How to develop unlimited memory capacity?

[andrew112]

How does one develop an unlimited memory capacity? Is the answer through diet or fasting? Is it through meditation; or is it through a combination of disciplines? I have heard of pseudo telekinesis to increase concentration, but how about increasing memory capacity?

I find that if I learn one thing, then something that I learned a while back will then seem to be "erased" from my memory. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

[Angela]

You already HAVE unlimited memory capacity!

It's all stored there in your unconscious mind, all of it, every bit. What you're looking for, I think is ACCESS to it consciously, and there are plenty of ways to develop your ability to access it. My favorites are TIME Techniques and hypnosis -- practicing being in deliberate rapport with my unconscious mind, so that it's ready to yield up what I need, when I need it. The more you practice, the faster and more easily your unconscious mind will comply.

[Andyee]

There are different programs to develop you subconscious mind... ZOX or Photoreading ( they stole their program from ZOX)

[andrew112]

I am talking about the type of memory that is involved in memorizing proofs and formulas in mathematics, for example. I have heard that one must learn and forget something seven times before one remembers it for the rest of one's life; maybe whatever I have been forgetting about, I just have not learned and forgotten seven times yet. Sometimes, though, it seems that I have to learn and forget something a lot more than seven times before I remember it permanently.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by andrew112

... I have to learn and forget something a lot more than seven times before I remember it permanently.

That sounds like a terrible program to install in your memory, even if only runs "sometimes"!

[andrew112]

Originally Posted by Angela

That sounds like a terrible program to install in your memory, even if only runs "sometimes"!

Yes, I wish I could change the program so that I could remember anything for the rest of my life when I have only memorized it maybe just a few times, or even one time.

[Gasokai]

You already have unlimited ability to remember. Real problem is as you have noticed, that things you try to remember will eventually get erased, that is becouse brain automatically disconnects neuron pathways to information you dont frequently use.

Basically no matter how well or badly you at the moment remember, just increase the methods and associations on things you WANT to remember.

Brain automatically erases stuff that isnt important or doesnt get used very often, but it also has different memory types (short and long term).

Easy steps to make sure things will be remembered even in the next month :
1. Create as many associations to things as possbile (ie. Bird, Take a picture, Listen sound and write down a description)
2. Repetition
3. Write it down anyway, if you are still wondering why you had to write things down in school, and why they didnt give handouts, its becouse you remember better if you write it down yourself.
4. Draw, if you listen to something, it is noted that those students who drew something (anything really, even better if its related) remembered stuff better than those who didnt do anything.
5. Recall & Review, try to remember.
6. Then there is also reminders and plenty of other gadgets...

There surely isnt any easy way to remember more, oh wait, there is, just write it down or record it

Anyway, what I wanted to note is that, there are plenty of people with bad memory, using these methods to survive in everyday life, I am sure anyone with nearly normal memory can easily tenfold their capacity to remember things if they form habit of it. There really isnt any limit to memory, it only depends how well you learn to use it.

[andrew112]

Thanks for the good replies everyone.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by andrew112

Yes, I wish I could change the program so that I could remember anything for the rest of my life when I have only memorized it maybe just a few times, or even one time.

Your wish is granted! You can do that.

[andrew112]

Originally Posted by Angela

Your wish is granted! You can do that.

I'll look up those TIME techniques you mentioned earlier.

[andrew112]

Does TIME Techniques(TM) work for anyone? I came across this site when I looked it up: NLP TIME Techniques and Hypnosis Training and Services by Michael Stevenson MNLP, MTT, MHt

[Angela]

Originally Posted by andrew112

Does TIME Techniques(TM) work for anyone? I came across this site when I looked it up: NLP TIME Techniques and Hypnosis Training and Services by Michael Stevenson MNLP, MTT, MHt

Yup -- anyone who is willing to be at cause in their lives. If you think change is something that is done TO you, like a magic pill, it won't work, but anyone can move to a perspective of being at cause.

Michael Stevenson was my trainer.

[Brutha]

You already have unlimited ability to remember. Real problem is as you have noticed, that things you try to remember will eventually get erased, that is becouse brain automatically disconnects neuron pathways to information you dont frequently use.

Nobody really knows how the brain stores information. While it's easy to produce fake memories through techniques like those TIME techniques, regression of the memory of which stone was at which place got archived for workers who have build a building and haven't visited it for more than a decade. There are also a few servants with awesome memory abilities that bring the theory of forgetting through deletion of memory into doubt. You have to remember that our brains aren't evolved to remember as much as possible but to see patterns and act based on those patterns. Thinking of the brain as a computer is a very bad frame to understand it. It's a bit like Google. Ranking search results is the more important problem than finding as much as possible. A few people even suggested that our brain also uses something like Google's page rank to find information. To the topic of math proofs: The point isn't to remember every detail of the proof but to understand the core ideas. If you have the core ideas you can reconstruct the rest of the proof at any time.

If you are deep in the math the proofs that you learned a year ago become obvious as they are just interrelated with the rest.
In that way you always remember the idea of a proof while thinking about that area of math.
It's rather about pattern than about specific facts that you learn like you would learn a poem.

[Angela]

Brutha, why do you think TIME Techniques produces fake memories?

[Marce]

Sorry I didn't read all of the posts so if I repeat anything that is why
Mneumonic devices and elaborate rehearsal can aid in memory
most of the people who are famous for their memories use techniques such as narrative chaining and more effectively method of loci

When you forget information that you have learnt it is because you have not used the neural pathways and so it can be harder to find the right cue for the memory to be found

Forgetting is actually an adaptation so that we don't over load and become too focused on the past

[Brutha]

Brutha, why do you think TIME Techniques produces fake memories?

Because it's easy to produce fake memories when you have someone in a trance.
If you suggest to the unconscious to remember something that didn't happen the person will remember a fake memory.

I even read about a study in which they gave people a fake memory of chocking after they eat icecream. Afterwards the people never eat icecream again. The purpose was to help them keep a diet.

There psychologists out there who mistakenly planted fake memories into woman of being raped as child by their parents.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Because it's easy to produce fake memories when you have someone in a trance.
If you suggest to the unconscious to remember something that didn't happen the person will remember a fake memory.

I even read about a study in which they gave people a fake memory of chocking after they eat icecream. Afterwards the people never eat icecream again. The purpose was to help them keep a diet.

There psychologists out there who mistakenly planted fake memories into woman of being raped as child by their parents.

I see. In TIME Techniques, we don't suggest to the unconscious to remember anything at all, although we do suggest that the person look at memories, which isn't the same thing, perhaps surprisingly. Maybe you'd like to have a skype call with me at some point, and I'd be glad to give you a little sample of what I mean by that.

But remember, all memories are "fake" in that they are all illusions -- they are all stories we tell ourselves about what happened and then store in our unconscious mind. There's nothing objectively "real" about a memory. Memories that come up during a psychological session tend to get interpreted as something that happened in an objective measurable way (real), or delusions of things that didn't really happen (fake). In TIME Techniques, memories are not treated as "real" events, but rather, metaphorical representations and interpretations, like dream images.

So, the unconscious mind doesn't produce "memories" (real or fake) during TIME Techniques, but it may produce unconsciously stored unresolved issues, like stored-up negative emotion or limiting beliefs, for resolution, only when it's ready for that issue to be resolved.

Too, it's pretty amazing what can be accessed in browsing through these old stored stories and pictures. I've seen people find old phone numbers and belongings that have been "lost" for years, and I've heard and read about people who have accessed information that was presented to the unconscious mind while they're under general anesthesia, like the conversation the surgeons were having. Interesting stuff!

[andrew112]

Originally Posted by Brutha

To the topic of math proofs: The point isn't to remember every detail of the proof but to understand the core ideas. If you have the core ideas you can reconstruct the rest of the proof at any time.

If you are deep in the math the proofs that you learned a year ago become obvious as they are just interrelated with the rest.
In that way you always remember the idea of a proof while thinking about that area of math.
It's rather about pattern than about specific facts that you learn like you would learn a poem.

Yes, I have difficulty picking up the core ideas of proofs so I just memorize the entire proof exactly the way the textbook presents it.

I do see a lot of patterns in the way textbooks are written though; certain phrases are often repeated throughout the textbook, while other times competely new phrases are added in.

I also do find that when I learn mathematics I just simply memorize the facts, definitions, theorems, proofs and examples exactly the way someone would memorize bible verses or poems; sometimes memorizing something in mathematics can be very useful though. Such as the proof of lim (sinx)/x = 1
x-->0
and alse proving the Sum and difference property of the properties of limits.

Also, the reason why I learn/memorize things is simply because it is "good for you", not because I want to get a job in mathematics. Learning is learning; it does not matter what one learns--it is all the same thing.

[Brutha]

In TIME Techniques, memories are not treated as "real" events, but rather, metaphorical representations and interpretations, like dream images.

I'm aware that there are a lot of NLP people who don't care whether the memories really happened but only care about the behavior changes that the session produces.
A few days ago I was at a neuroscience talk where people didn't agree over the defintion of the term memory.

people who have accessed information that was presented to the unconscious mind while they're under general anesthesia, like the conversation the surgeons were having.

In those cases there's always the question whether those memories are "real".
Anesthicia are also good in producing false memories.

My own post-operational memories are all messed up. The made for an nice toastmaster speech a while back after which multiple people told me: That was emotional!

But that would be an interesting place to go in a skype session

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Brutha

I'm aware that there are a lot of NLP people who don't care whether the memories really happened but only care about the behavior changes that the session produces)

Well, not only the behavior -- the way the person feels is also very important, and shifting perspective on a memory can dramatically transform the way a person feels and can have him behaving in new ways that work better. In TIME Techniques, the person doesn't have to say one word about his memories, and he doesn't need to relive old trauma -- in fact, he doesn't even need to see his memories consciously for the old negative emotion and limiting decisions to release. It can be done 100% content-free.

In those cases there's always the question whether those memories are "real".
Anesthicia are also good in producing false memories.

There are documented stories from people that have been backed up by the physician's memory of the event!

[Brutha]

Well, not only the behavior -- the way the person feels is also very important, and shifting perspective on a memory can dramatically transform the way a person feels and can have him behaving in new ways that work better.

Those words memory, behavior and feelings are all very ill defined.

n TIME Techniques, the person doesn't have to say one word about his memories, and he doesn't need to relive old trauma

Of course you don't have to. But in cases where you want to know whether a person remember what doctors spoke during an operation I would suspect that you need to let the person access a memory.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Those words memory, behavior and feelings are all very ill defined.

Yeah. It makes sense when you actually participate in the technique.

Of course you don't have to. But in cases where you want to know whether a person remember what doctors spoke during an operation I would suspect that you need to let the person access a memory.

Not necessarily. Again, we treat memories as metaphors, so a person might get a sense of what she took on as a belief without taking away a literal and exactly accurate snapshot of the event. A person believes she is revisiting a real, actual event when she remembers, but what she's doing is telling herself a story about a real actual event. Often the story itself disappears from awareness, leaving only an emotional imprint. Like when you think of a movie you like, that you can't remember the story exactly, but you know how thinking about that movie makes you feel and you remember lines that made an impression on you -- often reworded by your unconscious mind and stored as a *real* memory. Same with the words a surgeon might say while you're under anesthesia.

There was a woman who had unexplained pain in her side for years after surgery. She kept going back to the doctor, who could find nothing wrong, and she finally went to a hypnotist who regressed back looking for a "root cause" that, when disconnected, would allow her to release the pain. (a "root cause" is not necessarily a remembered event, it can also be an unconscious indication.) In trance, she told the hypnotherapist that while she was under, the surgeon said, "She'll never be the same." The hypnotherapist tracked down the surgeon, who did remember saying something like that, but what he meant was not the dire implications that the woman internalized, but that she would be completely healed after the surgery!

It doesn't matter if it's *proven,* because the unconscious mind can release negative emotion and limiting beliefs, regardless of the objective reality accuracy of the "memory" -- simply by getting the necessary learnings an shifting perspective.

So, if a woman "remembers" being raped, it doesn't matter if it's a "real" memory or if it's a metaphor -- she would disconnect the old negative emotion either way, in the same way. And a good practitioner is quite careful to NOT give suggestions that might install an internal representation -- that's stressed quite a bit.

[Lauxa]

Hi Andrew, maybe off-topic for memory enhancement, but have you seen the Khan Academy math videos? For instance, here is the video on the proof of
lim (sinx)/x = 1
x-->0

YouTube - Proof: lim (sin x)/x

Studies have shown that practicing memorizing things doesn't make you better at it, while learning memory techniques such as Marce suggested will improve your ability to remember. I don't know about TIME techniques.

I do wonder if our memories have atrophied a bit as a part of being in a writing-based (versus oral-based) society.

[Bleicke]

Super Memory

[Yanclae]

Originally Posted by andrew112

I am talking about the type of memory that is involved in memorizing proofs and formulas in mathematics, for example.

The Answer, My Friend, Lay in the REASON for your STUDY. Are you trying to learn these formulas to do well in testing? (It will fade away) Are you trying to learn these formulas as things in themselves? (They will only acquaint to you) Are you LEARNING THESE THINGS SO THAT YOU MAY USE THEM? (They will be yours forever

[amj]

Originally Posted by andrew112

How does one develop an unlimited memory capacity? Is the answer through diet or fasting? Is it through meditation; or is it through a combination of disciplines? I have heard of pseudo telekinesis to increase concentration, but how about increasing memory capacity?

I find that if I learn one thing, then something that I learned a while back will then seem to be "erased" from my memory. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

I recently found out that folic acid can increase your memory. Wikipedia it and see for yourself. It also helps lower high blood pressure. I know this from first hand experience.

Shalom (peace)

[andrew112]

Originally Posted by Yanclae

The Answer, My Friend, Lay in the REASON for your STUDY. Are you trying to learn these formulas to do well in testing? (It will fade away) Are you trying to learn these formulas as things in themselves? (They will only acquaint to you) Are you LEARNING THESE THINGS SO THAT YOU MAY USE THEM? (They will be yours forever

I would like to learn all the things that I am learning so that I may apply them, but most of the things that I have been learning is all just theoretical and I have not gotten into any of the applications for them yet.

[Talkofthatown919]

First you have to believe you can have unlimited memory capacity. What it is that you need to remember relate it to something at that moment that will help you remember it.

[san]

Check out
Memory Training | Memory Expert | How to Memorize

Ron White has many tips on improving your memory.

[Uncle]

Why would you want to do that? There seems to be a fundamental-level, common misunderstanding about how (smart) people think. Cognitive studies have shown that smart thinking is not a product of remembering everything, but a product of not remembering irrelevant things, and focusing thoughts only on relevant issues. I see no point in trying to expand my memory. I'll rather use pen and paper.