The single biggest reason people don't remember is that they don't pay attention. Think about the last few people you ran into today. Can you recall the color of your friend's shirt? Was your boss wearing the blue tie or the red one? Or was he wearing one at all? Which blouse did your wife wear this morning? Most people don't notice all the detail so they don't have the information to remember it in the first place.

You can remember better, by merely choosing to focus your attention, you can begin to actively observe these and other details. Making a conscious attempt to absorb the information gets you on track to improve your memory. You need to make a conscious effort to observe so that your brain can make sense and remember the information. Sometimes, just looking or listening carefully is enough to fix the information into your memory stores. Think of your brain as a sponge, you want to absorb as much detail as possible to augment your memory skills.

To help your memory recall, slow down, take your time, and decide at the start that you want to remember something will help with the "observing" step. Taking interest often translates into getting involved. For example, let's say you are driving and you got lost. If you listen intently to directions and drive to your destination, chances are, you'll be able to remember how to drive there again, days or even weeks later. The goal in active observation is therefore to mentally stay in the driver's seat.

Most of us have our five senses to help us observe. For instance, our sense of smell can bring back the most vivid memories. Whenever I pass a bakery and smell the aroma of freshly baked bread, it never fails to bring back memories of my childhood when as a kid, I lived near a bread shop. The memories seem to be hardwired to feelings I can recall as a child. It is interesting that the brain center that modulates our sense of smell is right next to the amygdala, a major brain center for emotions. Therefore to "observe" is to use all five senses, look, listen, feel, taste and smell.

To help you improve your memory, it is also important to recreate images in your mind's eye. For better memory recall, try creating a mental snapshot of the information our wish to remember. Transforming information into visual images is one of the most effective ways to fix them into our long-term memory storage. It's like taking a photograph with a camera, CLICK!, and you will develop a second basic memory skill.

CLICKs can take two forms, real or imagined. A real CLICK involves active observation, concentrating on what you see, and making a conscious effort to fix the observed image into a mental image. Imagined CLICKs are those you create from your own memories and fantasies, but they still become fixed in your memory as a mental snapshot. Imagined CLICKs can be a fantasy distortion of an image you observe.

As a rule, bright, colorful, enhanced pictures stick best in memory, as do those with movement, three dimensions and lots of detail. The more vivid and detailed the image, the easier it will be to recall later. The very act of focusing on details helps us to pay better attention and learn the information contained in the image.

Animating, distorting or exaggerating one or more aspects of your CLICKs can also give them personal meaning, making them easier to learn and to recall alter.

The more vibrantly and creatively we visualize new information for ourselves, the more effectively it will stick in our minds. Exaggeration and playfulness enhance our ability to store and recall.

If I park my car on level 2D in a multi-level car park, I might imagine 2 big dogs guarding my car. I am especially afraid of big fierce dogs and this gives me an extra emotional connection to use my CLICK. I make it very unpleasant to approach my car with those dogs snarling at me. If I take a mental CLICK of that image, the emotional charge of my mental CLICK helps to fix it in my memory.

You can use the CLICK method in many situations, lets say you were introduced to a new friend. You might want to ask him or her how the name is spelt and form a vivid picture. For most situations, a symbolic image containing personal or emotional meaning works best. Such memory techniques can help you train your memory leading to an improved memory.

You may think that you can't stop over analyzing because it is an integral part of your psyche. You have convinced yourself that any anti-analytical approach is going to fail and there is no way to quit or get over the way that your mind naturally works. You can learn how to stop over analyzing by reprogramming your mind

Why Quitting Excessive Analysis is Necessary

You might be analytical by nature and this is a great quality when it is used within reason. However, when you think too much, you can think your way out of the right answer. You can also miss many things in life because you are too busy spinning your mental wheels to take action.

Your inaction and hesitations work against you on a daily basis. You may tend to miss special occasions because you are too busy obsessing over them. Thinking too much in an analytical fashion can lead to confusion and indecisiveness.

When you are unable to make decisions and you can't quit rolling thoughts through your head, your life becomes disrupted. You need to quit over analyzing but you don't want to lose this special quality and your thought processes.

Meta-Cognitive Problems

Meta-cognition is thinking about thinking. This activity can be addictive and it can lead to "analysis paralysis" in the end. You fail to act because you are too busy working through the mental processes. It is important to remember that you create nothing without action aside from more thoughts.

Analytical thought is a great benefit of the human mind. The ability to break things down into their fundamental components is a gift that many people admire. When this gift begins to spin out of control, it is necessary to retrain your mind to get control of your thoughts.

Inertia can be very comfortable. It is very easy to think and analyze without taking action, without the risk of failure. You are in a state of bliss just running thoughts through your mind but this mental process takes you nowhere.

Spending a lot of time in a meta-cognitive state yields little productivity. You lost the ability to communicate effectively with others and you find that you are unable to take action due to your indecisiveness.

Stop Over Analyzing and Start Doing

You may be in the patter of over analyzing without the ability to stop because of a subconscious fear that you are going to fail if you take action. It is much safer to think about doing something than actually taking the risk. There is a significant drawback. You get nothing done.

Using self hypnosis to address the analytical problem is ideal because you are working with the subconscious mind. This helps you retrain your thought processes and reprogram the way you think. You will not lose your cognitive gift. You will just be able to use it more effectively.

Self-hypnosis is a shortcut to the subconscious that offers opportunity to change your thought processes, helping you develop productive habits. You can stop over analyzing with the help of self-hypnosis.

I guess you read this article because you feel frustrated in one situation or another. I'll tell you a secret: not many people know how to deal with frustration. Like most people, I had frustrating periods in my life.

Now I laugh about those frustrations.

Dealing with frustration: Have more fun.

It is impossible to enjoy yourself and be frustrated at the same time. So go out in the weekend, play with your children or have a good time with your friends. On Monday, you will be much less frustrated at work. If your frustration concerns your relationship: take time for enjoying yourself (without forgetting your partner). You will be happier and that will have a positive effect on your relationship. If you have responsible tasks that frustrate you: make sure that you have a good time in other situations. When you get a happy feeling, your responsible task will seem much easier.

Dealing with frustration: Have more self-confidence.

People who are frustrated have the feeling that their situation is to difficult to deal with. So one solution to deal with this frustration is : build more self confidence. Two bits of advice for self confidence:

1. Say your affirmations. Sit and write down what you need to believe for self confidence. For example: I am self confident. I am able to deal with this situation. I love myself and I am good. Write your own affirmations and say them twice a day.

Dealing with frustration: Have more love.

Possibly your children are frustrating you. You are angry with your children, but you also feel love and you want to help them even when they do terrible things that frustrate you. If its your spouse who is frustrating you, you can still remember your love for her or him and you want to do everything to help.

When people at work are frustrating you, instead of hating them, consider loving them more. Love will heal more than you can imagine. Both in your family, your relationship and at work: have more love. Maybe you are so frustrated that you cannot feel love anymore. Then take a few minutes and sit in a chair. Imagine a star of light. Send this star of light to the person or the situation that is frustrating you. After you do this a few times you will be able to feel love again. Send your love to the person or the situation. You can be sure that you will receive it back one way or another.

So if you have to deal with frustration, try one, two or all three of these suggestions and your life will become much easier.

Shyness is feeling uneasy around people-strangers, those in authority, persons of the opposite sex, or even your peers. It is extreme self-consciousness that affects its victims in a variety of ways. Some get embarrassed; with eyes downcast and heart pounding, they find themselves unable to speak. Others lose their composure and begin to chatter continuously. Yet others find it hard to speak up and voice their opinions or preferences.

Understanding the problem is a good start to solving it. Shyness does not describe what you are; it describes your behavior, your reaction to situations, the pattern you have learned and reinforced through experiences with others. You think others are making negative judgments of you, that they don't like you. You think others are better or more normal than you. You think things will go all wrong if you try to relate to other people. You expect things to turn out badly, and they often do-because you tense up and act in harmony with your beliefs.

You can overcome shyness by

1. Wanting to change and believing that change is really possible -
Believe that the situation will change and work towards the change. Do not make the fear to hold you back from remedying the situation.

2. Replacing negative thoughts with positive action - you need to be positive about yourself and your surrounding and make this positive view of it make you feel free to mix up with others.

3. Setting realistic and meaningful goals for yourself - do not set very high standards and principle for yourself to handle to solve the problem. Be simple and clear to yourself.

4. Knowing how to relax and cope with anxiety - have a good time table and stay free of anxiety. Always be a relaxed person and learn to be in control of yourself and your emotions. This will do you the utmost good.

5. Rehearsing a situation beforehand - this will make the situation even if it occur, you will feel in control and can manage the situation as it is. But once the scenes you have rehearsed finishes then feel free to go with the flow.

6. Reaching out to show love and to help others - as you help other then you will have the chance to meet other people. As you know this will make people see you in your own world.

7. Remembering that differences of opinion exist and that others err too - in discussing with other or in a gathering with others know that even if your opinion is not accepted, it's no crime. You are just yourself. If things are not in variety in this world, it will not be really beautiful. Other are not perfectionists too they err to themselves and others too.

8. Dressing tastefully and acting with confidence - this make you feel and act with style and elegance that exudes confidence. When people complement you the way you dress, this makes you want to do more.

9. Gaining confidence by progressively successful experiences - Give yourself simple assignments in self-confidence and be true to be able to pass these personal assignments. These assignments can be simply greeting some one you don't know before and asking him/her their welfare. If you pass this them you can go to the next assignment. And the next too. Do not start from the high one first. Make it very simple

10. Practicing to increase skills and learn new ones -learning new skill can be helpful to free you from the chains of shyness. This will make you feel a different environment and make him/her feel a different thing.

In most famous personal development books, one will inevitably stumble across the following statement: "We only use 10% of our brain". In these books, there is of course reason for joy, because whatever system of thought or change is being taught will definitely remedy that problem. And if we only use 10% then that would explain war, anger, suffering, and all the other fun things in the world. And only some exceptional individuals, such as Einstein or DaVinci are thought to have risen above this low number. But, is that really true? Do we really only use 10% of our brain?

This idea seems to go back to somewhere at the beginning of the 20th Century. While different people are attributed to having said this, it is not even really clear where this comes from, but I know where it is going! Measuring the brain's activity has been done through a wide variety of different tests, from EEG (i.e.: brain wave activity as measure by electrical impulses) to fMRI (i.e.:taking pictures of hydrogen molecules resonating in the brain). fMRI allows researchers to take snap shot pictures of the brain and its activities in particular locations in the brain, and from this research it was found that all of the brain is being used. There was not one area that did not "light up". That strongly suggests that we are using all of our brain.

The brain in relation to the entire body is quite a small organ, accounting for only 2% of the total weight. Yet, at the same time, the brain requires 20% of the blood flow of the heart and an equal amount of available oxygen. From an evolutionary point of view, is it really plausible that such a demanding organ would only work at 10% of its capacity?

Many times it is said that if one area of the brain is damaged, another part of the brain can take over its function. Surely, this must mean that there are spare parts lying around, waiting to jump into action. Well, no! This just bears witness to the brains amazing ability to rewire itself, also known as neuroplasticity. This plasticity of the brain is very high in children, and although greatly diminished, still available to adults as well in degrees we thought impossible. The brain actually bears evidence to all our decisions in its very structure...

So, now comes the point where most people say:"Wait a minute, its not 10% of the brain, it is 10% of the mind!" My question is, how do you know? How can we even claim to measure the mind and the human potential? Hence, we leave the area of scientific claims, and end up in an almost philosophical discussion that is blurred by injecting scientifically sounding claims with percentages attached to them.

I believe (sic!) that we do have untapped potential, yet not in the form proponents of the 10% myth mean. I think it is not really how much of our mind we use, but how we use it. It is not about getting more (the everlasting vicious cycle of economy), but rather learning to use what we have in as many ways as possible. The more creative we are in using what we have, the more choices suddenly open up right in front of our own eyes. So don't aspire for more, aspire for creativity in using what is already there and that will give you all the "more" you can ever need!

"Yes, Dear- Let me call up .... uh, I can't remember his name"... !

" My wife asked me to pick up some items at the super market- but for the world of me, I can't remember what she said!".

Sounds common? It is. Most of us go through this situation day in and day out. And most of us, don't do anything about it. Why?

That is because we have been brought up this way. Memorize stuff! Dull, boring stuff. The brain cannot keep it in because it is - yeah- boring!!!

The brain & the studies being done around it- has led to one simple conclusion- and there is not debate about that. The Brain is COMPLEX. And to be successful, we have to keep it in a super working condition. How?

This confounded a lot of people till Tony Buzan came up in the world scene. And based on his studies, the hypothesis was simple. So simple, that most people don't even think it is possible!

The Brain is made up of 2 parts - the Left which is your Logical Portion- which takes care of Numbers, sequence, logic, words, lines, lists, analysis etc. The Right side of the brain is the more creative portion- which accounts for Rhythm, colour, shapes, imagination etc.

Right from school, our teachers, our parents teach us 1 thing - Stop dreaming and start doing!! We are forced to use the left more and more! As a result we end up without a balance.

Step 1: Use Both sides of your brain - All geniuses, who have created new things, written poems, have all been people who use both sides of the brain! This is the first step towards improving your memory! Start forcing yourself to think in Non sequential manner! How? more on that later.

Step 2: Start thinking colour (or color for our American friends). Do you remember things from your past - very happy occassions where you can visualize the dress you wore, you can "see" things in its original colours! The brain remembers Colour. Leverage that power!

Step 3 - Start thinking Pictures - Create pictures - colourful ones, ridiculous in their logic, things that you would not dare tell anyone else- but so completely delightful, that your brain enjoys itself.

Step 4: Start creating "Links" or chains! Do you have these birthday game where a number of items are dropped off a box for you to look at and then covered again. You are expected to write down what you remember. Most people dont remember more than 5-6 things! By linking things up- using a Story for example- can help people connect things together! Use both sides of your brain- and create completely absurd, illogical, colourful stories with pictures - and try to play this game again! You will be surprised!

Step 5: Learn the basics of Mindmapping - Mindmap is a tool that Buzan introduced- on how the brain works & stores information. It is a way of working the way the brain works and create a mindmap that uses, colours, links, pictures etc.. It will change the way you will look at the world- the way you work, the way you read, the way you remember! It has been proved time and again- and I want to introduce these 2 elements for you to consider.

This lesson of self-acceptance is one that took me a long time and many relationships to learn. Acceptance is an essential component of any relationship. It is critically important for you to accept yourself before you can accept anyone else. Acceptance is learning, understanding, and realizing that you are a gift worth receiving, and accepting that gift. This means not always striving to be someone else or always striving to be better.

What most people miss is that it is important to accept where you are now, so you are truly striving to become better, rather than striving to become someone else. Acceptance is being able to love and validate who you are, even the parts you would eventually like to change. By accepting each of these parts of ourselves, even the parts we want to change, it allows us to truly open up and accept others as they are. This creates and cultivates a lasting love.

There are a few factors I would encourage you to look at when dealing with the topic of acceptance:

• First, get to know yourself and what you believe in. Ask yourself these questions: Who are you? What is important to you in your life? What do you believe? These may seem like simple questions, but you would be surprised at how many people have never asked them of themselves.

• Second, check your integrity level. How honest are you currently with yourself? How honest are you with others? Do you always communicate your true desires and wants to others? What do you believe to be true about yourself? What are your goals? Do you honestly believe you can achieve your goals? Do you honestly feel you deserve them?

• Third, look at your current acceptance level. Do you openly accept yourself? Do you like yourself? Do you accept others? What characteristics do you like about yourself? Which ones would you like to change? Do you see a reason to love and accept yourself the way you are right now?

• Fourth, embrace the fact that you are doing the best you can with what you have. I believe that people sincerely do the best they can with the knowledge and resources they have at the time, especially when they are honest, open, and accepting of themselves and others. Giving you a break and acknowledging yourself for doing a great job now is acceptance. Let go of desires to do better, be better, or be different. This will allow you to see others in the same light, enriching all of your existing relationships as well as future relationships.

• Fifth, let go of any guilt that you may have. Guilt is a useless emotion. As far as love and acceptance are concerned; the emotion of guilt really holds no place. If you truly feel guilty about something, it is usually because you are not comfortable with a choice you have made. Instead of feeling the useless emotion of guilt, learn from the choices you have made and make different choices in the
future.

• Finally, understand your motivations. Understand your likes and dislikes about yourself. A desire to constantly grow, learn, and improve is honorable. Just make sure that you are simultaneously accepting and loving all areas of yourself, even the areas you want to change.

Relationships where one or both parties aren't truly able to be themselves are destined for failure. You will quickly realize that you can't live in-authentically. Your energy is so much better served if people are allowed to be themselves and love and grow together for who they are. Once you are able to master acceptance, you are well on your way to finding enriching, fulfilling relationships with all.

If you're the typical Indian family, you're probably part of a two-couple household, both of whom work, maybe with a few children still at home. Or becoming more typical is the single working person either working outside the home or running a home-based business. Whichever category you fall into, the fact is, we are all very busy and often what, where, when, and how we eat is on the low end of the priority list.

However, with more and more information becoming evident about how what we put in our bodies affects our health, we should be more concerned with what, where, when, and how we eat. To that end, I'm suggesting a little time spent in meal planning can go a long way.

Pick some time each week when you can set aside a few hours to plan ahead. This small amount of time will wind up saving you more time-as well as money and health in the long run. Here are some suggestions on how to create a menu plan:

1. Choose the same few hours each week to plan your menu. Good times might be Saturdays from 10am to noon or Sundays from 4pm to 6pm. Pick the same time each week and it will soon become a routine once you have the planning strategy worked out.

2. Create a chart with 7 columns for each day of the week and 6 rows for 3 meals and 3 snacks. Vary this to fit your particular needs, then make 4 copies for one month. Before the last week of the month, make 4 copies for the next month. This is easy to do if you create the chart on your computer in Ms Word or Excel.

3. Fill in the blanks as much as you can with your selections for each meal. You may want to leave some spaces blank for spontaneity. Doing this will take some time as you want to consider health concerns, family members' preferences and allergies, their schedules, any budgetary or time constraints, and any other factors that may be specific to your needs. Also, you might want to experiment with one new recipe each week to add variety.

4. Economize time and resources. Planning ahead allows you to design your menu so you can, for example, bake a casserole on Sunday night and have leftovers on Monday and Tuesday. You can read the grocery store ads and take advantage of specials; you can go to the farmer's market to purchase the local produce that's in season.

5. Learn how you can eat healthier. When planning your weekly menu, you have the opportunity to start eating healthier. That might mean cutting back on red meat, adding more fresh vegetables, or introducing some new foods like tofu or salmon, that your family has never eaten before. Because there are several theories on what constitutes healthy eating, choose a few to examine and then test them on your family. It can get confusing as to whether red wine or coffee are beneficial or harmful, but let your body be the testing ground and see what fuels you and feels good to you. It's best to stay informed and see what makes sense.

Lastly, planning your menu ahead will save you time, money, and health because you'll be eating out less. The average family eats out or brings home prepared foods at least three times per week. It may seem like eating prepared food is saving time, but it's not saving money and you don't know how healthy the food is since you didn't prepare it yourself. And if you plan ahead, you will save time by being organized, with less trips to the grocery, and less meal preparation. Your family's health is worth it, isn't it?