How do you lose your memory? 

By writing everything down. Memory fails us the minute we start writing notes about we hear and see. Pay attention.

Contrary to popular belief, taking notes does not improve memory. It merely helps us store information in auxiliary memory, analogous to data and information in the computer which is stored for future use. I never understood this logic until recently when I wanted so badly to FORGET things I don’t want to remember. I had traumatic experiences, remembering words that keep spinning in my head which replay themselves like a tape recorder for weeks. My muscles in my chest tightens and I can no longer hold on, I break down and cry. Mind you, these experiences occurred when I was in my 20s! There are no written notes anywhere about those words said, they are all embedded in my memory. They are not in my brain. They are everywhere in my body from my heart where the subconscious, unconscious and images are stored.

It is a rude awakening but I see it clearly now. Memory is not just stored in your brain (conscious). It is in your hearts (subconscious and unconscious) and body (muscular memory). There is so much I understand now about memory, so I shall try to make it short here. I shall be focusing on writing.

Often we say to ourselves:

I better write it down before I forget.

And we do actually forget – the notes themselves on which that information is written. Some we don’t even remember where we left these notes. Scatter brains!

In a classroom, teachers reprimand a student who is busy taking notes, chatting with his friends or flipping through his textbook. During a talk, speakers tell their audience that they will be given the synopsis of the talk at the end of the session. In other words, they will feel intimidated when people and students are seen taking notes, and their gazes leave them. Are you listening or bored?

The tour guide is your only reference to learn about the place you are visiting. You may have a brochure in your hand but if you are somewhere inside the Jenolan Caves where its dark and badly lit, how could you be reading, listening and sightseeing at the same time. You can only have that much time to take pictures.

Taking notes delays performance. A busy executive or manager will have a secretary to write down minutes of meeting or dictation of a letter. While the secretary continues to type out the minutes or letter, the manager goes about his busy schedule and waits to read and sign the printed document, as if he has written it out himself. As a result of delegating the job of writing to his secretary, the manager is able to perform other tasks. The problem of remembering what to say on the document becomes the problem of his secretary. The problem for the manager comes when he needs to recall information. His secretary is the one who has to remember when and where the document is filed. Writing makes the manager lazier, reducing his need to put to memory knowledge his should be learning.

Source: Urban Dictionary

When Information Commit To Memory, You Write Them On The Spirits Of Your Hearts And Minds

1. From the very first day when you were born to the day when you get married, your parents, especially your mother, can remember every detail of how you look and feel to her. The joy you bring to the family is so indescribable, she can recall the time you lose you first tooth. She will tell you when you started to walk and crawl. In the past, people don’t write diaries or take videos of these things. These special moments are remembered for the same reasons they remember to brush their teeth before they go to bed. Advertisers play on this fact by telling you to buy the best cameras and videocams to capture these moments. In fact, you can commit them to memory as easily as a click of the button on that camera.
2. When we sit for an examination, you are only allowed to bring with you writing materials into the examination room. If you are caught cheating by looking at the scribbling on your forearm or staring at the student next to you, you will be disqualified. Examination is a test of how good your memory is. People spend hours and hours of studying time using memory techniques to remember formulae and facts. None of these can be done with writing. Everything has to be done by committing them to the spirit of your minds and hearts.
3. The most unforgettable moments in life are the ones that charges your memory glands. It is so intoxicating that we get into an argument over what we remember and what others forget.
4. Kids never have to bring homework when they are in nursery schools. How do they remember so much? The names of their friends at school, the bus route to school, the time to go to school etc. Its all about the spirit of committing information. When you do something that excites their impulses to discover and explore, they remember faster than the speed of lightning.
5. In the days of our forefathers, when people do not live in cities, with numbers on their apartments and street signs on the roads. People rely on the the trees, the odd thing on the bend or the corner shop to give them direction. They can navigate through an entire village and still know where to find the best picnic spot near the lake.

You don’t have to struggle to remember every foreign word you learn today. Put it away into the spirit of your hearts and minds. Yes, you can take written notes. But what use of those notes if you don’t work on them. They become junk notes like the junk mails and emails you get everyday.