Quantum Memory Power Read online

  I prepare the journey; let’s say the first stage is the front gate or the entrance to the park. The second one might be a tree, an interesting tree, that you can use as a second stage. The third stage might be a children’s play area.

  Then I just flick through the newspaper and pick out the central themes. Say I see Madonna on the front page, so she’s at the first stage of the journey.

  Then I go to the next page, and I look for anything that grabs my eye. Say it’s “Widow Wins Lottery,” so I picture a widow at the second stage of the journey, by the tree.

  Then I go to the third page and see an advert for mobile phones. Again, I associate that theme, the mobile phone, with the location, which is the children’s play area.

  Then I have a quick run-through. I think, “Who was at the front gate?” Madonna. She had running shoes on; maybe she’s going for a run in the park. I go to stage 2; there’s a tree there. What was it? Oh, yes, the caption, “Widow Wins Lottery.” Then I go to stage 3, the children’s play area. Maybe there’s a kid at the top of the slide, and he has a mobile phone, and so on.

  Once I have that, then I have hangers or hooks to which I can now attach more and more information. Have you noticed that when you read a newspaper, although a lot of the information goes in, sometimes you forget a lot of it because you don’t know how to access it? It’s not until you go down to the bar and someone says, “Did you hear about that widow?” that you remember. You say, “Oh, yes. She’s the one who won all those millions,” and then all the information comes out. The beauty about the journey system is that it allows you to access all the information in order.

  Go back to the first stage again. This time, look at more details about Madonna, and add those in. It might be that it’s her 41st birthday, so if you want to remember that, use the Dominic system: 41 translates to DA, which gives you Dan Aykroyd. So put him in the scene with Madonna.

  Then you go to the next page, with some more information about the widow, and you keep building up your knowledge all the time.

  A NEWSPAPER EXERCISE

  We’re going to do an exercise now, and we’re going to simulate memorizing the contents of a newspaper, but we’re only going to do 10 pages.

  Form a journey in the open air. It could be around a park or a favorite walk of yours, a journey of 10 stages. Once you have the stages, you can read abut the images I will give you.

  As you do, try to connect each of these images to the specific location. Go to the first location in your mind’s eye now, and I’m going to give you the first image. Here we go.

  It’s an aircraft. Just use all your senses: touch, taste, sight, smell, sound, emotion, color, movement. Anchor that to the background: aircraft.

  Now go to the next stage, stage 2. This time you see a photograph or a poster of the actor James Dean. See if you can conjure up that image. Now anchor him to your background.

  At the next stage, stage 3, I want you to picture a typical summer scene. It’s on a river, and there are some boats there. Got that?

  Move on to stage 4. This time it’s an advert for a pair of socks, so how would you connect that to the scene, to your geography? Use logic.

  OK, moving on. You’re on your walk now. You’re halfway through, at stage 5. This time I want you to picture the photograph of a telephone booth.

  At stage 6 is a typical scene that you might see in a park. Some children are playing soccer.

  Moving on now, to stage 7, picture this: 2 50-cent pieces.

  Go onto the next stage, stage 8. This time it’s another poster. It’s a poster for the film Jaws.

  At the next stage, stage 9, is a photograph of a gift shop. How would you connect that to the background?

  Finally, at stage 10, you see a pair of mailboxes.

  Keep reviewing all the time. Go back to the very first stage again, so you’re back at the first stage. What do you see? Aircraft. Next stage: a poster of James Dean. Third stage: a boating scene on the river. Keep going to stage 4: an advert for a pair of socks.

  Stage 5 is the telephone box.

  At the next stage, stage 6, some kids are playing soccer.

  Then we have a pair of 50-cent pieces; then a poster for the film Jaws. Then it was the gift shop, and finally a pair of mailboxes. OK, you have that in your head now.

  USING HANGERS AND HOOKS

  Now the trick is to attach more information using hangers or hooks. Go back to the first stage. You have the aircraft. We’re going to start filling in some details, using all the techniques that I’ve given you before, such as number shapes. I want you to convert the information into images and attach them to each of your symbols that you have in the picture.

  I’ll go through the first one with you. Remember, you have an aircraft in your scene. Here’s a flight number I want you to convert into another image and attach to that aircraft. The flight number is AA91. Think about it. How are you going to split those up and convert them into images?

  Well, you can think of American Airlines, or you can think of Andre Agassi. What about 91? Well, that converts into NA in the Dominic system, which gives you the astronaut Neil Armstrong. Andre Agassi and Neil Armstrong: AA91. Got the picture?

  Move on to the next stage. It’s that poster of James Dean, and the caption underneath it says, “Rebel without a Cause.” You probably know that like the back of your hand anyway, so I want you to bring that to life: “Rebel without a Cause.” Remember that pose where he has a leather jacket on and a cigarette?

  Moving on to stage 3 now: it’s that summer scene with the boats. The caption is, “Temperature Soars to 88 Degrees.” Again you have to convert the numbers into pictures, so 88, using the Dominic system, would give us HH. Who’s your character for HH? How about Hulk Hogan? Have him in the boat now. Again, immerse yourself in the picture.

  Moving on now to stage 4, which was an advert for a pair of socks. We have a price tag here: $6. You could convert 6 into, say, an elephant’s trunk, so you connect the elephant to the socks.

  Next stage is the telephone booth. There’s a note saying that you have to phone this number: extension 189. You split that into a pair of digits. It gives you a person: Alfred Hitchcock, 18. Then you have the 9, for which the number shape is a balloon and string. So you have Alfred Hitchcock holding a balloon and string, and he’s by the telephone booth.

  Moving on to that soccer game: the caption is, “The Score Is 7–3.” Again, you just convert those into letters: 7–3 gives you GC, which gives you George Clooney. Have him playing soccer with the kids.

  Next stage. It’s those 50-cent pieces. The caption is, “Metal Detector Finds Treasure of 50-Cent Pieces.” Imagine yourself there with a metal detector, and you’ve come across a treasure of 50-cent pieces.

  Stage 8 is that poster of Jaws. Remember that famous poster? The caption is, “Dentists on Strike.” I’ll leave that one up to you.

  The second to the last stage is the gift shop, and look at the photograph in your mind’s eye. The name of the shop is Present Company.

  Finally, it’s those 2 mailboxes, and the caption is, “Scientists Clone Mailbox.”

  Just go over the scenes again, review the scenes, let them wash over you, and see what information comes to the fore.

  Go back again, what do you see at stage 1? It’s an aircraft, flight number AA91. Next stage: James Dean; caption, “Rebel without a Cause.” Easy one. Stage 3: that boating scene, and the caption was, “Temperature Soars to—” think of it: Hulk Hogan. It has to be 88 degrees.

  Next stage: it’s an ad for a pair of socks, and the price is—think of the elephant—$6. It’s easy, isn’t it?

  Next stage is the telephone box. What’s the extension number? Just think of Alfred Hitchcock with a balloon and string. It has to be 189.

  Next stage is the football game. Who’s there? The actor George Clooney: that’s GC, which gives you 73, so that’s the score: 7–3.

  For stage 7, what’s the caption? “Metal Detector Finds Treasure of 50-Cent Pieces.”

  Now comes the famous poster of Jaws, and what’s the caption? “Dentists on Strike.”

  Next stage is the gift shop, and what’s it called? What’s the title above the shop? Present Company.

  Finally, it’s those two mailboxes, so the caption is, “Scientists Clone Mailbox.”

  Can you see how it’s working, how the initial symbolic images are acting as coat hangers? They’re hooks, so you can attach more and more information. If you go back again and add more information to the new images that you’re creating all the time, that’s the basis on which you can memorize the entire contents of a newspaper. Obviously the speed comes with practice, and if you really take it to the nth degree, you can end up memorizing the day’s stock market.

  REMEMBERING DIRECTIONS

  Now we’re going to look at how to remember those directions. I wonder if this has happened to you before: You’re driving through a town. You’re already five minutes late for a very important meeting. The signs are terrible, and so are the directions you were given. In desperation you wind down the window, and you say to a passerby, “I’m in a terrible hurry. I have to get to the Lodge Motel.”

  The guy says, “Oh, I know what that is. You see that road over there? That leads to Grant Avenue, where there’s an old Baptist church. Well, you don’t want to go down there.” You’re already late, and this guy’s making you even more late.

  Eventually he comes out with the right directions: “Turn right into Blue Street. Then you go left into Dolphin Street; take the second exit on the roundabout. Now you’ll pass the chocolate factory on the left. Take the fourth turn on the right, and down there, by the satellite center, is the Lodge Motel.”

  You wind down the window, say, “Thanks very much,” only to dr
ive down to the road where the Baptist church is, which is exactly where you were told not to go.

  Next time you listen to directions, just feed the information into your brain piece by piece, and use the journey method to lay down the directions.

  I’m going to go through those same directions again, but this time we’re going to use a route with 6 stages to anchor the images you’re about to create. If you live in a city, you could use the layout of streets and avenues to simulate the directions, but for this example, we’ll use a golf course.

  Picture this with me. We’re standing together on the first tee of my local golf course. Now we’ll listen to the first direction: turn right into Blue Street. If the direction is to turn right, that’s what we’re going to do now. We look to our right, and I know that on the first tee of my golf course, there’s a tree. What are we going to do? We’re going to turn it blue. So imagine a blue tree on the first tee.

  Now we walk along to the next stage. We’re walking down the first fairway, and now we’re taking the next direction: turn left into Dolphin Street. OK, we’re told to turn left, so we look to our left, and what do we imagine? We see a dolphin on the first fairway.

  Now we come up to the first green. Let’s get the next direction in our heads: second exit off the roundabout. This is rather convenient, because we’re on a green, which is a round area. If it’s the second exit, then I think of the number shape swan, 2, so I picture a swan putting on the green.

  Now we go to the next stage, which is the second tee. The direction here is to pass the chocolate factory on your left. Again we look at the position to our left. There could be a small marker there, or a hut, so we imagine it made of chocolate. Using more of your imagination now, pass the chocolate factory on your left.

  Keep walking. We’re at the second fairway now. Next direction: fourth turn on your right. So we look to the right again. Now I know that on the second fairway, there’s a big bunker, because I’m always in there. The fourth turning, 4, gives us the number shape sailboat, so there’s a little sailboat in the bunker.

  Now we’re at the second green, and we’ve reached our destination. Down there, by the satellite center, is the Lodge Motel. Imagine a satellite on the green, and you know you’ve reached your destination.

  All you have to do now is review the scene again. Go back to the first tee. What were we told to do? Look to the right, and we see a blue tree. We know we’re going to turn right, and the direction is Blue Street. Move down the fairway. This time, what do we see? There’s a dolphin, isn’t there? Whereabouts is it? It’s on the left. That’s the direction. Turn left into Dolphin Street.

  OK, we’re on the first green. What’s on the green? What’s putting there? It’s a swan, isn’t it? That’s the number shape for 2, so it has to be the second exit on the roundabout.

  Now we go to the second tee, and there was something on the left, wasn’t there? It was a hut, and it was made of chocolate. The directions were to pass the chocolate factory on your left.

  We get on the second fairway. There was something on the bunker, wasn’t there, on the right? It was a sailboat. Now we know it’s the fourth turn on the right.

  Finally, on the second green, we see what? A satellite dish. Ah, now, that’s what he said: right next to the satellite center, that’s the Lodge Motel.

  You can see how this method works. It really is great, because any directions involving a right turn means that I plant a key image to my right. I use number shapes for numbers, as well as movement, color, taste, exaggeration, and so on.

  The next time you’re lost, take a deep breath and rest assured that your memory won’t let you down. Translate those instructions into colorful, symbolic images. Why don’t you try this the next time you go on a long journey? By all means take that piece of paper with you, but it’s not always practical or safe to keep looking down at it for directions. Try memorizing the information first using the journey method, and see how far you can get. You should get the whole way.

  Try this method, and have faith in the incredible power of your memory that by now I hope you’re starting to unleash.

  14

  A Look Inside Your Brain

  I hope that by now you’re using these techniques to help you in everyday life. Maybe you’ve had success in remembering names and faces or in memorizing a shopping list, or maybe you’re a student and you’ve taken advantage of these strategies to speed up learning.

  Perhaps you’ve already impressed your work colleagues by delivering a crisp, unfaltering presentation. They’re beginning to ask questions like, “What’s happened to you? How come your memory is so efficient?” Are people starting to get suspicious? “Have you been attending some kind of memory course on the quiet?” Or are they simply saying, “How did you do that?”

  Have you started to notice something else? Like, are you slightly pleased with yourself, or are you quicker at making connections? Are you able to memorize more and more? Is your imagination getting more creative? Do you feel that you’re able to concentrate slightly better? Are you becoming more observant? Are you gaining more confidence in your ability to memorize and recall information? Are you more organized mentally? Maybe you’re coping better under pressure. Stress levels are down. Is the metaphor of developing memory muscles making sense to you?

  Are your dreams more vivid because you’re exercising the visual part of your imagination? Is the quality of your sleep that much better?

  At this point we’re going to take a look at what’s going on in our brains and why memory training is one of the best exercises you can give your mind to develop the whole of your brain.

  What are the functions of your left and right brains? Why do you have to be in a certain mood to maximize your concentration? What exactly are the perfect conditions for learning?

  If you’re not sure whether you’re doing these exercises the right way, I’m going to explain in greater depth what it feels like to have a pumped-up memory, what it takes to absorb, say, a 400-digit number in just minutes. I’m going to tell you what it’s like to become a memory champion. You are a potential memory champion in your own right, if you want to be.

  Why should trying to picture Bing Crosby wearing white flared trousers be good for our brains? I believe that memory training, as described in this book, balances your brain, promoting harmony in all areas of life. It can lead to successful relationships, and yes, to success in business.

  To give you my reasons, let’s take a little look inside your brain, particularly at the functions of the left and right brain. Your brain, or the upper part of your brain, is known is the cerebrum, and it’s divided into two parts or sides: the left and right hemispheres. Your brain is essentially a mixture of electricity and chemistry. There’s a continuous flow of electricity across the left and the right hemispheres, which varies in frequency throughout the day.

  For most of us, the speed at which one side of our brain is operating pretty well matches the speed of the other side; hence the phrase a balanced brain. However, if one side gets damaged, it can lead to an imbalance of brain wave frequency.

  Extreme cases, like a stroke, can kill areas of the brain through a lack of oxygen, causing speech loss, or, if speech is maintained, people may feel as though a huge section of their vocabulary has been taken away, like missing pages of a thesaurus.

  LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS

  Each hemisphere processes information in a slightly different way. The left brain specializes more in serial processing and analyzing information in a linear way—one piece after the other. That’s why our left brains are ideally suited to taking in speech, solving problems in a logical way, and dealing with numbers.

  The right brain specializes in parallel processing—in other words, taking in several bits of information at the same time. The right brain is better suited for processing pictures, colors, features, and emotions. It’s highly active during dreaming.