The Secret to Improving Your Memory

I open myself to the wisdom within
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

What's the Secret to Improving Your Memory?

'Your brain remembers meaning, not facts. Want to remember something? Give it more meaning.'

You hold the key to remembering everything you want to remember. 

'In a nutshell, the more meaning you give your life, experiences, or studies, the more you'll remember.'

Create Better Memories Through Creating Better Stories

Years ago I took an epic bicycle trip down the West Coast from Vancouver Island, Canada to Southern California with four fellow bicyclists. 

Cycling through the towns and camping along the coast imprinted details on my brain that I easily recall 35 years later whenever I visit any of the coastal areas traveled. 

Why is that? We're back to the role meaning plays in creating better recall. My total immersion experience created deeper meaning for me and my body. The more we experience life through what we see, hear, feel, taste and touch the more we remember. 

Today the signature smells and sights of the beaches immediately ignite my memories with great detail--as the memories were locked in by my full body experience with all my senses engaged to create meaningful experiences.

I can't hear Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major without  thinking of this grand trip. The first night we arrived back home I heard this elegant piece of music for the first time as we all crashed on the floor of a darkened room--providing me an epic ending to an epic trip.

What's the so what of my story for you? The more actively you step in to experience your life, the better your memory.

Create Better Recall by Turning Meaningless Pieces of Data into Stories

But what if you are trying to memorize facts for a test? 

Even if you are just trying to memorize facts for a test--if you want to recall more facts weave them into stories to give them more meaning. 

Studies have shown when you turn meaningless gibber into real words your recall of the words improves; and when you use the real words in a sentence your memory is even better. But your best recall of facts will result from you creating meaningful context for those facts by weaving stories.

Nonsense vs Real Words  We have an easier time memorizing and recalling real words with meaning--boy, girl, love--than we do nonsense words--fra, ciz, gra. 

Words in a Sentence If you take real words and weave them into a sentence, you give them more meaning and remember more. 

Facts in a Story  The stories we weave are what we remember easily. When you turn meaningless pieces of information into whole stories  (real or made up) you'll remember more 'facts'.

Need Proof? Take the One Minute Test

THE SHAPE OF YOUR MEMORY

Test yourself: Study the chart below for one minute, then test your recall by writing down as many of the letters with its associated shapes

A simple test to show your brain remembers meaning, not facts

This is a very easy way to show you how easy it is to remember something if it has meaning.

1. Take one minute to to memorize the shapes associated with letters 'a' through 'i'. 

2. Give yourself one minute to test your recall by recording as many of the letters with it's associated shape you remember without looking. (no cheating!)

3. Check your answers against the chart above.

4. Click on  How to remember 100% to see what happens when you add meaning.

Want More Good Memories?

Get out and live your life to the fullest. Seek more meaningful experiences.

You'll deepen the meaning of your stories when you give up being an 'arm chair expert' observing life and become an active participant in your life instead (i.e. one who carries out active experiments to test out and experience life). 

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.

If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Lao Tzu: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

I have the strength to understand and the eyes to see
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again. The Buddha

Starting Over in Life

If you've been struggling to jump-start your life over after dealing with a rough patch, follow these 3 time-tested keys to regain your momentum.

I let go of bitterness and renew my trusting heart
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

 Take the First Step 

Not much has changed in the thousands of years humans have been facing and recovering from the hardships of life. As Lao Tzu stated so long ago, 'a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step'. 

We fuel our inner strength and sense of resiliency by taking action. But sometimes when faced with 'a journey of a thousand miles' we can be overwhelmed with the daunting task of where to begin. What is the first step?

The good news is any first step will do. Your hope, resiliency, and personal strength will grow stronger with every step you take. It doesn't matter what the first step is. As you experience yourself being pro-active and physically taking action, your ability to cope and hope will improve. So start with a single step--any step-- and then another.

I trust like a river flowing
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

Take Small Steps

An old Chinese Proverb says, 'The man who moved a mountain is the one who started taking away the small stones'. When you're in total overwhelm mode, start 'taking away the small stones'--one small step, then another. 

I now transform what no longer works
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

Build a Nest in the Eye of the Storm

Anthropologist, Margaret Mead, traveled on her life adventure, with change and uncertainty as her constant companions. Her grandmother, a major influence in Margaret's life, sent her on her journey with the sage advice to 'Always build a nest in the eye of the storm'.

This grandmotherly wisdom has had a strong influence in my own life. Whenever major life events cause upheaval in my life, my mind returns to this saying, and I think how important it is to apply to get things moving and balanced again. 

One thing I know--when you're in the middle of a crisis, the hardest thing to do is to take care of yourself. You can forget to nourish your body, push your body to the limits with lack of sleep, and remain in a constant state of emotional overload. But if you focus on 'building a nest in the eye of the storm', you will begin to create a cushion to rest and a space for thinking.

What does it mean to build a nest in the eye of the storm? When life is swirling around you like a hurricane--you find a way to create a home-base of comfort--or nest--from which you can rebuild your daily existence.

Start with the basics to nourish your body and rest your nerves. Your body likes a regular rhythm that includes regular heart beats, breaths, sleep patterns, eating times, moving times, and rest time. 

• Start by getting your natural rhythms back in place.
• Eat regular, well-balanced meals that nourish you.
• Pace yourself--put a time limit on dealing with your difficulties--and take regular rest breaks.
• Go to bed early.
• Choose to have daily contact with uplifting, supportive people who can listen and encourage you in your strength.
• If you're caring for others, take care of yourself first, so you have the strength and endurance to continue to help others.

 

I am resilient in the face of setbacks
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

Create Safety and Security

We all do our best thinking and acting when we do it from a place of feeling safe and secure. So create your nest--no matter what storm is brewing. It may not be easy, but it is essential.

Life is a cycle, always in motion; if good times have moved on, so will times of trouble! Indian Proverb

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.


If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

How to Remember 100%

The Key to Improving Your Memory....

Give Facts....

How easy is it for you to recall the shapes associated with its letter
when it's presented as seemingly unrelated data?

....More Meaning

How easy is it for you to recall the shapes associated with the letters
when it's presented in a form that has meaning?

What's the Secret to Improving Your Memory?

'Your brain remembers meaning, not facts. Want to remember something? Give it more meaning.'

You hold the key to remembering everything you want to remember. 

'In a nutshell, the more meaning you give your life, experiences, or studies, the more you'll remember.'

Click on http://lightartedliving.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-secret-to-improving-your-memory.html  to view associated post 'The Secret to Improving Your Memory'.

Sign Up for Free E-mail updates

For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.

If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Burned Out? Lose the Guilt and Take a Do-Nothing Day

Sit, rest, work
Susan J Meyerott, artist

'All know the way, but few actually walk it.'  Bodhidharma

Sit, Rest, Work

Sit, rest, work--what a simple, harmonious '3-legged stool' for balanced living. This is truly the answer to how to live a calm, thoughtful, composed life instead of one that always puts you in the overwhelmed mode. 

Yet when you think about it, how likely are you to balance your days in such a way that you are 'never weary' and 'living joyfully, without desire'? How often do you make yourself feel weary to the bone through driving yourself to accomplish at a non-stop, frenetic pace? 

Consider how you balanced your life in just the last three days:

• Did you have a balance of Sit, Rest, Work or an imbalance of work, work, work? 
• Did your life imbalance  leave you feeling weary, guilt-ridden, and wishing for a day off?

Balance Your Life with the 'Sit and Do Nothing' Exercise

The only way to get the most out of your life and the best out of yourself is to regularly give yourself time to recoup your energy through the 'sit and do nothing' exercise. 

Lose the guilt. Lose the expectations. Be unproductive. Give yourself time to breathe and relax instead. Strive to do nothing. Let your mind wander.

Begin with five minutes just to get you started--then work up to more 'do-nothing' time. 

In order to get stronger and more fit, your brain and your body need times of rest. It is during the rest periods your body and mind heal and grow stronger. If you never give yourself down time, your body and mind break down from overuse. So stop holding on to the belief you will accomplish more by keeping yourself in a constant state of stress. The path to your best self is paved with good doses of sitting and relaxing mixed in with the work.

So what are you waiting for? Go waste your time and enjoy doing nothing!

'Before complaining that you are a slave to another, be sure that you are not a slave to self. Look within: You will find there, perchance, slavish thoughts, slavish desires, and in your daily life and conduct slavish habits. Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self, and no man will have the power to enslave you.' James Allen

Sit, rest, work heart
Susan J Meyerott, artist

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.


If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Get Over Yourself: Stop Sulking and Get On with Your Life

I Let Go of Bitterness and Renew my Trusting Heart
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

What's Keeping You Stuck? 

We all have times we feel stuck or sorry for ourselves as life isn't going the way we want it to go. While it's okay to sit in it, feeling totally miserable for a while, when you're ready to get over it--snap out of it and move on.

The truth is, sometimes you just have to be miserable enough to spur yourself into thinking about your life differently, or to nudge you into action. Here I share one of my favorite life planning exercises to help you actively step into a life that matters.

The Most Important Exercise You'll Ever Do--and Love to Hate: Getting to the Core of What Matters

This is a simple exercise that takes very little time to do. There's just one catch: You have to start it, and then follow through one step at a time.

The hardest thing about starting this exercise is like so many people, you may find it uncomfortable to think about what you want or what matters to you. I've had people describe this and other such life planning exercises as the most important exercise they ever did but loved to hate. So get over your discomfort and take action anyway.

If you're tired of being bored, lonely or disappointed with life, take time to do the exercise. By limiting the time you take to answer these questions to 2 minutes you'll ease your discomfort.

The Abundance of the Universe comes to me Freely
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

Imagine you have 6 months to live. All activities around your death have been taken care of. What things would you want to accomplish or do? How would you enjoy spending your last days?

1. Take two minutes to list everything you'd like to do without judging what's on the list.

2. Next take another two minutes to look over your list and refine, add to, eliminate.

3. Last look at your list and ask yourself how many of the things on your list are you currently doing.

4. Pick one thing on your list to do then commit to one step. Pursue it until you've had enough then pick another one and go after that. 

I Completely Open to Life and Joy
Susan J Meyerott, Affirmation Artist

Just Do It--Actively Engage

Now is the time for you to act. Life is short. Don't think about it too much; just do it. 

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.

If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

8 Signs He (She) is not that Into You

Each Moment of My Life is New, Fresh and Vital
Susan J Meyerott, artist

Are you in a Pretend Relationship?

• Are you in a relationship that leaves you feeling stupid, duped, betrayed, sad, and angry?
• Are you trying hard to make it work but feel you're getting no where? 
• Is it time for a reality check? 

How do you know if he/she is really that into you or it's time to move on?

Eight Warning Signs You're in a Pretend Relationship

• He professes his great love and admiration for you in private but keeps your relationship a secret from others.
• She texts you daily to see what you're up to but never makes time to spend with you.
• He texts you in the evening to see what you're doing before telling you he's going out with friends.
• She relates better from a distance than face-to-face.
• The amount of time he actively chooses to spend with you getting to know you is very little compared to the amount of time he's communicated with you through texting or happenstance sleepovers.
• You leave interactions with her feeling resentful, distant, hurt or sad.
• You find yourself making excuses for him because he works so hard and that's why he doesn't have time to spend with you (although he has time to go out with friends).
• You feel apathetic about the relationship due to her actions--what she does or fails to do.

Trust the Wisdom Within
Susan J Meyerott, artist

Got Courage? 

Finding a compatible mate takes courage and a willingness to get hurt. The mating dance is rarely straightforward and uncomplicated--even with that person you may end up with for a lifetime.

Nothing is wrong with you if you find yourself dealing yet again with someone who's seemingly not that into you. It's just part of the dance and you learning how best to navigate the murky waters of relationships. 

To succeed in relationships you must stay the course and step into the relationship waters at high tide.

How Do You Know if its Time to Move On--or Stay the Course?

Trust Yourself. When you're in the center of an emotional fog you may question if you can trust what you think. What you can trust are your strong emotions telling you to pay attention and your ability to use friends and or family to talk things through so you can hear yourself think before talking with your love interest. And trust yourself to be on a search for the truth--staying open to whatever truth you uncover. 

Listen to your Emotions. Your emotions are very powerful antennas letting you know when things are going in the right or wrong direction.  Feelings of being stupid or duped are very real but that doesn't mean you are stupid or naive. Your strong (smart) feelings are telegraphing you need to pay attention and take a conscious look at what is happening in the relationship--and shore up your boundaries.

Trust Your Friends/Family. Who do you have to confide in who listens to you without judging you or the situation? Your trusted friends and family can serve as mirrors reflecting your truth back to you and helping you see the situation more clearly. 

Be Yourself. When you're on a search for the truth, when interacting with your love interest you need to be true to who you are. You want to be in a relationship with someone you can be yourself. 

Be Honest with Yourself--and Act Accordingly 

Questions to ask yourself:

• Is the relationship worth the trouble?
• What percent of the time you have known each other have you actually spent time together--and felt closely connected?
• When you stop giving him/her 'the benefit of the doubt' and remove all excuses you make about why s/he doesn't spend more time with you--how much time do you really spend together?
• What do your friends and family think of him (or her)? If they've never met him, you don't have a real relationship. Your friends and family love and care about you. They can have their fraud antenna up when yours is missing in action.
• Do his friends and family know you exist?
• Is it time to cut your losses and move on?

I Experience Love Wherever I Go
Susan J Meyerott, artist

3 Guiding Principles

• Be Yourself--Wholeheartedly and 100%
• Set Appropriate Boundaries--Make your actions in private match the level of the stated relationship in public
• Shine light on the relationship. Check in with friends and family to get their impressions. 

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.


If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Let it Go: Unlocking Your Frozen Emotions with Music

William R Brooksher, Photographer

 'If you had to choose just one song to sustain you with happy memories for an eternity, what would that song be?'

Music and Happy Memories

This morning I woke up thinking about what music I would put on my list of lifetime favorites when I came across a TED discussion group with the question, 'If you had to choose just one song to sustain you with happy memories for an eternity, what would that song be?'

Having just watched an incredibly moving documentary on Netflix the night before--'Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory'--in which social worker Dan Cohen demonstrates the extraordinary and amazingly immediate effects of music in unlocking memory and emotions in patients with Alzheimer's, this was the very question on my mind. 

The documentary had me contemplating what music I would want on my playlist if by chance in the future I was locked for all eternity in a soul-killing Alzheimer's hell. After witnessing how music awakened the soul within those stuck without memories I knew I would want my children to help me unlock my emotions and memory through my music should this be my fate.

Frozen Heart--artist unknown

Unlocking Frozen Emotions

But as I began to listen to some of my favorite music this morning, I immediately felt something shake free in myself. Having recently experienced the loss of loved ones, I have been locked up and shut away within myself. I thought I was really thawing out but I discovered I had a way to go as the music moved me.

Sometimes life challenges and transitions lead us to numb our emotions and freeze our hearts. As we strive to be strong and survive the more difficult changes we often shut ourselves off from others and separate from our emotions. When we're ready to let go and unlock our frozen emotions we need a way to reconnect to others. Music offers us an excellent bridge back to the core of our fully functioning selves.

I realized if music has the ability to awaken memories and exuberant emotions in people with Alzheimer's, it can help us through the other times when we close off against life.  

'Why wait to apply the musical salve when we can apply it to heal our frozen hearts and numbed emotions today?'

Hearts Overflowing by Susan J Meyerott

What Music Is on Your Playlist?

I took advantage of the favorite music choices provided by others in the TED discussion group to start me on my own list--and began adding from there. I offer the start of my list to you to get you started.  I would love to hear what YOUR favorites are too. 

'What music would awaken your warm memories and exuberant emotions?'

Sunshine on my Shoulders

Annie's Song

Mr Tambourine Man

Singing in the Rain

This Land is Your Land

Fly Me to the Moon

Blowin' in the Wind

Louis Armstrong's It's a Wonderful World

Time of your Life

Amazing Grace

Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Somewhere over the Rainbow

You Raise me Up

Stand by Me

Wednesday Morning, 3 am

Brazillian Music

Brazil 66--Night and Day

The Power of One Soundtrack 

Canon in D by Pachabel

Handel's Hallelujah Chorus 

I never tire of hearing Susan Boyle in her debut performance. What an inspiration!

I Dreamed a Dream sung by Susan Boyle 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnmbJzH93NU

This one was offered up by someone in the group. Do yourself a favorite and listen to it...it is incredible! 

"O Magnum Mysterium" by Morton Lauridsen

King's College Choir (Oxford)  Dec. 24th, 2009 choral performance: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ch7uottHU

Thank you to Phil MacNeill, Director at PRMAC Consulting and Research for posting the question 'If you had to choose just one song to sustain you with happy memories for an eternity, what would that song be?' on the TED LinkedIn discussion group.

Check out  Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory on Netflix or go to link:  http://www.aliveinside.us/#land

Heart Art by Susan J Meyerott

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For more than 30 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before.

If you're interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the Lightarted Living mailing list. Sign up for free e-mail updates from this blog in the top right-hand corner of the page.

A Tribute to the Bee Charmer

My Father--The Bee Charmer

'Seeing only what is fair, sipping only what is sweet--leave the chaff, and take the wheat.' Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'The Humble-Bee'

The Humble Bee

Our father, 'Daddy' passed away September 4th, 2014. Like Emerson's 'humble-bee' he graced us with his humble yet dynamic presence for 98 years. 

Despite his powerful work persona--leading research in high energy physics and working with the Atomic Energy Commission and on the Manhattan Project--at home, he presented a quiet, unassuming image in his torn 20-year old flannel shirts, grease stained pants and straw hat with the front cut open 'for proper aeration'. 

When he arrived home from work he'd transition from his 'Roland Edward Meyerott' role to his 'Daddy/Rollie' role by changing his impeccable suits for his casual clothes and going straight out to spend time by himself tending the organic garden, animals and bees. I loved to greet him when he came home so I could check his pockets for brewer's yeast tablets.

The Bee Charmer

One of his many roles was that of the family Bee Charmer--he was the keeper of bees, collector of honey, and nurturer of the family hive. He kept beehives humming for 60 plus years, and his own family hive humming for 98 years.  

As a 'systems-thinker' Daddy had his system for everything. Perhaps that's why he admired and kept bees. Beehives can house 60,000 bees, collect 66 lbs of pollen a year, and are the model of system and organization. 

Raising Worker Bees

Perhaps Daddy modeled his own family hive on the beehive: 

'Honeybees represent a highly organized society, with various bees having very specific roles during their lifetime: e.g., nurses, guards, grocers, housekeepers, construction workers, royal attendants, undertakers, foragers, etc.'

He wanted a large 'hive' and certainly made sure his worker bees were kept busy and organized. 

The Bee Charmer taught us to be worker bees--industrious beings who make the world a sweeter place for others through our personal magic, diligence and dedication to the hive.

Growing up I didn't give much thought to how intimately bee culture was woven into our family's language and experience, but it was always present. 

Today in honor of the passing of our Bee Charmer, Daddy, I am sharing with you the collection of bee memories created by YOU that make me stop and think about 'our father who art now in heaven' (with his queen bee) that helped our hive keep humming and thriving. 

Please keep sending me your BEE related pictures, photos and memories. 

'Bee on Clover' photography by Sean Royce

Bee Happy--Bee Free--Bee Sweet

Memory: Do you remember as kids, when we walked into the kitchen or hot house, we'd see a fresh batch of honeycomb in a colander separating the honey from the comb? We'd walk by, break off a piece of honey-filled comb to pop into our mouth and let the sweetness of clover honey melt in our mouth. 

Memory: Do you remember when we weren't allowed to use sugar or syrup when we could use honey? I grew up taking bees and the honey they produced for granted because it was so plentiful in our home.

'Men of experiment are like the ant; they only collect and use. But the bee gathers its materials from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own.' Leonardo Da Vinci

The Queen Bee, Moo

'His labor is a chant, His idleness a tune; Oh, for a bee's experience of clovers and of noon!' Emily Dickinson



 Honey--Sweet as can be!

Mind Your Own Beeswax!

Emma forgot and was stung on the nose.

'To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.' William H Walton

Oh Bee-Have

Ain't Mis-Bee Hiving

'There is no bee without the sting; cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless.' Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Bee Still

'What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.' Pericles

Just Bee

'The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart: The secret anniversaries of the heart.' Henry Wadsworth Longfellow