Emotions underscore key events, most of which you will never forgot. Yesterday emotions were running high (and low). I was in the online queue for Hamilton tickets, I was 119,922. 10 hours later I was ‘IN’ and had 12 minutes to register for three tickets. My hope was high, my Adrenalin was streaming and excitement of getting the coveted tickets — unforgettable. What was even more unforgettable was the disappointment of not getting them. Every choice I made was sold out (with no online indicator) and my 12 hour glass minutes — dun-runeth-out. The roller coaster of emotions: up and down (and up again, I eventually got them after waiting another 3 hours in a new queue into the wee hours of the night) will make caching that memory indelible.
When you associate emotions with something you don’t want to forget you will have a better chance of retrieving the information later from your cached memory. The same goes for associating analogies, similes or metaphors with your data. Leave it to the creative and wonderful mind of Lin-Manuel Miranda to come up with ideas to teach kids how to remember history with just this technique. See the three excerpts from his workbook below today’s exercise and see if you can start using similes to help your memories cache more indelibly.
<You can skip down to “Practical Application” for improving your memory exercise of the day if you don’t have time to read the blog today.>
Analogy: 1. [n] similarity in some respect between things that are otherwise dissimilar: “the operation of a computer presents an interesting analogy to the working of the brain”. Here are two great visual analogies, see if you can guess what the companies for each of these logos does:
✔PRACTICAL APPLICATION TODAY’S LESSON: EMOTIONS & ANALOGIES/ SIMILES / METAPHORS 👌
Let’s try this on with the VIRTUAL TASK LIST from the “Fossilized Data” entry last week.
A. EMOTION-ENHANCED MEMORIES:
Remember the wine stain (go to cleaners) and standing on my head (absurdity), let’s add emotion and embellish: “Oh God, I borrowed this from my mother and she’s gonna kill me if it doesn’t come out” — emotion of fear. When you add another layer of humor-filled absurdity using the BIG ‘bookend emotions’ (ecstatic/over the top joy or radical fear, or intense anger) you are more likely to park the memory in an easier to retrieve neuro-parking lot.
How about for one of the other tasks on the list — picking up your kiddo for early dismissal: add the emotion of sadness: imagine your child’s face crying because he’s the last one standing out at school.
B. ASSOCIATIVE-ENHANCED MEMORIES: METAPHORS/SIMILES/ANALOGIES
(from Lin-Manual Miranda’s book “Hamilton”)
Diamond in the rough (Metaphor)
In “My Shot,” Hamilton sings, “I’m a diamond in the rough, a shining piece of coal.” Hamilton knows his own worth and knows that given the chance he could do great things, but during the song ‘My Shot’ he is still young and without renown or experience. A “diamond in the rough” is a colloquial metaphor that refers to someone that has tremendous potential but lacks education and breeding. In this moment, Hamilton acknowledges his humble beginnings and the fact that while he may not be the typical pedigreed gentleman, he is a man of good character who could become someone great.
We Roll Like Moses (Simile)
Also in “My Shot,” Hamilton compares himself to Moses, saying, “We roll like Moses, claiming our promised land.”
In this moment, Hamilton uses a simile comparing himself to Moses to show just how passionate he is about the American cause. He believes so fully in the war and America’s future, that he imagines he is like the Biblical hero who led a resistance against the Egyptians. Although he is not an explicitly religious, Hamilton is guided by his self-belief, a kind of fervent confidence that mirrors the characters of the Bible, enlisted to do God’s work.
Powder Keg (Metaphor)
In “Right Hand Man,” Washington sings, “We are a powder keg about to explode.”
At this point in the musical, the war is not going well for the Americans, as their army lacks discipline and stability. Washington has been left by Congress to deal with the war on his own and the troops have placed him on a pedestal as a representation of the revolution. The pressure is on for him to lead his army to victory. This pressure is encapsulated in Washington’s metaphor of a powder keg about to explode.
The use of such an evocative metaphor heightens the dramatic tension of the moment, showing that the Americans are under immense pressure.
Hurricane (Metaphor)
A literal hurricane destroys Hamilton’s home island when he is young. As a child, he writes about the devastation, which so moves the members of his community that they raise money to send him to America. In this instance, the hurricane is a literal event that changes the course of Hamilton’s life—while it destroys his life in many ways, it also is what propels him towards possibility.
Later, after Jefferson, Madison, and Burr learn of Hamilton’s affair, Hamilton feels like he is in the eye of a hurricane. The hurricane represents destruction and the dissolution of his reputation. This secret, in his enemies’ hands, can potentially damage and even completely ruin his career and personal life. The hurricane that Hamilton sings about in this song represents the turmoil and personal difficulties he is on the brink of facing. It is no longer a literal hurricane, but a psychological and social one.
I will never forget the 13 hour journey I took to get Hamilton tickets. Perseverance pays off again!!!
P.S. You too can get Hamilton tickets, go to http://www.hamilton.shnsf.com and patiently wait while staring at your computer every 30 minutes;=) They won’t last though so hurry!!!!
Remember me until next time,
Jenn Bulka, Memory Specialist, SLP – CCC, Ca License #14,006
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