I have some strange methods for remembering things. Ever since I was little, I’ve always found imagery and stories the easiest ways to recall things later. When I was about four or five years old, I remember telling my Dad there was a tiny guy in my head named ‘Pen’ and every time I learned something new, he would draw it out on a big board in my brain to help me remember. And sometimes, he would even act it out. Yeah, OK. So I was a weird little kid. But Pen became a habit. And still to this day when I’m learning new software, or watching a video tutorial, I try to find some odd imagery to associate with it or find a way to create a storyline around it.
A few years ago, I realized that I had a really hard time remembering how to spell ‘thesaurus’. I don’t really recall what was so difficult about it now, but I think it was just one of those words I never truly made an effort to learn. Plus, I didn’t use it often. So one day when I went to find an online thesaurus, I got the ever so gracious and always lovingly gentle correction from Google, ‘DID YOU MEAN THESAURUS? (DUMB ASS?!)’ I immediately realized it was about time to learn the correct spelling of this word. I studied it for a bit and realized it easily breaks down into THE-SAURUS, which of course instantly made me think of dinosauruses –err, dinosaurs.
This is what pops into my head now, whenever I am longing for a synonym:
I’ve recently learned that visualization is actually a great method for encoding details in your memory and also greatly increases recall. So maybe I wasn’t such a weird kid after all… just a little genius with a Pen in her head, and a pet thesaurus.
June 30th, 2011 at 4:46 am
didn’t know pen was still around love mom\\\\\\\\\\\\\
June 30th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Yeah he’s still there. He just goes by his grown-up name now — Imagination.