IT'S GOOD TO FORGET

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FORGETTING IS GOOD

We all need to forget to make our brains function efficiently. Forgetting allows you to remove all kinds of extraneous information from your life that would result in mental exhaustion.

You typically store along in long-term memory associations singular significant events, as last week’s newspaper headlines. When you forget competing memories, your brain has to do less work to recall a specific subject. Often you suppress the memory of old passwords, allowing you to remember the new ones easier.

Forgetting is a very active process, with the mind constantly editing and sorting information at great speed. Your brain only takes a small amount of information and erases things that won't be needed again.

Because you attention is focused elsewhere, many things that happen during the day don’t make an impression on you. As you're driving down the road, a lot of information is hitting your retina, and is not perceived nor stored.

You frequently fail to act on information that at the time is not essential. When you're asked to focus on one thing, you fail to notice other things.

Forgetting things can be very useful. If you dated surely and now you're married to Janet, you want to be able to say, “I love you Janet”. If you have a remarkable memory, you usually pay attention at the time and attach significance to the facts-- facts that don't register on other people's radar screens at all.

MEMORY AND AGING

You often lose your keys, wallet, or forget someone's name. As you approach 65, you wonder if you have Alzheimer's disease starting because you have such forgetful experiences.

The brain changes over time and you must distinguish normal changes from those that require medical attention. If you forget where you put your keys, you just need to get better organized. But if you forgot what keys are for, you have a memory problem related to aging.

THE ANSWER IS TO STAY FOCUSED

How long can you keep your mind attentive? Most of us are easily distracted, have bad habits, and have overload with technology. We jump from one mental activity to another. How can you recover your focus, and still become creative?

Your short focus span of attention, makes you ignore what you experience, and fails to see what is happening beyond your marginal focus. When you shift attention, you have more accidents when talking on a cell phone.

TIPS ON FOCUSING

Choose activities that make you absolutely focus. You may feel anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed out, but it sure beats being bored and in a rut. Get in the flow of things as if nothing else mattered. By being intensely focused, you'll be in the peak of optimal experience.

Keep a record of things you're forgetting, and how often you forget. Ask yourself: “Are there other things as stress, depression, recent loss, or new medication that may be the cause of your problem?”

Focus real hard on what you really want to remember. What you call forgetting, is really a lack of attention. Pay attention when parking your car, taking off your glasses, or placing your keys.

Cut out distractions! It's hard to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. If while you are reading, you are having trouble remembering, the answer to prevent distractions may be to read in a quiet room. It takes more time to retrieve new information or recall familiar names from your long-term memory bank.

If you are going to a new place, spend some time learning the directions, so you can avoid looking at your notes and not have traffic problems.

Become organized. There should be a place for everything, and everything should have its place. Make a routine of always putting your keys and glasses in the same place, so you will not waste time searching for them daily.

When you are going to a family function, review certain names and other information that will help you remember your grandchildren.

If you can't remember new information, try thinking of related facts that might trigger the information you want. Go through the sounds of the letters of the alphabet from A to Z. One often will serve as a clue to jog your memory. If you are trying to remember the name of the capital of Michigan, the letter L may trigger the name Lansing.

You do many things automatically, and don't pay much attention to them. To avoid worrying whether you shut the garage door, or whether the coffee pot was unplugged, say out loud to yourself: “ I have just shut off the coffee pot and locked the door. "I don't have to think about it again”. For routine tasks, this works quite well.

Shift your focus away from the past or future, and pay attention to the present. and real experience that is acting now by meditating. This calms her body, and soothes your spirit.

Pay attention to all the wonderful moments in your life. Get your will power back! Avoid distractions from electronic media and machines. Get yourself into a self-control mode, and you will get stronger with each effort.

When you feel your mind is n an electronic takeover, take a walk in the park, and pay particular attention to nature around you.

Everything you focus on in life, puts your mind into a conscious awareness mode. Very little of your brain gets into an image-conscious mode. Start leading a focused life, and your unconscious awareness will be activated.

COMMENTARY

Your brain tries to make order out of chaos in your life. Your trouble is you can’t prioritize, and let go all the details in your life

It might be better to forget than to remember. At least some forgetting makes you more human.

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