It's a while since I've posted here, so this is to check in to say that this process of remembering every day that passes continues as I near the 7 year landmark on 17 December.
I continue to use the same methods discussed here to add memory tags to my mental calendar, reviewing the past month, morning and evening, and calling up a selection of days preceeding that. Sometimes I'll use a two or three-day window covering the same days of the week, such as Friday to Saturday of every week from January 2018.
Once I've covered the year over the course of a week, I might just take the same days of the months. Today being the 8th December, that would be the 8th and 9th of each month.
My technique for reviewing a selection of memory tags prior to that has become much more relaxed. I've been switching between sequential reviews, covering the whole period month by month until I reach the present day, then doing the same year by year in reverse: 2017, 2016, 2015 etc.
Other times, I'll take a month from each year, then cycle back to the beginning.
With over 2500 days, it might take me a couple of months to do the recall of the whole period in spare moments of time, out running, waiting in a queue, driving, etc.
I run through some sequences with ease, like a familiar song. Others seem as faded as they should be by the intervening years and there are taunting blanks on my mental calendar. But if ever I think this process has run its course, they come back to me, often flooding me with gratitude that I have not forgotten the events captured in the tags.
I fear it will become harder and harder as the review periods become longer. For a long time a month between reviews seemed the limit, but now I am stretching to two months.
Yet, such is the powerful feeling of reward when my synapses fire and an elusive image reasserts itself, I am hopeful that my brain will become better at doing this with time.
I continue to use the same methods discussed here to add memory tags to my mental calendar, reviewing the past month, morning and evening, and calling up a selection of days preceeding that. Sometimes I'll use a two or three-day window covering the same days of the week, such as Friday to Saturday of every week from January 2018.
Once I've covered the year over the course of a week, I might just take the same days of the months. Today being the 8th December, that would be the 8th and 9th of each month.
My technique for reviewing a selection of memory tags prior to that has become much more relaxed. I've been switching between sequential reviews, covering the whole period month by month until I reach the present day, then doing the same year by year in reverse: 2017, 2016, 2015 etc.
Other times, I'll take a month from each year, then cycle back to the beginning.
With over 2500 days, it might take me a couple of months to do the recall of the whole period in spare moments of time, out running, waiting in a queue, driving, etc.
I run through some sequences with ease, like a familiar song. Others seem as faded as they should be by the intervening years and there are taunting blanks on my mental calendar. But if ever I think this process has run its course, they come back to me, often flooding me with gratitude that I have not forgotten the events captured in the tags.
I fear it will become harder and harder as the review periods become longer. For a long time a month between reviews seemed the limit, but now I am stretching to two months.
Yet, such is the powerful feeling of reward when my synapses fire and an elusive image reasserts itself, I am hopeful that my brain will become better at doing this with time.
How much time can you say you spend at recalling your memories? I'm scared at the thought of spending whole weeks just doing a memory review.
ReplyDeleteHi Zolrak,
DeleteThank you for your question. The answer is, it depends.
I usually conduct my morning review of the most recent days either while dozing in the morning after waking up and/or while getting washed and dressed. The review of the past month, I do after I go to bed before falling asleep. I guess it can take between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on how easily the images come to mind.
I fit in the reviews of more distant days at odd moments during the day. If you look back through this blog, you will see that the way I conduct these reviews has changed over times as the number of days has piled up. I've usually reached a crunch point where my review method falls down because it takes too long and I miss completing it, try to catch up, but get overwhelmed and fail to do so.
When that happens, I've usually had a break of a day or two, then done a system reset, by going through my whole mental calendar sequentially over however many days it takes. Then I've come up with a new strategy for the reviews, which is sustainable.
Many times, I've thought it is time to give up, particularly when I have elusive images. But, as I explain here, if I can't find an image, it's best to move on and it will come to me later. When it does, it generally gives me such insight or reward to recall that moment of my life that my motivation is renewed.
So if it is becoming too much to do the reviews, find another way of doing them to reduce the number of days that need covering each time.
It's difficult to say how much time I spend on the longer reviews, because often I'm not just doing the review, but thinking about the events, the perspective they give me on my current experiences and vice versa – I reinterprete past times in light of what happened afterwards. I've written here elsewhere how I think this has helped me psychologically, because instead of particular thoughts or themes dominating my mental narrative, I have a much more holistic view of my life and experiences. This is why I find the process so enriching.