Thursday, March 26, 2009

One way to deal with Moments of Forgetfulness

I have worked out a 'trick' that serves me well concerning certain types of moments of forgetfulness. When I come across something (a fact, a name, an idea) that I am likely to want to recall at a later time, I tell myself two things:
1. "Try to remember this!"
2. "It's no big deal if you don't!"
I am in effect giving myself permission to not remember it. This has the effect, I suppose, of reducing the stress of remembering, as well as the stress of forgetting. It also, ironically, seems to make it more likely that I will remember it later. In my experience, I have been at times conscious of trying to recall something that I remember having given myself permission not to remember! It doesn't always mean that I remember what I was trying to recall, but I don't fret much about my forgetfulness, because I have 'pre-forgiven' myself ...

The trick is in remembering to pre-forgive myself and thereby increase my chances of recalling!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Yeah-Yeah ... #3 - Give me Coffee!

"I just HAVE to have a cup of coffee to start the day!" "I just can not FUNCTION until I've had my coffee!" These "Yeah-Yeahs" are closely related to these: "DECAF? No way - give me the real stuff!" "Oh I ONLY drink caffeinated - I can't STAND decaf!"

Sound familiar? What is it about caf-coffee snobs - and they are not the same as coffee lovers (of which group I am a happy member) - not only do they feel they have to emphatically declare to the world that they are addicted to the buzz of caffeine, but they despise decaf coffee as a poor pretender.

Yeah-Yeah - maybe you should stop to think about the extent of your addiction ...

Yeah-Yeah ... #2 - The Book was Better!

Another favorite "Yeah-Yeah" moment is when you're discussing a movie that's based on a book. It seems that no matter how good or bad the critics thought the movie was, or how much or how little you enjoyed it, there's always someone who (claims to have) read the book and says "I thought the book was so much better!" This has happened so often in my experience that it's become a cliché - it prompts me to have a "Yeah-Yeah" moment - in some cases I anticipate the "Yeah-Yeah" remark, even.

Now it might well be the case that every movie that is based on a book fails to live up to the promise of the book - a case could indeed be made for the argument that your imagination when reading a story is (at least for you) more powerful and compelling than some movie director's portrayal of that story. But, yeah-yeah, reading a book is so much more laudable than watching a movie ... you are holier than me, what can I say?