Yeah, that’s what I’m doing, and I’m finding that the act of writing down the information is helpful in itself in getting the tasks into my memory. Reminds me of the stuff about medieval illuminated manuscripts I read in Memory Craft, and maybe I will try to embellish the journal a bit (even though I have no artistic ability whatsoever).
In other memory-training news, I’m up to 42 digits in my number-memory training, and it’s pretty easy. Much easier than word memory, which is at 16 words and still slipping at times. I think I lack imagination in making truly memorable mental images, or don’t concentrate on them long enough to really get them in there.
I’ve decided that my mental bullet journal project shall be called “Bullet in my Head”. Though at this point, it’s still a bullet in my notebook - I haven’t figured out exactly what the organizational process will be on a daily basis, so I am still experimenting.
Next week, I will also increase my word-memory exercises to add some new memory palaces to my collection, so that I have enough room for the mental bullet journal. I will need at least three lists, and possibly more.
For most of my mental-diary project, I had had to use an actual calendar to look at, as a lukasa. In January, after about 200 days or so, I noticed that I no longer required one. I am not exactly visualizing a calendar in my head, but I imagine myself stepping through the calendar and starting on a new row for each new week.
I have now, and it’s fascinating - thanks! It reminds me of the Chain of Self-Command system. I think it makes a perfect complement to the bullet journal, and I am now trying it out as such.
So far, this is all still on paper, but I am getting a clearer idea of what it would look like as a mnemonic system instead, and I think it’s entirely doable with 3-4 memory palaces and a regular review ritual.
I’ve been really liking the notecard system so far, and probably will give it one more week before I start getting it into memory instead of writing. Really, I think that what I might want to do is keep three lists in my head: a calendar (which I already do), a list of ongoing projects, each associated with a status or task, and a list of things to do today. That seems to be the workflow for my bullet journal, and it sounds eminently doable with three memory palaces. Pondering where to put it all.
Yeah, I read that book, though I do my calendar differently - I just use my Dominic Number tags to attach to the events and have a morning review ritual for upcoming events for each month. My past dates are a separate review ritual, twice a day. This works for me. I just need a good task-list method so I can keep myself organized, and I kinda think that might need to be stuffed into a different memory palace.
It doesn’t need to be a very fancy regular walk. I managed to stuff quite a bit of my History Walk into a flat, boring suburban park - every tree is different and each tree could hold quite a bit of info.
I actually want to stuff something more interesting than my to-do list into my current walk, which takes me through a lot of little suburban streets; every house is different and every tree is different, and I bet this walk could actually hold quite a bit of information. I’m not sure what that information should be, though. Probably some sort of Spanish vocabulary.
I think the way he works it is you stand on the top of the hill and see the current month in front of you and past month behind you.
Memory Craft explains the author’s set up which works like that and I have been trying to plan my round the block routes. Weirdly the way my location works I have a whole series of routes that start and end at my house of various lengths.
I’m still in love with this thread. It’s so much fun reading your progress. Even if you’ve stopped now, I think you could make money writing up a testimonial/book and then selling it. I think the most enjoyable part for the general audience would be how much this stuff is helping your adorable daughter, and how intense the evidence is that this is so much better for education than sitting in a classroom, not being allowed to move or sing or express yourself.
Ha. I have slowed down, true, because I’m trying to reduce Internet use in general (another part of the un-stupiding project, not related to memory training). I’m still not sure if I should except this forum from the “No Internet Except on the Sabbath” rule or not. I might.
As for a book, I wish I had the slightest scintilla of writing talent. Alas, my writing ability only extends to legal briefs.
But that said, I love what memory training has done for my life - especially the autobiographical-memory project. I am at 239 days now. It’s all still there. I’m definitely reaping the practical benefits - for example, I knew exactly when my last COVID vaccination was without having to look it up. But that’s the least important part of it. My head now contains so many little moments of my life - little snapshots - that would otherwise have been gone forever. If I forget what happens in the third act of Hamlet, I can always go back to the book and look it up again. But if I forget the unusual cloud formation I saw in the sky two weeks ago or the cute thing my daughter said last Tuesday, that image is lost forever. I’m never getting it back.
And it makes me sad, just a bit, to think of all the images and stories from my life that really are now gone forever. There’s no way to get them back now.
I do have to admit that I’ve slacked off a bit on the rest of my memory training (though I use the Dominic numbers and PAO daily for my work, and find them tremendously useful). I do the daily word-memory and number-memory exercises and review the mental calendar, but that’s about it. So, temporarily in stasis mode. I’m pondering another classic book project, as soon as I decide what book to memorize, and maybe I’ll stuff that book into my current walk. I noticed that even though I haven’t reviewed it in forever, all of the Hamlet “tags” are still there - this songline stuff really works.
You can clearly write a book - you have been writing here and engaging all of us for ages! The secret is to talk to someone who represents your audience. I even use voice recognition software to get the first pass down and then edit and edit.
The clever literary books don’t sell nearly as well as those written by people who can just talk in words and get those words on paper.
@LynneKelly
Dr. Kelly, I won’t lie to you. I’m having a bit of trouble. Been studying Memory Craft for a few months. Trying to understand everything. I got most of it, and I’m experimenting, combining things and what not. But… I… think I’m still missing something. Now, I’m fairly dull and possibly a bit autistic, so I might just be too stupid to ever properly wrap my head around the stuff. But I won’t give up. Now, I’m gonna ask some questions, amd whether or mot they even make sense to ask in the first place is uncertain. You might be able answer them though, so I’m just gonna leave them here just in case:
Is possible to turn the core concepts of a book into mythology? I understand memory method and facts and lists, but like, a book has much ramblier structure and lots of fluff, compared to like, a dictionary. How do you, like… convert… that…???
What exactly are rapscallions, and how exactly do they differ from your ancestors? How do you USE them? I’m still confused on that even after reading the chapters.
How do you implement singing in the stuff? And dance? I think my imagination probably just really sucks. But I have trouble coming up with anything memorable or good in regards to those.
Perhaps most importantly: how does layering work in a mind palace/songline? You’ve got your initial associations for each bird- now what? How do you remember that it was first discovered in blah and has ex amount of blah color on the blah, or that its beak is usually this long, or whatever?
I hope you’ll forgive my ignorance and stupidity. And God bless you for the work you do and have done.
You should remove the negative from your life. There is some really interesting research into the negative voice in your head and it not actually being you. It easier to look at things you find hard from a foundation of success.
Dominic O’Brien was dyslexic and he uses a letter system that I cannot understand. I am also dyslexic and would never have developed that system however ignoring them actual made it harder to use. I still do not use fully as he uses phonics and I cannot use them at all.
You are sort of giving a perfect example of why I recommend “How to Develop a Perfect Memory” by Dominic O’Brien as the first book to read. It more of a guide to the base techniques.
Memory Craft is more immediate and it helps to know the basics a little first I think.
Mythology or stories in general are part of the process you are looking for. One of the things Memory Code has left me with is that I keep thinking about fairy tales or myths and what they are trying to teach.
Not sure how they work however everything is some sort of journey so they seem to be some sort of Lukasa which you journey from point to point on. The problem we Europeans have is that most of our memory history has been destroyed so we are left with glimpses like all the tales of gods and guessing what they are trying to tell us.
As the only way I know the alphabet is from the song so it does work however I have no musical ability so no idea how to work that in.
Dance is for movement and the example used is animal behaviour and hunting. The Malaysian marital arts group called Silat has a dance/music component which you can see in a lot of descriptions and some tradition dances still. Trying to write a movement is hard to impossible so making it part of a dance makes sense.
My understanding is that this is the point of the story component in that you build a story based on the information.
Dr Lynne has put up with me so I think your golden. Really looking forward to the next book.
I think you are working too hard at using the techniques and finding a purpose rather than having a task and seeking the best method. You are not stupid! But as Minotaur said, that negative self-talk can make you so. You wouldn’t be asking these types of very good questions if you were stupid.
This depends entirely on the book - it is a text book, non-fiction, fiction? I would possibly use different techniques for each because of the sort of structure in the book. For most things I would use a memory palace - I like nice long walking ones. One concept per location.
You have a right to be confused because, being particularly intelligent, you have detected a subtlety which reflects my confusion on these aspects. Again, I think the problem is that you are overthinking it. I use the term ‘ancestors’ when talking about the historical characters I feel I learn from, to reflect Indigenous methods. But it would be offensive to my Indigenous colleagues to use the term ‘ancestors’ when I make up amusing or otherwise fantasy characters for other purposes. When I use these in schools, I can’t call them ‘ancestors’ without getting into trouble with my Indigenous colleagues. So we came up with another name, and that’s ‘rapscallions’.
Are they different from ‘ancestors’? Not really. They are both characters used in stories to help make information memorable. No dull person could ask for that level of clarification!
Whenever I need to add a story to knowledge to make it memorable, I either use a character I already have - might be an ancestor, might be one of my Dominic Systems characters, it might be a new one. I don’t think about what category they are in, I just add characters. At the moment, I am working with a group of characters I use for memorising vocabulary in Chinese. I haven’t thought about whether they are ancestors (nah!) or rapscallions (yeah, I guess so) - they are just my Chinese characters.
So just create or chose a character whenever you need one to make a story to make something memorable. Start with what you want to remember, not with trying to use a specific technique. I use characters in every technique - and more so than I did when I wrote Memory Craft.
MagicallyDelicious (I can’t get the quote thing to work properly) How do you implement singing in the stuff? And dance? I think my imagination probably just really sucks. But I have trouble coming up with anything memorable or good in regards to those.
I sing things which are just lists or small pieces of knowledge. So I sing the countries in Africa in order clockwise around the country. Then I have another song for the Balkans. This means that I know where countries are because of which song they are in. And I have the relationship to their nearest neighbours. But I also have the countries in a memory palace, because I can add lots more information to locations.
I sing kids’ songs from the internet - colours in Chinese, for example. If I want to make up a song, I use a tune I know well because I am very unmusical. I use nursery rhymes. Unlike Indigenous cultures, I don’t tend to use songs very much. I am much better at memory palaces. As for dance - I just add actions to match what I am singing - it just makes them more memorable. I can’t do performances like Indigenous cultures do because I am not in that sort of community.
That’s all done with stories. The bird has to become a character / ancestor / rapscallion - someone you know well. It becomes a human-like bird for the sake of the story. The more you get to know your characters - the bird - as a personality - the easier it becomes to add to their story, just as you do with a person as you get to know them.
I have 23 characters which act as the initials for Chinese characters. b=bird, c = czar c is pronounced ts like in tsar!), d=dragon … I have put a lot of work into making those 23 very distinct personalities. My bird loves his long tail feathers and colours, my czar is angry and superior, my dragon is an absolute darling, but has a tendency to breathe fire … I have actions for the rest of the syllable (Chinese works on a limited number of syllables, this won’t work for other languages). So, for example, -ian is doing magic, from magician. dian (you need the tone too, but we’ll ignore that here) is electricity. So in my mind, electricity is dragon magic. My dragon is very proud of himself when he does magic.
The dragon magic happens at a particular location in the memory palace. I can now add computers and phones, TVs and movies - because these are all words which include dian as electricity. My dragon’s story is growing as I incorporate more and more about electric devices in Chinese. I’m layering on the initial location and concept.
I hope that makes sense.
MagicallyDelicious: I hope you’ll forgive my ignorance and stupidity.
Only if you promise to work on that negative voice and tell it to get lost! It is so wrong about you.
I think I’d need a bit more memory accomplishments before writing any sort of book. As mentioned, I’ve slacked off on quite a bit of my memory training, and really need to get back on the horse (for both me and my daughter - I haven’t made her memorize any poetry lately). I’m honestly not too thrilled with the use of memory techniques for language learning - I find that the best way for me to learn languages is implicitly through lots of immersion and repetition, and mnemonics just get in the way.
I think I might memorize a poem or two, and then find another classic book to stuff into my head. Not sure what book to pick quite yet.
Isn’t it fascinating how different we are as individuals when using these techniques? My current obsession is language learning. I could probably do some immersion with French and am nowhere near as dependent on the mnemonics. But that wouldn’t even get me started with Chinese. There is a lot of research showing that almost no-one from an English speaking background keeps going with Chinese unless they have some kind of background and exposure to it. In one of the classes I do - the other one is self-paced - we had about 40 people first semester, 15 last semester and 3 this semester. The other two have some exposure previously which means they have some hooks already. I couldn’t do it without my memory palaces and other memory techniques.