FIRST DAY OF XMAS – Imagine having a great sense of direction!
One Xmas when I was a toddler, my Dad was in New York working on a TV show not sure if it was The Munsters, Leave It To Beaver, I Love Lucy or Denis The Menace. He got stuck in a blizzard and couldn’t make it home in time for the auspicious moment. On Xmas morning when the five kids woke up, there were no presents under the tree and no sign of Dad. Mom was relying on him to bring home the Santa fund and do the shopping. Needless to say there were very long faces moping about the orange groves trying hard not let the tears roll down. We just thought Santa forgot us although we also entertained the idea that he might have gotten lost; my mom made up a story about his poor sense of direction. It was a very dismal day on the ranch.
Dad came home late that night and told a great tale: Santa’s helper came to the studio in NYC and delivered a message to everyone on the show apologizing for not being able to get through the blizzard without all the presents falling off the sleigh and that he was nervous for the reindeer. He promised to make up for it when the storm was over. We fell for it hook, line and sinker. Low and behold the next morning as we yawned and complained, we looked through the window and my father was jumping up and down with my big brother in awe of all the presents hanging from the orange trees. We were ecstatic and the story has become part the ‘best Dad ever’ lore.
Sharing stories of the past is a great way to create indelible recall and helps to improve your memory. (See below for PRACTICAL APPLICATION.) The revisiting of these memories helps us remember with more clarity and accuracy (embellishment and selective recall aside) however, it also does something super important: it creates the good ‘ju-ju’ in your system known Neurotransmitters such as Dopamine, Endorphins, Oxytocin, and even Serotonin.
It is the same process with driving and directions. When you revisit the path you took (granted there’s importance like you will have to go there again,or remembering your way back) there are several skills we’ve already talked about previously in this blog such as: Visualize, Revisit or Recall, Associations (landmarks), Rehearsal, and even Verbalize and Gesture the directions. We rely on GPS now but if you want to get a natural sense of improving your sense of direction, this is another memory exercise that requires that requires a bit of attention and discipline — “there’s no free ride.”
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (PART 1/3): “ANCHORS” FOR IMPROVING DIRECTIONS:
Imagine yourself going out your front door. In your mind’s eye, turn right and remember everything you see in front of you both left, right, in back and in front. Identify which direction you are facing (NSEW?) If you’re the type to wake up in the middle of the night you can start playing with this imagining then. Repeat only turn left outside the front door and don’t forget to identify which direction you are facing.
Now imagine a street parallel to your house. Then think of a landmark. Example: Let’s say you live in Palo Alto, north of the Stanford Shopping Center. You went out the front door, turned right (in your mind’s eye) and El Camino parallel to your house and the direction you are facing. Thus, El Camino should be to the left of you.
If you turned right out your door — you would be facing south. Now think of Stanford University. In your mind’s eye travel south on El Camino. You know Stanford is on the right but do you know which mega direction that is — NSEW? Which way do you turn when you get to Palm Drive (the opening thoroughfare to Campus)–YES! You’ve got it turn right. Soooo, which direction are you facing when you head straight into the front of campus? If you thought West you are correct. Establishing major landmarks for the big directional markers of your memory compass: NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST – are key. Now do the same exercise with something else near you only this time use your mind’s compass to find North as your end goal. And repeat for East and West.
This is only the beginning of multiple steps on developing a sense of direction. Try to do it for several different places you go. What direction is the school your kiddos go to facing? What direction is Whole Foods or your favorite grocery store? Your workplace? The gym? Your favorite restaurant in S.F.? Once you establish the pillars of NSEW in any neighborhood or city (Paris? Italy? Spain? India?), you can have some fun with figuring directions out. We’ll get more sophisticated with direction-memory-improvement in the next blog; it does take quite a bit of work and concentration but it’s fun!
TERMS:
Metacognition: Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes.
Executive Function: The executive functions are a set of processes that all have to do with managing oneself and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal. It is an umbrella term for the neurologically-based skills involving mental control and self-regulation.
The executive functions all serve a “command and control” function; they can be viewed as the “conductor” of all cognitive skills.
Executive functions help you manage life tasks of all types. For example, executive functions let you organize a trip, a research project, or a paper for school.
Often, when we think of problems with executive functioning, we think of disorganization. However, organization is only one of these important skills.
(ref: LDonline.com.)
Neurotransmitters: A substance (such as norepinephrine or acetylcholine and many mentioned above) that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse. (ref: Merriam Webster.)
There are so many great Xmastime stories, what’s yours? Please send in your fav and I’ll publish!
Remember me until next time,
Jenn Bulka, SLP, Memory Specialist
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