Page 79 - Use Your Memory

USE YOUR MEMORY
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If you managed to do this successfully, you have already accom-
plished a memory feat that most people would find difficult if not
impossible. You have now forged into your memory and creative
imagination a system that you will be able to use throughout your
life and that combines the qualities of both the left and the right
hemispheres of your brain.
The use of the system is simple and enjoyable and involves the
other major memory device: linking/association. For example, if
you have a list often items that you wish to remember not simply
by linking, as in the previous chapter, but in numerical order,
reverse numerical order and random numerical order, the
Number-Shape System makes the whole process easy. Let us put
it to the test:
Assume you wish to remember the following list of items:
1 Symphony
2 Prayer
3 Watermelon
4 Volcano
5 Motorcycle
6 Sunshine
7 Apple pie
8 Blossoms
9 Spaceship
10 Field of wheat
To remember these items in any order, all that you have to do is to
link them with the appropriate Number-Shape Key Memory
Image. As with the Link System, and all memory systems, the
Basic Memory Principles should be applied throughout; the more
imaginative you can be, the better. Give yourself not more than
three minutes to complete your memorisation of these ten items,
using the Number-Shape System, and then fill in the answers on
page 51. If you feel confident, start this exercise now; if not, you
may find it helpful to read again the examples given on page 48
before testing yourself.