Planning to remember

I value my brain 1000's more than my body, and for me its always been an easy self prioritisation. If I can't walk stick me in a wheelchair, if I struggle to read.... well thats a different matter. I need fixes, ones that work for me. I don't have fear, that emotion for me is potentially destructive and pointless. By that I mean I have to face up to things they won't go away and you cannot hide. I do have a tolerance and impact list, and things which I suspect I would find hardest are at the top and are the things I plan for the most. The top two are 1. Changing and loss of speech 2. Memory problems but specifically Alzheimer's which PWP are more likely to suffer from. (this was since clarified as follows: Just to clarify- the dementia associated with Parkinson's is not quite the same as Alzhiemers, it is related to the proliferation of Lewy Bodies.)

This post is about number 2, as yesterday I had a long conversation about Joshua Foer, google him, watch the TED video. Its quite compelling. So I am going to use one of his principles to plan ahead to help me remember my family and friends. His techniques amplify your own recall capabilities by making the memory inputs more distinctive. He used an example ... if you are asked to remember a mans name like Baker if you say remember Mr Baker to one person and remember this man he is a Baker, the second input will stay in the brain. This is because we have lit up other parts of our make up, sense of smell, visual images etc. Embellishing is the key.

So I am starting with my family and friends .... and this is what I am assigning to my friend Richard who pointed me to this man.....

Maltesers :: bald head

Kew gardens :: He wears flowery shirts

Soley soley song :: We played on his visit

Marbles :: We created Orbcreation and Orbindex together

Giraffes :: He is tall

So my remembering Richard is :: A bald headed Giraffe in a flowery shirt went to Kew gardens to play marbles, he was humming soley soley and eating Maltesers.

Perfect!

Kindest HH

[Norton1]

Hello Henderson-Heywood,

I just love your posts, they are so stimulating and inspirational. Please, keep them coming. You, and lots of others on this site are the good side of having Parkinson's, meaning I would never have come into contact with you all and missed out on a real depth of thinking.

Norton

[Hidden]

gosh N, how very kind of you, truly

[froggatt55]

You haven't lost your poetic soul which I remember from the past. Keep it going

Kind regards, Bob

[jillannf6]

HI COLLeen

another great post!

keep them coming!

lol JIll

[PatV]

omg HH I feel guilty that my PD has struck mainly below the waist (although the visceral off is not fun) because I CAN talk, sing, chant, wave my arms around. Reading and typing require way more concentration. But I'm still up to the challenge. Will I still be me when it hits my face and voice? In the meantime I'm working on the cognitive and memory issues as you describe. Remembering proper names a real pain so I'm trying to call every person I meet by their name and make a mnemonic device to remember it. Also names of films, books, etc. Just not there sometimes ("Remember that movie uh uh with that actor you know he was in er . . . " and so forth, hours of fun )

[shall1019 in reply to PatV]

This memory loss is not just confined to PWP - I play guessing games with most of my friends. We're all in our 60's and 70's. Luckily we can still laugh about it although it's frustrating..

[DeParkiePoet]

Thank you so much for this inspiring post! It reaches and teaches us that we CAN rebuild our brains!! That it is how you view the world which creates or deletes happiness!

[tlongmire]

Inspiring as usual. Thanks for sharing!

Hugs, Terri