For
those of you who may have never heard of the word, mnemonic means memory aid.
It is an adjective related to things that help memory improvement. If you are a movie enthusiast, you may have
heard of the one called 'Johnny Mnemonic', a 1995 feature
involving a data courier. Keanu Reeves is the star of the film. He carries a
large data package, 320 gigabytes in size, in his mind. If he does not deliver
it from Beijing to Newark, it will kill him. I suppose you could call this
forced memory. It was not his brain that developed this computer chip, this
memory tool. It contains a cure for a nerve syndrome of the future and puts his
life in danger.
Some
mnemonics would seem to be horrible techniques for the person who would prefer
not to remember. However, this may be their only solution to overcoming a
tragedy, in order to heal them. So, forced memory is put into effect. The
person must relive the mentally or emotionally damaging event to be able to
move on with their lives and put the worst of the trauma behind them.
A
coach, psychiatrist, hypnotist, counselor, pastor, trusted family member,
teacher, or close friend may be needed to help give you moral support for the
courage to use mnemonic tools.
Hypnosis
has long been used as a mnemonic tool. Memory is a process of reconstruction rather
than retrieval. Often the mind must be forced through hypnosis to reconstruct
events that caused the person to suffer and attempt to protect themselves by
choosing subconsciously to forget. Therefore, hypnosis may at times be a
dangerous, however necessary, mnemonic tool.
Hypnosis
is also a lucrative field. It is often used to help people stop an unhealthy
habit, such as chronic nail-biting, smoking, overeating. It can also be used as
a form of pain control. No matter how it is used, it involves the subconscious
memory.
Mnemonic
tools can be a positive way to overcome small annoyances. Suppose your short term
memory loss is disrupting your life in such a way that you are in a constant
state of frustration. Small annoyances can add up to one big problem. You may
have subconsciously used mnemonic tools to learn to avoid certain disturbing memories
like associating an object with someone who used that object to cause you pain.
You
decide to avoid use of that object to force yourself to leave the memory in the
past. Maybe a dreaded uncle always wore purple, so to avoid having to
constantly be reminded of the uncle, you decide to never buy an object the colour
purple. It may become a habit that you do without really thinking about it.
People
have used flash cards, music, games, and repetition as mnemonics. Remember the
old saying about tying a string around your finger to recall something
important? Or placing a rubber band on your wrist, to pop whenever you are
faced with a temptation you are trying to overcome?
Whatever
the case may be, mnemonics can be very productive in memory improvement. You
can share with us if you have any other tools.
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