Mind Your Memory

The Link Method

The Link method is an ideal starting point for those of us just starting out with memory systems. It's

• Easy to Learn
• Applicable to many different types of information
• An ideal foundation for other, more complicated systems

There are many similarities between the link method and the Loci method mentioned on the ancient memories page.

Have you ever found yourself reminded of your schooldays when you meet an old schoolfriend?
Or reminded of your mother's kitchen when you smell a dish that she used to cook?

Of Course you have!

Everyone has these kind of experiences because this is the way our memory naturally works.
No memory exists in isolation in our minds, everything gets linked together. Our strongest memories have the most used links.
If you forget where you left your keys the first thing you usually do is think "What was I doing earlier?" Trying to find the series of links that will remind you where you left them.

If you're trying to recall your family history you will start with you parents and siblings and branch out from there to grandparents, uncles, aunts and nieces. Even if you have a big family you'll find the information easy to recall. Not just because the information is familiar but because of the way the information is organised. Each person has an obvious link (relationship) with the next.

What about the things that are difficult to remember?

When we want to remember things that are unfamiliar we find that there are no links in our mind and learning a series of unrelated items is much more difficult because it's not they way our mind normally works.
What we need to do is find a method that creates links between pieces of information. Once we have links in our mind we can use the first item to remind us of the second and so on.

Our first Link

Let's go to the shops and buy some groceries. But we don't seem to have any paper to make a shopping list so we'll have to memorise it.

• A carton of milk
• Some eggs
• An air freshener
• A lightbulb
• Some mushrooms
• A Towel

First of all let's picture a carton of milk in our mind. If you have a favourite brand think of the label, the type of carton you intend to buy. Now let's use some simple tricks to help this memory stick in our minds.

1. Fill the senses
   • Sight
   • Touch
   • Smell
   • Taste
   • Hearing

As well as picturing the milk in our minds, we can imagine the feel of the carton as we take it fom the fridge. Is it cold? Is it heavy?

Does the milk smell? maybe it's gone sour?

Imagine drinking from the carton and tasting the milk. Imagine the sound of the milk sloshing around in the carton.

All of the senses can be used to strengthen the image in your mind

1. Make it ridiculous
While imagining the things we want to remember we can make it easier by making the images completely out of the ordinary. Instead of thinking of yourself getting milk from the fridge, how about an enormous Milk Carton with arms and legs reaching into the fridge to get a milk carton to drink? This strange dairy cannibalism is an ideal vivid image that should stick in your mind.

Review Loci
The link
advice on images
how to link
remember the first element
what is it suitable for?

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