How to Memorize a List of Things that are Not Easily Pictured

In a previous article, I ended with a short list of things for a speech where you walk through a familiar area and then place an object that will remind you of a point in your speech. How long of an easy-to-memorize list can you make with this formula? With the walkthrough, you can make a list of any number, even 100 or 1,000 or more objects, and place them.

Another use of your imagination is: creating pictures of abstract concepts. In this article, we are going to use a walk-through to create associations to memorize 30 ideas that are not pictured easily.

The ideas come from a series of self-improvement books called Heal Your Memories. The author gave me permission to use his ideas.

Heal Your Memoires is a series of three books that teach the reader how to let go of the emotions that they associate with tough memories. The first four associations, we will make our ideas from a four-step formula for how to heal the pain from the past. Then there are the types of memories that you can use the formula to heal from. For example, school bullying. Then the last few associations are benefits of healing your past, including happiness, empowerment, etc. The best way to memorize this is to do a walk-through.

I will be using a walk-through of my own house, for example. You can use this method to walk through your own house, your hometown, or a building that you are familiar with.

Since many of the types of bad memories could be upsetting, I am not going to ask you to picture people bullying each other or getting injured. Instead, I will introduce you to a concept called ‘Animistic Thinking.’

Animistic Thinking is where you use your imagination. You assign human feelings or actions to inanimate objects. For example, imagine a dresser jumping up and down. You will use the objects in the home as a walk-through.

The four steps in healing a memory are as follows:

• Change your beliefs
• Visualize yourself as the person you want to be
• Feel the feelings as if you were that person
• Take action to improve yourself

Let’s get started. You walk into the house and into the living room. There is a bay window with plants on it. Change beliefs: Imagine someone putting a flower there, but they say: “It won’t grow.” Then the flower grows, and they say, “It grew.” So the person changed their belief.

Then you look at the next wall, and there is a fireplace. You visualize the fire with two eyes. Then a thought balloon grows out of the fire, and you put something you want in the thought balloon.  Step two is: visualize what you want.

Then across from the fireplace is a sofa. Step three feels the feelings. Imagine the sofa having a face and changing expressions as it feels different feelings. You could add that it says what it feels.

Then you walk into the kitchen; the table is there. Step four takes action. Imagine arms and hands coming out from the table and setting it with plates, glasses, etc. Then the table says, “I am active.”

You have now memorized the four steps in healing a memory. Quiz yourself by retaking that walk so far. If you do not remember all four, then redo the step to strengthen the visual.

Please remember that you can form your own associations if something other than what I suggest makes more sense to you.

Now we are going to continue the walk. We will make associations with the kinds of memories that may need healing.

Behind the table is a sliding door leading out. The first type of memory that may need healing is: memories of childhood bullying. Imagine the glasses from the table getting caught in the sliding door, and the door crushes them. The sliding door is bullying them.

Then you turn to the countertops. A career-ending injury is the next type of memory. A big saw appears and slices the countertop in two. It can’t stand up and hold things, so its career as a countertop is over.

Then you go outside, through the dining area, to the outdoor deck. First, you see some chairs. The memory is: living through a war. The chairs have guns and are in soldier uniforms. They shoot each other.

There is a table with an umbrella on the deck. It is a blue umbrella. Another table appears with a pink umbrella. They start yelling at each other, and the pink umbrella table leaves. This memory is of bad dates.

At the edge of the deck are some plants. Rape at home is another bad memory. Imagine a little greenhouse grows to house the plants. Then one plant knocks another over and lays on top.

Then you go back in the house into the kitchen. You see the kitchen sink. Betrayal of trust is another kind of bad memory. You turn on the faucet, and dollar bills come out instead of water. Then a paper comes out that says it is a trust fund.

In the kitchen, there is the stove and oven. Another memory is natural illnesses. Imagine something cooking on the stove and in the oven. Yet germs find their way in.

Then there is the refrigerator. The bad memory is childhood abuse, verbal and physical. The large refrigerator section grows an arm and punches the smaller freezer. It calls the freezer some names.

On from the kitchen into the back-recreation room. There is an organ. Another type of bad memory is child custody issues. Imagine another organ and a small children’s piano. The two organs argue over the piano.

There is a closet in this back room, and another bad memory is family suicide. Imagine that you open the closet door, and there is a tombstone holding a gun. The tombstone has a birth and death date inscribed.

This room has a little back room with a washer and dryer. Another bad memory is: having been cheated out of the property. Imagine that there is some space between the washer and dryer. A property marker is in the space. The washer and dryer reach out with arms and keep moving the property marker to give themselves more property.

Then you walk into the media room. First, there is a desk with a computer on your left. The problem is: starting a new career. The desk had doctor’s scripts, legal documents, pens, paper cutters, and lots of clutter. The desk grows an arm and reaches up and scratches its top in confusion.

There is another desk in front of you. The problem is: homelessness. You imagine two people looking at the desk and debating whether to throw it out or move it. The desk makes a face and asks, “Where will I go?”

To your right is a table. The problem is: rape on a city street. Skyscrapers grow in the back of the table. Then another table plops down. The first table yells, “Rape!”

Now test yourself. Repeat the walk and see how many types of memories need healing. Again, if you forget, go back and just strengthen the association you have.

Now we are going upstairs to the bedroom. You see a dresser to your left with a bunch of things on it. The memory is: compassion fatigue. The dresser jumps up and down. It shakes everything off it and says, “I am tired of supporting you!”

Then there is the bed. The memory is of a terminal disease that you still overcame. The bed has a face, and a giant thermometer protrudes from the mouth. Then the thermometer disappears, and the bed jumps around and shouts, “I am well!”

There is another dresser. The problem is: people telling you what career to have. Someone tells the dresser which clothes to put in each drawer. It retorts, “I will put them where I want!”

We enter the bathroom. There is the memory of workplace bullying. The vanity. Imagine the toilet and the shower taunting the vanity that they are more useful and productive.

So those are the bullying memories. It may be useful now to go back to the front of the house and do the walk-through. See if you remember the four steps and the types of memories.

If you remembered everything, congratulations. You are well on your way to being able to remember a list of any length by using walk-throughs and imagination.

When you have healed your memories, the first benefit is empowerment. Go back to the bathroom and flush the toilet. As you flush, the toilet grows arms and raises them. It yells, “Score!” It is empowered.

Then there is the shower. When you heal your memories, you are resilient. Imagine the shower with a spray that cleans it after each shower. It says, “No matter how much dirt gets deposited, I always get clean.” It is resilient.

You then go to the next bedroom. The first thing you see is a bookcase. It is holding books and telling itself that it does a good job. It has self-acceptance.

Then there is another bed. When you heal your memories, you achieve happiness. Someone lies on the bed, and the bed says, “I am happy to serve you.”

A lamp sits in the corner. When you heal your memories, your imagination gets better. The lamp has a thought balloon that has all kinds of creative pictures.

Finally, you go into the third bedroom. There is a treadmill. When you heal your memories, you become more mindful. Imagine a brain taking a run on the treadmill.

Since we are nearing the end, let’s have a little fun lifting some weights. Healing your memories entails letting go of the past. Imagine you lift a weight, and it screams at you, “Don’t let go!”

In conclusion, you look at the bed. It stands up and looks forward. When you heal your memories, you look forward instead of backward.

You now have created a walk-through and memorized thirty abstract concepts. This skill may be useful if you are a boy scout and need to memorize what a scout is. If you need to learn customer service skills or the mission statement of your new employer, this can be useful. It is great to memorize a speech. Now you have the biggest skills you need to memorize any information.