Article by: Brain Supplements from Brainalin
If you read this article carefully, you will discover one of the oldest and most powerful strategies to improve your memory, the method of loci.
The ancient Greeks started using this great memorization strategy a few centuries ago. It is a technique specially designed to help you remember things and objects in a specific order. Its root strategy is based on organization and association.
Spatial memory is the part of our memory that helps us with orientation by remembering details of our surroundings. We all have a natural tendency to use this part of our memory to remember things since it is one of the most natural forms of memory.
Do you ever forget where you left your keys?
It happens to most of us. If it has happened to you, it is very likely that you probably tried to reenact in your mind the last time you saw your keys. From getting out of your car, to opening the doors to the house, etc… right until your find your keys.
Surprisingly, if you execute this strategy well enough, most of the time, you will find your keys.
This is sort of the backbone of the method of loci. It is a very simple technique, which with practice can be very powerful. In fact, most professional memory competitors use some form of this memorization strategy.
Now, let’s look at how the method of loci works, in four simple steps…
Step 1: Let’s begin. Close your eyes and imagine a path that you take daily that you know well. It can be the way form home to work, the way to your kids’ school or simply the steps from your car to your house.
Step 2: Select a route. Connect the list of items you want to remember with details in the route you have in mind.
For example, if your route of choice is your house, you can pick items like the tree in the front, the front door, the brown couch in the living room…you get the point.
Step 3: Association time. Pick one item for each thing you need to memorize. Let’s say you need to remember 10 things, then you need to select 10 items in your house. Try to select the items in the house or pathway in order.
Step 4: Let’s have fun! For the purpose of example let’s say that you need to remember 4 things in your grocery list; Bread, Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly, and Milk.
Imagine yourself going through the path of your house.
The first thing you see when you get out of the car is a big mango tree to the left, but instead of mangoes, the tree is actually full of bread handing from every branch. The bread looks delicious and fresh!
As you continue to the front door, imagine that your door is a peanut butter bar. It has big eyes and the slime of peanut butter is all over your front entrance. When you open the door, you wipe your feet in the front carpet, but to your surprise, the carpet is made of Grape Jelly. Now your shoes are filled with peanut butter and jelly!
You take your shoes off and run to the bathroom to clean your shoes, you open the faucet and milk starts to pour out!
I hope you get the point. Get as crazy and creative as you like. The point is to associate each item to something in your house and make it crazy.
Putting mangoes in the mango tree instead of bread won’t help you as much as putting something unexpected there. Make it crazy and actually imagine these things in your mind.
With practice, you will be able to remember hundreds of things without forgetting a single one.
Here is a quick video that explains the method of luci:
