The Memory Palace

When I left for the store the other day, I purposely left my grocery list at home. Why, you may ask? Well, I was testing my ability to construct my very first memory palace. Duh. In lieu of a list, I had the following images:

1. John Goodman weeping uncontrollably on the back steps. (Kleenex)
2. In the laundry room, bubbles pouring out of the washing machine and across the linoleum floor. (Soap)
3. A white horse grazing next to the stove. (Oats)
4. A field of poppies swaying in the sweet dining room breeze. (Flour)
5. A pair of monkeys engaging in idle chit-chat on the couch in the living room. (Bananas)
6. A river of milk, pumped by a water wheel, cascading down the stairs. (Milk)

Never in my life has grocery shopping been such a snap--or so reliant upon John Goodman--and I have Joshua Foer and his book, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, to thank.

"The general idea with most memory techniques," says Ed Cooke, a grand memory master from England, "is to change whatever boring thing is being inputted into your memory into something that is so colorful, so exciting, and so different from anything you've seen before that you can't possibly forget it." He continues: "The principle of the memory palace is to use one's equisite spatial memory to construct and store information whose order comes less naturally." Choosing a place with which you are intimately familiar will make those images you put inside it that much more concrete and unforgettable.

Though my first attempt at a memory palace wasn't perfect--I had to dart from one end of the store to the other and back again to get everything in the correct order--I'm beyond sold on the concept. I can't wait for another excuse to try it. I encourage everyone to do the same.