Page 37 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

Link Method of Memory 41
ture you've decided on. Close your eyes for a second; that
might make it easier to see the picture, at first. As soon as
you see it, stop thinking about it and go on to your next
step. The thing you now already know or remember is,
"paper," therefore the next step is to associate or Link,
paper to the next item on the list, which is, "bottle." At this
point, you pay no attention to "carpet" any longer. Make
an entirely new ridiculous mental picture with, or between
bottle and paper. You might see yourself reading a gigantic
bottle instead of a paper, or writing on a gigantic bottle
instead of on paper. Or, you might picture a bottle pouring
paper out of its mouth instead of liquid; or a bottle made
out of paper instead of glass. Pick the association which
you think is most ridiculous and see it in your mind's eye
for a moment.
I cannot stress, too much, the necessity of actually see-
ing this picture in your mind's eye, and making the mental
image as ridiculous as possible. You are not, however, to
stop and think for fifteen minutes to find the most illogical
association; the first ridiculous one that comes to mind is
usually the best to use. I'll give you two or more ways in
which you might form your pictures with each pair of the
twenty items. You are to pick the one that you think is
most ridiculous, or one that you've thought of yourself,
and use that one association only.
We have already linked carpet to paper, and then paper
to bottle. We now come to the next item which is, "bed."
You must make a ridiculous association between bottle and
bed. A bottle lying on a bed, or anything like that would be
too logical. So you might picture yourself sleeping in a large
bottle instead of a bed, or you might see yourself taking a
snort from a bed instead of a bottle. (I can get pretty ridicu-
lous.) See either of these pictures in your mind for a mo-
ment, then stop thinking of it.