Almost all my life, persons have wondered how I came to have and maintain great memory – like that of an elephant. I started browsing the internet online for articles, and was pleasantly surprised that habits I’ve had for years are the main contributors to improving one’s memory.
What’s even more interestin is that the tools are mostly about, on, from, relating to the Arts – literary, performing, visual and culinary skills.
Here are the top ten on any list, and I am guilty of practicing all except one consistently.
I do not consistently sleep the full quota of hours as recommended, and that makes me lacking the habit of sleeping well. Ahh well, from experience I realise this is critical and most if not all times when I sleep only for very few hours, I really do not remember as well as I usually do. Nonetheless, it’s very easy to get back in great memory shape.
Here is the top ten:

  • Eat LOTS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES – I inherited one habit above any other from my family members on both sides – an addiction to fruits, vegetables, herbs. Top fruits and vegetables to assist in memory improvement are peas, carrots, callaloo, spinach, the greens
  • DOODLE
  • Join a club, preferrably a BOOK CLUB
  • Take photographs – The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY in any form, on any subject fascinates me. My maternal grandfather’s last gift to me before he died was a Yashika 35mm camera, and that heartful gesture I’ll never forget. I did earn as a professional photographer
  • LEARN A SONG as often as you can. Most of us learn easier when we learn in a tune or with some form of visual aid. growing up, I had to learn lots of songs as my church was popularly known as a singing church, and my maternal family members were all so very talented in singing, music, composing.
  • Challenging GAMES -especially games which stimulate learning and creativity – maths, a language all of its own, is still my favourite subject. Still games well illustrated and relating to arts, maths, literary skills are just superbly blissful.
  • READING – Oh I never loved reading, but I read to survive. When I had to read, I made sure I remembered as much as I could just so I wouldn’t have to read again. For sure I never did put books down until I read it all either, because I just hated reading. What made it better are the days we had to memorise works such as the Bible for recitals, compositions and DRAMA PRODUCTIONS
  • Sniff ROSEMARY – my mom always cultivated gardens of herbs, fruits wherever we lived. Among the herbs she had rosemary, which we all loved and consumed in one way or another. Other helpful herbs the home was never without, and well used were sage, parsely, thyme
  • Stay calm – take a CHILL PILL – some colours and ARTful activity does keep one calm, like listening to music, drawing, painting, and yes even cooking
  • EXCERCISE – I always loved, even taught swimming – it excercises all muscles
  • Sleep, SLEEP, and sleep some more – it’s almost as if my mind works overtime even when I am sleeping, so I often sleep in short measurements, but i’ve learnt the value of sleep being the only cure for lack of sleep enough to make the short segments add up daily

Check out these articles:
Improving memory
Photographic memory
10 tricks to improving your memory
70 ways to improve your brain power