Techniques for Improving Memory - 1

 

Now that we understand what memory is, let's look at various ways in which you can enhance or boost your memory powers.

There are various ways. Let's talk!

1. Using more senses:

Usually information about anything reaches us through one or more sensory organs. To enhance the information in your memory better, attempt to utilize additional sensory organs to hard wire that information.

e.g. If you are hear something and want to remember it better, there are a few things that you can do. First and foremost, is to write it down, obviously. Ideally, write it down using a pen and diary, not type it. The physical involvement of your hands will serve as an additional enhancer to the memory.  Secondly, say it, as you are writing it down, audibly enough so that you can hear it in your own voice. And lastly look at it in your own handwriting, don't just read but look at the geometrical pattern the word/s make. And then read it again.

Similarly, attempt to use your other sensory organs as well to associate them with certain information or events.

And that's the second way of enhancing memory, which is,

2. Association:

Associate multiple things with each other to create a hook or anchor. You can either create pairs or groups of associations. Names with faces, popular culture, historical references, locations, humor and any area of personal liking for you; are good ideas for creating these associations.

e.g. If you meet someone called Steve, you might create an association with his face and that of Captain America's (Steve Rogers, for the uninitiated) and you'll probably remember his name forever, if you are a Marvel Fan!

There are some more ways... we shall discuss as we progress!

Ciao!!

Memory Defined and Rejigged!!

 

Let's talk about Memory.

Memory,  in my opinion, is the ability to remember and retrieve information that you have gathered through experiences. I am in an internal struggle to add a third R to it as well ... let me know your thoughts about it!!

So I'm rejigging my opinion to redefine Memory as the ability to Remember, Retrieve and Represent, the information that you have gathered through experiences.

Most people feel that Memory is just being able to remember information. I, however, am inclined to put the other 2 R's in the definition as I think they are an critical part of the memory abstract.

So, a person can claim to have strong memory if all 3 aspects are strong suits for him or her.

1. Remember - This involves storage of the information that has been gathered through experience. If we liken ourselves to a computer, then the data that we have gathered needs to be stored in a drive. This drive is the Human body. And I'm not just saying the brain, but the entire body since muscle memory plays a large part in this.

2. Retrieval - Now that you have stored the information gathered, you will need to find again, or else it does not matter. At times we face this issue, where we think we remember something but aren't able to grasp it. That's a "On the tip of my tongue" moment.

3. Represent - This is something that everyone might not agree, is a part of memory, as long as the information is internally remembered and retrieved. The reason I am strongly inclined to place it along with the others as part of memory, is because without being able to represent facts or thoughts to the external world in a suitable manner for any benefit, the stored, remembered and retrieved data is eventually as good as forgotten!

Happy Birthday Zubin!!

Ciao!

Intelligence & Memory

 

Moving back to Emotional Intelligence...

Now that we have gotten the basic idea of what Emotions are let us move to the second word, 'Intelligence'!

Intelligence can simply be defined as the ability of a human being to learn something. This may be in terms of knowledge or skills. 

Knowledge pertain to gaining information about any thing i.e. the WHAT aspect. 

Skill pertains to gaining understanding of the process of the activity, i.e. the HOW aspect.

How well and how quickly an individual learns depends on how 'Intelligent' the person is. The level or intensity of the intelligence depends on how much the individual has applied his brain during his/her own  developmental phase of life.

The Intelligence of a person grows till he/she is about 15 years of age and then remains more or less constant for the rest of his/her life.

To be more detailed, Intelligence involves  lot of things and leads to positive results in a lot of aspects. It could be logical reasoning, problem solving, decision making, abstract thinking, language ability, mathematics and so on. The more intelligent you are the better you may be at the above things. 

You will also find individuals who have different levels of "Intelligences" for the various things listed above since Intelligence is more of a abstract working of the Brain than a clear cut mechanical mathematical calculation.

How much you are Intelligent, doing "what", will depend on the experience that an individual has gone through in the early stage of his or her life.

The exact working of the Brain is still filled with a lot of Mystery!

Memory on the other hand is a completely different skill and should not be confused with Intelligence. Yes, the Intelligence of a person might help improving memory, however they are two different skillsets. And we'll talk more about this in the forthcoming articles.

Ciao!!

The Five Senses & Synesthesia

 

In the previous article, we mentioned the senses. Let us process that.

Every human being has 5 sensory organs that carry the stimulus to the brain to produce an emotion and thereafter a feeling when it gets processed through thought. 

These 5 organs are responsible for the sense that we feel - 

1. Visual - What we 'See' through our 'Eyes'

2. Auditory - What we 'Hear' through our 'Ears'

3. Olfactory - What we 'Smell' through our 'Nose'

4. Gustatory - What we 'Taste' through our 'Tongue and Oral Cavity'

5. Tactile - What we physically 'Feel' through our 'Skin'

Any stimulus that is generated external to our bodies is received by the receptor cells of these organs and transmitted to our brain through the pathway of nerves or nerve cells. These pathways reach the Amygdala first, before they reach the pre-frontal cortex. And that's the reason our first reaction to everything external to ourselves is always Emotional.

That is something you cannot control. What you can control however, is how you choose to respond to these external stimuli. This is done by thinking, understanding and evaluating your choices of actions to be taken based on the situation and the time.

So respond... Do not react!!

Synesthesia

One additional thing I'd like to talk about here is the ability known as Synesthesia! This condition takes all the above and mixes it up. It is a rare ability in which our sensory organs experience each other. When you have the ability of synesthesia you are able to experience some of your senses through the non-respective sensory organs. This may be due to cross wiring of the nervous transmissions. 

For example, you hear shapes, you see tastes and so on. This is immediate and automatic and does not take any effort. It is more like a sixth sense and I'm sure it would be an interesting experience. Please be aware though, that this is not a disease or a disorder. It is, like I mentioned earlier, an ability that certain unique individuals are blessed to have!

Emotions & Feelings

 

Let us begin by understanding the difference between Emotions and Feelings. We tend to think that are the same and tend to use them interchangeably.

The difference lies between where the two arise. Emotions originate in the body whereas feelings originate in the mind. Let me explain...

Emotions are bodily functions that are immediate and arise as reactions to a stimulus. The origin is a little organ in our middle brain known as the Amygdala. They are based on the fight, flight or freeze reaction hardwired in us through evolution. They are automatic and cannot be controlled.

                                                                

Feelings on the other hand arise as the end of the process of thinking. It occurs when we let the senses from our sensory organs move to the pre-frontal cortex or the thinking part of our upper brain. This requires a conscious effort of not letting the Amygdala taking control of us, our behaviors and our actions. Feelings are a response more than a reaction. 

So emotions are automatically felt, whereas feelings are consciously thought!

Oh Emotions!!

 

Emotions! What really are they and why are they so up and center in our lives?

The truth is that emotions are an inseparable part of human lives and aren't something you can ignore. But does one really understand what emotions really are? Let's discuss...

If you were asked to list out the emotions that you feel in a regular week, you'll be surprised to find that you may be able to list out a paltry list of very general emotions. And its not just you! Most people would sail in the same boat as you. 

Our experience with emotions has been a pretty long one and we know what these emotions do for you and to you. However, when listing them specifically we often fall short.

The reason that we are unable to identify emotions apart from these general ones is because we are really unable to identify the intensity in which we experience those emotions and identifying what to call them. So we end up listing - happy, sad, angry, afraid, ashamed, and so on...

Being able to identify emotions or being aware of one's emotions is just one part of the entire process of "Being Emotionally Intelligent", and beginning from now, as we end this year, I will try to demystify the concept of Emotional Intelligence and help you understand the importance and significance of it, through this series of articles

I'll leave you with the components of Emotional Intelligence, to think about before we begin the journey - 

So, in a nut shell, Emotional Intelligence is defined as our ability, 

1. To be Self Aware of our Emotions

2. To Manage our Emotions

3. To Understand People

4. To Manage our Relationships

More on the way!!

DreamAura Learning and Coaching Solutions

 

DreamAura Learning and Coaching Solutions

We are a Learning & Development Solutions and Life Coaching Firm.

We aim to enable people to have outrageous dreams and help them to make them true!

The founder of DreamAura is Mr. Siddharth Sathe.

His repertoire ranges from being a Hotelier to a Sailor, from dabbling in Operations, Sales, Quality Assurance & Training in BPOs, to Head Financial Organizations’ Training Teams and now the founder of a Learning and Coaching Solutions Firm.

With over 24 years of Professional experience and 45 years of life, he has learnt a lot from what life teaches. The desire to put these Learnings into transformation of others’ lives is what keeps him going every single moment. His professional expertise lies in Coaching, Training and Motivating, not necessarily in that order.

 But if we were to make a list of his skills sets, here goes -

1. Life Coaching & Motivational sessions –

a. Transformative Coaching

b. Values & Value system

c. Finding Purpose

d. Building Character & Personality

e. Being Proactive

f. Mission Statement

2. Skill Development –

a. Effectiveness Through Habits

b. Sales Management

c. Leadership development

d. Fanatical Customer Service

e. Communication skills

f. Listening Skills

g. E-mail Etiquettes

h. Workplace Etiquettes & Grooming

i. Time & Priority Management

j. Change Management

k. Stress Management

l. Conflict Management

3. Knowledge Development –

a. Emotional Intelligence

b. Financial Markets

c. Securities Markets

d. English Communication & Grammar

This is not an exhaustive list! Just a few examples! The list can go on and keeps lengthening every day as he strives to get better in his knowledge and skills. The Yearning for Learning is always alive!!!

We also channel through YouTube as Dreamaura. The link is as under, for you, to get a peek into what we have to offer –

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu61NMSItwXqX9BPrarPSqQ

To connect with us,

Call/ Whatsapp on 8850478830/9819049852

E-mail on

Siddharth.sathe162704@gmail.com

Dreamauralncsolutions@gmail.com

LinkedIn Bio - 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dreamaura/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharth-sathe-266aa123/

Detailed List of Programs Conducted

 

A.Behavioural & Leadership Trainings

 

1.       Situational Leadership Workshop

 

Workshop on Leadership Styles & Behaviours. Understanding Development Levels in the Employee Life cycle based on the Skill Will Matrix and the Behaviour Mix suited for impacting each kind of level. Discovering your unique Leadership style and adapting behaviours to suit your set of team members. Group session followed by customized one-on-one session for Leaders to understand their style and behaviour changes required for their teams.

 

Duration: 4 hours session followed by 1 hour session with individual participants

 

2.       SWOT Analysis

 

Session to help participants introspect and understand themselves better. A clearer understanding of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats make organizations and professionals more effective and result oriented.

 

Duration: 2 hours session followed by 1 hour session with individual participants

 

3.       Effectiveness Workshop

 

“Habits maketh the Man”

 

Workshop based on developing habits that ensure continual improvement in personal and professional life.

 

Duration: 2 Days

 

4.       The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace

 

Emotional Intelligence is defined as our ability,

1. To be Self Aware of our Emotions
2. To Manage our Emotions
3. To Understand People
4. To Manage our Relationships

 

Research in more than 500 organizations showed that EI accounts for more than 85 percent of outstanding performance. EI is a better predictor of top performance than IQ. EI is two times as important to effectiveness as IQ and technical expertise combined.

All these aspects make Emotional Intelligence an extremely important facet in life today. This session is designed to understand and practice Emotional Intelligence with Awareness.

 

Duration: 2 days

B.      Skill based Training

 

1.       Effective Communication skills

2.       Time and Priority Management

3.       Customer Delight – The Pathway to Success

4.       Sales Management

5.       Listening Skills

6.       E-mail Etiquettes

7.       Workplace Etiquettes and Grooming

8.       Change Management

 

C.      Knowledge based Trainings

 

1.       Financial and Securities Market

 

Equities, Derivatives, Commodities Currencies – Concepts, significance & benefits

Mutual Funds and SIPs

Various other Investment Avenues

Sales and Servicing of the above

 

2.       English Language Usage

 

One of the most common concerns for the modern Indian professional is fluency in English communication, verbal or written. It is often considered as a drawback and a cause of low confidence among professionals. This intervention would assist you gain a progressive command over the language to be able to communicate with confidence. The aspects covered would be understanding various parts of speech and their usage, understanding various tenses and their appropriate use and expansion in vocabulary.

 

D. Executive Coaching

 

An exclusive one-on-one Transformative Executive Coaching session based on the scientific coaching principles laid down by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)