Our brains are often compared to computers, it is said that our minds can process data many times faster than a computer can process data. Wouldn’t it be great if our brains were really computers? We could simply add a chip to make an upgrade whenever we needed to. The brain is like a computer, it is just much more complex in design. Improving upon a design we don’t fully comprehend can be a real challenge. Our first step in understanding how to reprogram our minds for memory is to know a little bit about how it works.

So, what exactly is memory, anyway? A simple definition would be that memory is the activity of our minds that allow us to recall information that we have learned or have experienced. That definition is quite basic and barely covers the most basic processes that involve so many different parts of our brain to serve us in numerous and diverse ways.

There are two types of memory; short-term and long-term. With the short-term memory your mind simply takes a snapshot of what is currently happening within a period of a few seconds or minutes. This is usually about the amount of time to dial someone’s phone number or jot one down, or to comparison shop with a few items at the grocery store.

These short-term memories are quite fragile as they are meant to be. You might find you have a full “hard drive” in very quick order if you retained every tiny little memory; you should be able to toss out the temporary information such as phone numbers you’ve dialed only once or twice, or what you may have ordered at a restaurant.

Your long-term memories are the bits of information that you make either a conscious or unconscious effort to retain. These are the memories that hold meaning to you; information pertaining to things such as your friends’ or family member’s names, ages, and birthdates. Other long-term memories include things that you absolutely need to know and remember; this can be such things as procedures to perform your job or material you are studying to prepare for a test. If something has made an impact on you emotionally, it will more than likely become a long-term memory; this would be something like an award you received or the day your grandfather passed away.

There are three basic stages that your brain goes through to retain a memory; acquisition, consolidation and retrieval. At the acquisition stage the information enters the brain along neural pathways in the appropriate area. This is the vulnerable stage at which a memory can disappear without forming; you must be paying attention to start remembering. The consolidation occurs when you’ve encoded the new information into your brain through concentration or an emotional response. And finally, retrieval is the process that occurs when you need to retrieve the information.

If you feel you have a poor memory it might be that your habits are merely less-than-effective for building the right pathways. It is a proven fact that having a great memory is entirely possible with a bit of conditioning and all you need to do to have a great memory is just to take a step in the right direction.

Unless you have a poor memory due to accident, injury, disease or disorder, you can radically improve your ability to remember; simply click here to improve your memory.