The benefits of a weak memory

Can weak memory bring benefits? I am sure most of you wouldn’t have taken a second in saying ‘No’ to this question. But the answer to this question is not so simple. On one side, there’s no doubt that a sharp memory is absolutely better than a weak one, but, in my opinion, a weak memory can prove to be very beneficial to have. As far as a student’s life is concerned, your brain is the only thing that lets you through this stage with excellence. Grasping what’s been taught, learning the lectures and then preparing for exams, all requires brain work, specifically your memorising skills. So if you are lucky enough to have a sharp memory, you’ll get through it with flying colours. This is what normally happens, but that doesn’t mean that with a weak memory you can do nothing. Effort can beat luck. There’s a very wonderful text I received from a friend of mine that I would like to quote here: ‘A paper flying in the air is due to its luck but a bird flies in the air due to its effort. So if luck is what you don’t have, don’t worry! You can always make the right amount of effort to achieve what you want.’ Likewise, if you aren’t blessed with a very good memory, it’s okay! You can still use what you have to your benefit. Determination is all that you require! See, for a person with a weak memory (like me) it’s not difficult to remember ‘all’ the things, it’s just that they can’t remember some parts of their everyday life. For most, it’s the part that they are least interested in remembering, or which slips out of their mind because of some tension/frustration. Here is a practical example. When I sit down to study, I do manage to learn all things really quickly but once the exam is over, and a month or so later after the result is out, if you ask me something related to it I would not be able to recall the answer simply because I didn’t care remembering it after the exam. So, to sum up, you have to concentrate on things you can’t manage to remember. I know nobody likes studying hard but if you’ll start taking interest in it, you’ll get to see the positive changes that would follow. You will be able to make it because you are no less than your mates (don’t even think you are). Now let’s move on to another side of story. Forget, forgive and move forward. Heard of it before? This is what our moral principles are based upon. Letting go other’s faults and ignoring one’s mistakes are two of the hardest things to do in life. But this is where the benefit of a weak memory comes in and the situation doesn’t remain the same then. Imagine if you could remember all the bad parts of your life, like most of the bad details? Wouldn’t it be too difficult to heal yourself after that? By ‘bad’ here I mean the little things that hurt a lot at that time and then fade from memory and stop hurting us. For example you had a small grudge against your friend, and you can’t forget that. Assume such small issues with most of your friends, how can you be faithful to your friendship with you remembering every such detail? But if you are the owner of a poor memory (like I am), you can actually let go of such things easily (obviously your memory wouldn’t allow you to retain it for long). You can then live a happier life with no hard feelings, isn’t it? However, if you got problems on remembering important notes, best friend’s birthday, etc, you can pen things down and place them somewhere, where you can see them off and on, set reminders and sorts, and with passage of time you’ll cope up with the problem. And here’s a tip (I use it often and believe me, it works). If it ever happens that you went to one room from another and you forget why you went there. Just go back to the room where you came from and do and think of everything you did in the last few minutes in the reverse order, you’ll remember why you needed to go to the other room. Managing life with a poor memory isn’t that difficult. There are always two sides of a picture, you just need to look at the brighter side and believe that it can look even brighter with a little effort. So the next time someone teases you by saying you haven’t got a sharp memory, just tell them you have an edge over them because of it!