Thought Processes

As I’ve gotten older, I find myself sometimes not being able to remember things as well as I could when I was younger. I’ll be thinking about something and then someone will ask me that exact thing, and my mind will forget what it’s called for a minute and I’m stuck and feeling stupid.

Most of the time, I will remember things relatively quickly because I’ve worked hard on setting up proper thought processes to help me get through these things. It’s something that I never did when I was younger and had a better memory, and yet it often helps me find and figure things out better than I could when I was younger.

For instance, these days I sometimes forget why I’ve walked into another room. I know I had something on my mind before I left the original room, but my mind was thinking about other things almost immediately, and it’s suddenly not there. I have found that if I just retrace my steps, even if I have to go back to the exact spot I left, it will come to me and I can proceed in going for what I wanted in the first place. It’s a thought process I’ve worked out that says to do everything I originally did but in reverse, in the exact order, and for whatever reason that seems to work. My mind can remember where my body was almost in perfect order; how’s that for surprising?

The reason that’s better than when I was younger is because back then my memory was so sharp on other things that I didn’t have to worry that if I walked into a room I wouldn’t remember why I was there. I didn’t forget the name of such and such singer who I’ve only seen once, or had heard the name and recalled it for no reason whatsoever. Things just went into my mind automatically, and I remembered them. However, if I lost something, I would have a heck of a time in finding it. That’s because I relied on my memory for so many other things, I hadn’t thought back then about training myself to learn how to retrace my steps. That caused a lot more consternation, because we all know that sometimes we lose things when we don’t know we’re losing them, such as when things fall out of your pocket or might slip behind cushions.

At a certain point, we all need to learn how to do certain things to help ourselves out. I tend to write more things down these days to help me when I forget something for a few minutes. I used to remember every phone number I’d ever heard, but I now have to write them down. I set alarms on my watch and on my cell phone to alert me to things because recall just isn’t what it used to be. All of these things help, and anything that helps is a good thing.

Have you had to find ways to alter your life to help your thought processes go better? Do you need help in learning ways to help yourself? Share your thoughts.