaningless noise in your head. Most of it is completely unnecessary. I have heard that we think 60-70 thousand thoughts per day, and that 90% are the same thoughts as yesterday, so I have to agree with him.

In his book he quotes Shakespeare, "Nothing is bad or good, but thinking makes it so."

I need to think about this...

I'll write more later.