Memory Power You Can Develop a Great Memory -America's Grand Master Shows You How

Introduction I know, you think you have a lousy memory. You can't find your car keys, you forgot to send that e-mail yesterday, or maybe, worse, you forgot your anniversary! Relax; your memory is just fine. I can almost guarantee it. For years I was in the same boat you think you're in. I was a mediocre student. I suffered the acute embarrassment of forgetting, in front of an audience, how to play a simple piano piece. I couldn't remember where I put my car keys. And then I found out I had cancer. What does having cancer have to do with memory? The doctors told me the treatment that I would undergo would have an effect on my brain that would make it difficult for me to concentrate and remember. There's the ultimate insult: Add to the terror of having a life-threatening disease a treatment that makes my already forgetful memory worse! I had to leave my treatment to the doctors -- and they did a wonderful job -- but I decided that I could do something at least to mitigate the effects of the treatment on my brain. If you had told me five years ago that I would hold the title of National Memory Champion, I would have laughed out loud. Not a chance! I was just an average guy doing my best to get through life while enjoying my wife and children. But I won the national championships in four consecutive years. How I succeeded in doing that is what this book is all about. I discovered that a person's memory is much like his or her body. Exercise it and it gets stronger. The trick lies in knowing how to do the exercises. In Memory Power I'll show you how to do exercises for your memory. And the best part is that you'll find the exercises amazingly easy, yet they yield powerful results. Within a week you'll find yourself remembering more and using those memories to make your life better. Cancer is a life-altering experience for anyone who has the disease. Chapter 1 is about how my brush with death taught me that everybody has far more memory potential than they realize. Fortunately, my cancer was curable and I had a wonderful team of doctors to whom I'll always be grateful. As I was undergoing the frightening treatment regimen the doctors laid out, I struggled to keep my thinking and memory intact. I was fearful that I would lose some vital part of what made me the person I was. Then, in something of a revelation, I discovered that I had a great memory! I could remember tiny details of events that happened years ago. While the treatments took a temporary toll on my ability to concentrate and remember things that happened minutes earlier, I reveled in the knowledge of what I did remember. How, I wondered, was it possible to have such vivid recall of long-ago events? And that set me off on the course of discovery and learning that I'm sharing with you. You won't believe how amazing your mind and memory are until you experience this. You'll have to take my word for it now, but you'll be a believer in just a few days. We'll start your exercise program in chapter 2. Think of it as sort of a warm-up. All it really consists of is keeping a daily journal, jotting down at the end of the day some of the things that happened to you -- people you met, decisions you made, even what you had for lunch. It doesn't take long to do. Then we'll examine what your journal reveals about how you remember and take a few basic steps to improve on that process. We aren't going to engage in any "tricks." This is all stuff you're already doing without realizing it. After warming up, we'll explore in chapter 3 the ways in which memories are made. There are two ways to look at the process of memory. One is what you would call scientific and involves neurons, dendrites, chemicals, and electricity in a complex process that we'll leave mostly to the scientists. The other way to view memory is as the result of your senses, emotions, and actions at work. A memory is the result of an experience, andHagwood, Scott is the author of 'Memory Power You Can Develop a Great Memory -America's Grand Master Shows You How', published 2005 under ISBN 9780743272650 and ISBN 074327265X.