Did you know that you can evoke memories from all your senses? Some studies have ruled that having a left or right brain defines your personality. Other studies show that we use both hemispheres to solve problems.
According to Dr. Judi Hollis, a family therapist and psychologist, “Our creative and emotional right brain is much more influential. I always recommend less intellectual speech and instead more action and emotional exploration.”
Regardless of which side of the hemisphere your memories come from, just know that they are there and waiting for you.
I have the perfect plan to recover memories. Close your eyes and turn to your five senses for memories. I guarantee it, they will come! I have used this method in my workshops, and once my students have tuned in, they can’t stop their pens from going crazy. A treasure trove of memories is waiting to sprout, and it’s hard to know where to stop.
This, then, is the easiest way to write a memory of a certain moment in your life, or an autobiography that you can leave for your children. You are giving them a gift. When you ask the question: How did my parents and their parents cope with life? What made them the people they turned out to be? What did the person that I am do to me?
Try these exercises the next time you sit down to recall memories.
AUDIENCE: Enlist your ears to pick up sounds that can remind you of years past: favorite songs, expressions, poems. The eerie whistle of a train in the distance. Have you ever taken a train trip? Where? What was the occasion?
Think of listening to the radio as a child. What shows were your family’s favorites? Do you remember lying on the carpet with your siblings listening to those radio shows? Was there a favorite baseball team that you supported as you sat watching the radio, listening to the announcer yell out the exciting play-by-play action? Were your parents there? Did you have a sense of family?
VISION: Look for items hidden in old drawers or boxes; things you could have saved years ago. These treasures will awaken memories. Tickets to theaters, plays, ball games. Napkins or a matchbox from a long-forgotten first date. Who was she / he? Old photo albums. Scan them for people you know, who haven’t seen in years. Did they impact your life? What were they like? Where was the photo taken? Old photo albums are a link to your past.
PLAY: Look for old clothes in the back of the cabinets; Packed clothes stacked in the garage that he just couldn’t part with. An old coat that belonged to your mother, father, or child long ago. A mohair sweater that years ago you relegated to a bottom drawer. Touch them with your eyes closed. Feel the memories.
TASTE: The burger joint you found that reminds you of the “old days”. The cherry coke you used to have after school at the corner malt shop that has now returned to diners 50’s style. Think about who you were with, your favorite outfit, hairstyle, friends. What were the favorite songs you played on the jukebox while you were in the malt shop?
SMELL: This is a sense that we could not do without. This is a tried and true source to bring back memories. Animals live on it, humans take it for granted. However, without odor, the food would be tasteless. Imagine a world without the taste of food! What if there was a fire? You would have no warning without odor.
Now, sit in front of your computer or grab your yellow lined notepad. Close your eyes and breathe slowly through your nose. Now think about your youth. Think of the wet grass early in the morning that you loved to run through barefoot. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Think about how the earth smelled after a good, heavy rain. Inhale again. Think about how bad your dog smelled after being caught in a good, heavy rain. Don’t inhale!
One thing about the sense of smell is that most people can attach some kind of memory to it. You hear it often: “Oh, what is that smell? It reminds me of when it was …” Some of us may remember the sweet smell of our father’s pipe tobacco. The smell of our mother when she worked in the kitchen; Fried chicken, oven-roasted ham, smells that clung to her as she went about her chores. Smells when he dressed to go out for a walk with Dad; the cologne that enveloped her as she leaned in to kiss us good night. Comforting scents.
Then take those memories one by one and explain them to enhance your writing memories. Try to associate those memories with another memory. A sentence on the page can continue for ten more pages as you recall smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing, all associated with moments in your life. All these memories can be activated by most of the senses, but the sense of smell retrieves them more easily.
Try to remember what was happening in the world at the time you write. What year was it? Open Wikipedia.org in your browser and type a year. Amazing what you can find if you try. Start with that year in your document. As you write, other memories from that time will bounce off those memories. More associations. Write down the month or season. If those memories take you to another year, start another page for that year.
When doing this, don’t be tempted to edit. Let your fingers fly and your memories flow. Inhale the smells. Write whatever comes to mind while you’re in that long-ago room with your family. Don’t stop until you run out of thoughts.
When you go back to your story, whether it’s a day later or a week later, go back to those memories and inhale. More will come. As the years go by in your document, you will remember more: your classroom; the smell of chalk, the smell of sweaty kids after recess. You will remember the children you played with; the bullies, the friends. Write it. All these memories are what made you who you are. They should be included so you know what shaped the person you are. Your children need to know this.
Soak up the smell: your dorm, stale beer, dirty socks, and cigarettes. Or dances, dates with handsome boys, and corsages that smelled of lavender and gardenias. Memories will flood one after another. You will be surprised how easy it is to bring back memories of your sense of smell.
Give it a try and let me know how it worked.