Your brain is a wardrobe

Mnemosyne.

The Greeks believed that humans had a very special gift from the Gods, a gift that allowed us to reason, predict, anticipate outcomes – a gift which formed the foundation of our civilization. That special gift?

The gift of Memory.

They believed that the Gift of Memory, of Recall, distinguishes us from all other creatures in the Animal World. And for this reason, for this ability that allowed us to think and to plan,

Mnemosyne, the Greek Goddess of Memory, was considered one of the most powerful goddesses.

Mnemosyne and Zeus had nine daughters, the Greek Goddesses known as the Muses. The Muses sat near the throne of Zeus, King of the Gods, and sang of his greatness, the origin of the world and the wonderful deeds of the great ancient heroes.

The Muses presided over the arts and the sciences and were believed to be the source of inspiration for all poets, philosophers and musicians. It’s from their name that words like music and museum are derived.

Long before the invention of the alphabet and the written word, society relied on the oral story to pass their knowledge, stories and traditions to the next generation.

It was believed that after death you had a choice whether to drink from the Mnemosyne, the spring of memory. Those who chose to forget had to be reborn and relearn the lessons forgotten.  Those who had chosen to remember spent eternity in comfort and peace.

Memory plays an essential part in our lives and in so many ways we take it for granted, yet in so many ways we have no idea how it works.

Research has consistently shown the more we know the easier it is to learn, especially in areas that we already know something about. This important fact is either not understood, misunderstood  or counter-intuitive, but it’s worth repeating:

Research has consistently shown the more we know the easier it is to learn.

Many people think the brain has limited capacity, we can only learn so much and after this it becomes more difficult to keep and retain information because our brain becomes cluttered with too much information.

A person can only learn so much, right?

Wrong.

The brain, yours or your child’s brain, has an almost limitless capacity to learn, accumulate, retain and use information.

Why doesn’t the brain become cluttered with too much information? How is it that a busy brain can learn new facts so much more quickly? And even more importantly,

Why do so many people appear to struggle?

Imagine a wardrobe with no hangers.

You'd go to put your clothes in, and they'd fall to the floor. They'd get lost in a pile of other clothes. That’s why we need hangers.

Knowledge needs hangers, or anchors, too - information on which the brain can hang more information. That first piece, the thing that becomes the hanger, gives the brain a point of reference, a context.

And the more hangers you have, the more information you can hold on to.

To transform your child’s future life, understand that the more they know the easier they will find it.

This is why intelligent people have such a great advantage and seem to learn so much more quickly…