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Memory and what I want to remember (supermemo)

November 18, 2008 in Treasure Chest of Useful Information | No comments

I just finished reading a fascinating article about memory at Wired magazine by Gary Wolf.

Are you interested in memory? Whenever I see ads for memory systems, I’m never interested. It looks incredibly boring and the processes themselves usually involve detailed information that I would need to learn and remember.

On the other hand, I have journaled for many years and let me tell you: I have learned the same things many times. It would have been simpler if I could have remembered some of what I learned the first time. Plus, looking back at my school days, it is kind of sad to realize that so much of that truly enriching knowledge that I learned with some effort does not belong to me anymore.

Apparently, there is a better way. Piotr Wozniak created software called SuperMemo that reminds you of what you have learned at just the right time. From Wired magazine:

SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you’ve learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you’ve forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you’re about to forget. Unfortunately, this moment is different for every person and each bit of information. Imagine a pile of thousands of flash cards. Somewhere in this pile are the ones you should be practicing right now. Which are they?

Fortunately, human forgetting follows a pattern. We forget exponentially. A graph of our likelihood of getting the correct answer on a quiz sweeps quickly downward over time and then levels off. This pattern has long been known to cognitive psychology, but it has been difficult to put to practical use. It’s too complex for us to employ with our naked brains.

Twenty years ago, Wozniak realized that computers could easily calculate the moment of forgetting if he could discover the right algorithm. SuperMemo is the result of his research. It predicts the future state of a person’s memory and schedules information reviews at the optimal time. The effect is striking.

It kind of freaked me out when Piotr Wozniak, the inventor of SuperMemo, said that we will only be able to learn and remember a couple million new pieces of information in our lifetime. Panic! Must hurry and learn! Then he said, choose what is important to you to learn and I calmed down. Here is what is most important to me to learn and remember:

  1. How to be happy
  2. How to communicate and interact well and beautifully and kindly and lovingly and joyfully with other humans.
  3. How to cook
  4. How to make and participate in music
  5. How to be healthy
  6. How to dance
  7. How to learn

I’m already fairly good at learning, and I’m good at finding information. I naturally use the reading method Piotr Wozniak suggests. (I read many books at the same time, coming back to each over and over. I agree that reading that way enhances creativity.) But even though I’m a naturally good learner, I forget a lot. This only really becomes obvious to me this when I look back and see what I used to know.

I downloaded some Supermemo like software, but it wasn’t a breeze to use. I’d like a way to email myself reminders about what I want to remember. I’ll let you know if I find something that works elegantly.

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Much Love: This week shows why I love The Bachelor

April 22, 2008 in Best Library | No comments

Ok, when I started watching The Bachelor at the beginning of the season, I’m like, why am I watching this? And every time I watch, I feel like a sick, sick puppy who is only ingraining bad, bad ideas from this culture more firmly in my head.

But then comes this one redeeming week. So, The Bachelor, for the wise uninitiated, is this show where they take one guy and 25 women and week after week he whittles down the women from twenty five to one. Da, da, da! You can see how it is just the worst version of the Cinderella story ever. Why do I watch this crap?!

Oh yeah, this week. So, this week, he is down to four women and he gets to visit their families. I should really just watch “The Hometown visit” episodes. I guess what I like about these visits is that their families are always so important to the people. So, during the earlier shows, you see a lot of posing, a la high school, but when people go home, you can really see them being genuine and genuinely caring about their families. Also, their families usually look and act like normal people which is rare to see on TV. I just find it touching.

So, although I DON’T recommend the Bachelor. I do recommend this week’s home town date episode!! Look at the cute families! See how the one dad says that he married his best friend and that’s the best you can do. CUTE!

I want to find me my best friend. (said in a Colorada accent) Where are you best friend? I promise I won’t make you watch the Bachelor with me.

The Bachelor, episode 6. (Skip the earlier ones. They might make you hurl.)

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Are these more Realistic Affirmations?

March 14, 2008 in Best Library, Treasure Chest of Useful Information | 1 comment

I just read a really interesting book called Awaken Your Strongest Self by Neil Fiore. It’s a little strange on first glance but I bought it based on the amazingness of his last book The Now Habit which is a highly lauded book about how to overcome procrastination. I read it before my last semester of grad school and the method he suggested really worked for me

In his new book, he talks about how the different parts of our brain can work together in harmony. There are a few ideas in his book that I’d tweak and some additional information I think would be useful to add that I might talk about in another post. He suggests a lot of homework that I haven’t done yet, so I can’t speak to the effectiveness of this program. I have hung a lot of the affirmations he suggests up in my house and I’m beginning to see the value and wisdom of them.

In his book, he says that, among other parts, we have the emotional legacy of our baby self who had limitless possibilities and was all powerful. About typical affirmations that say that anything is possible he says, do you really want your two year old self running the show? Hmmm… Read below to see they type of statements he suggests you tell yourself.

AWAKEN YOUR STRONGEST SELF: Speaking from Your Higher Brain*
Neil Fiore, PhD

When you, from the perspective and roles of your Strongest Self, speak these compassionate statements to the frightened and overwhelmed parts of you, you can:

  • Create inner peace by connecting your identity to something stronger and wiser than your ego
  • Transition to a new, robust self-image
  • Access support and strength to cope with changing situations and relationships
  • Reduce the stress and anxiety of struggling alone, separated from your True Self
  • Empower yourself with the protective role, higher perspective, and compassionate voice of your Strongest Self

The following inner dialogue is more powerful than typical affirmations because you are speaking to a part of you that is separated from your larger support system and, therefore, is easily overwhelmed and stressed. You are empowered to protect and guide the parts that have limited––and out-dated––ways of coping with life. You, from your new perspective, can shift to an expanded identity that empowers you to protect your body and smaller “selves” and guide them toward inner peace.

In the compassion voice of your Strongest Self, you replace stress with safety and
connection by saying:

  • Regardless of what happens in life, your worth is always safe with me.
  • Regardless of what you can or cannot do, you are always worthwhile.
  • Regardless of whether you win or lose, you deserve love, pleasure, and freedom from self-criticism.
  • Regardless of what happens to you, you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I will always respect my life and my body.
  • Regardless of who stays or who goes, I am on my side. I will never abandon you. [My tweak: "... I will always stay with you."]
  • Regardless of how healthy or ill you become, I appreciate the effort, wisdom, and protection given me by you, my body and my spirit.
  • Regardless of how negative or intense your emotions, I acknowledge their validity for you, and I accept them completely. I am strong enough to be with your emotions. [My tweak: "Regardless of how positive, negative, intense or mild..."]
  • Regardless of how uncomfortable others are with you, your feelings or your body, I will always accept you and remain at peace with you. [My tweak: "Regardless of how comfortable..."]
  • Regardless of what happens in life, and regardless of your problems, I accept you and love you completely.
  • Regardless of the health or weakness of my body, I can always heal my spirit.

*Adapted from Awaken Your Strongest Self [McGraw-Hill, 2006] and
Coping with the Emotional Impact of Cancer (BayTree, 2008)

© Neil Fiore, Ph.D., 1998-2007 All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or
distribute so long as this copyright notice and the full contact information listed below attached.
Neil Fiore, PhD, 1496 Solano Ave., Albany, CA 94706 voice: 510/ 525-2673
www.neilfiore.com www.yourstrongestself.com E-mail: neil@neilfiore.com

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