Memory is so seductive, elusive, uncanny, frustrating, useful, amazing, deceptive, unreliable (and yet essential. We can't live without it). And then it haunts us when we sleep, so it is cautionary, foreboding, forthcoming and forecasting, suspicious, unavoidable, insistent, maddening, manipulative, imaginative, frightening and soothing, provocative, satisfying and so much more.
As a P
T
S
D sufferer, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), I can safely say I have a love hate relationship with my own memory. When PTSD kicks in its hard to tame not only the trigger memory but everything else of a challenging nature, a kind of tail spin mind racing at 100 mph. The flip side is that I am mostly extremely sensitive to others, a kind of hyper awareness that is generally helpful (and not always).
In a more general day to day existence, I've come to the conclusion that open-mindedness to my own error factor is useful. I think I have remembered something correctly but I haven't. Like... Here's a hypothetical example of something I am perfectly capable of: I left my keys on the table. They are no where to be found. I might have blamed someone I love for moving them (sorry Melissa). In the end, I discover I left them under a pile of laundry on an armchair. Some people have a very hard time accepting that memory has tricked them and they are wrong about facts they thought were correct. I used to be one of those people. But I've learned my lessons. I'm often wrong (and that's OK), though more often than wrong I am right (I think). I am toying with the idea of joining the tattoo circuit. Really its a fantasy. I want a wristwatch tattooed on my left wrist, so that I always know exactly what time it is.
As a P
T
S
D sufferer, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), I can safely say I have a love hate relationship with my own memory. When PTSD kicks in its hard to tame not only the trigger memory but everything else of a challenging nature, a kind of tail spin mind racing at 100 mph. The flip side is that I am mostly extremely sensitive to others, a kind of hyper awareness that is generally helpful (and not always).
In a more general day to day existence, I've come to the conclusion that open-mindedness to my own error factor is useful. I think I have remembered something correctly but I haven't. Like... Here's a hypothetical example of something I am perfectly capable of: I left my keys on the table. They are no where to be found. I might have blamed someone I love for moving them (sorry Melissa). In the end, I discover I left them under a pile of laundry on an armchair. Some people have a very hard time accepting that memory has tricked them and they are wrong about facts they thought were correct. I used to be one of those people. But I've learned my lessons. I'm often wrong (and that's OK), though more often than wrong I am right (I think). I am toying with the idea of joining the tattoo circuit. Really its a fantasy. I want a wristwatch tattooed on my left wrist, so that I always know exactly what time it is.
For a really comprehensive, fascinating exploration into the study of memory, The Art of Memory (photo at the top of this entry), is the book to read. It's nothing less than extraordinary. Frances Yates (1899-1981), spent her life researching esoteric history, teaching at the Warburg Institute in London. I discovered her through researching the life of the Renaissance philosopher, astrologer, mathematician and Dominican friar, Giordano Bruno and his incredible memory boxes. This is a fantastic book that will lead you on a never ending journey of discovery. Her equally brilliant sister was responsible for The Globe Theatre's eventual reconstruction.
Fin
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a•nom•a•ly |əˈnäməlē|
noun ( pl. -lies)
1 something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected : there are a number of anomalies in the present system | a legal anomaly | [with clause ] the apparent anomaly that those who produced the wealth were the poorest | the position abounds in anomaly.
2 Astronomy the angular distance of a planet or satellite from its last perihelion or perigee.
ORIGIN late 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek anōmalia, from anōmalos (see anomalous ).
mem•or•y |ˈmem(ə)rē|
noun ( pl. -ries)
1 a person's power to remember things : I've a great memory for faces | my grandmother is losing her memory.
• the power of the mind to remember things : the brain regions responsible for memory.
• the mind regarded as a store of things remembered : he searched his memory frantically for an answer.
• the capacity of a substance to return to a previous state or condition after having been altered or deformed. See also shape memory .
2 something remembered from the past; a recollection : one of my earliest memories is of sitting on his knee | the mind can bury all memory of traumatic abuse.
• the remembering or recollection of a dead person, esp. one who was popular or respected : clubs devoted to the memory of Sherlock Holmes.
• the length of time over which people continue to remember a person or event : the worst slump in recent memory.
3 the part of a computer in which data or program instructions can be stored for retrieval.
• capacity for storing information in this way : the module provides 16Mb of memory.
PHRASES
from memory without reading or referring to notes : each child was required to recite a verse from memory.
in memory of intended to remind people of, esp. to honor a dead person.
take a trip (or walk) down memory lane deliberately recall pleasant or sentimental memories.
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French memorie, from Latin memoria, from memor ‘mindful, remembering.’
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