Ever walked into a room and forgot what you went there for? Feels pretty funky, huh? Even worse is when we can’t remember where we put that thing we really need right now. Luckily, we’ve got a few ideas to help turn that around…
Here are three hacks to help you remember where you put your things:
Designate A Specific Place For Items
When it comes to losing things, sometimes it’s just easier to have a designated spot to put them. After all, we are creatures of habit. By assigning a spot and habitually placing easy to lose items there – voila! No more wondering where we left that one thing. Start simple by clearing out a drawer, or repurposing a bin to conceal clutter and keep track of your stuff. Some people even allocate an area for the things that don’t have a place, yet might be needed at a later time. Things like mail, items we are given – like flyers or announcements, nick-nacks and doodads might need their own bin or storage too. It’s all about having a reference point for where a certain item may have been organized. You got this!
Recall Meditatively
Have you ever run through the house trying to retrace your steps as you look for something you lost? Frantically rushing from one place to the next, trying to remember, is where most of us start. But clearly, it doesn’t always work. So that’s why we have this next step: recalling meditatively. To do this, one chooses to relax into a deeper more meditative state before recalling where the item was last seen. Visualizing yourself retracing your steps in a meditative manner allows the mind to calmly explore memories that might not be so easily accessed when in a state of chaos or helplessness. Check out how your emotions can really help lead you through your meditative visualization next, by using…
Memory Encoding and Emotional Memory
One of the best ways to keep from losing things is to encode a small memory as you set things down. Memory encoding is the first step to creating a new memory. The process of keeping a memory starts with attention. Emotions tend to increase our attention – which is why it’s much easier to have emotional memory lead us to the memory of where we left something.
The first step to encode a memory, whenever you place something down, is to mindfully acknowledge to yourself where it’s at. For example, “I’ve set my keys on the living room table.” Repeating this to ourselves a few times will encode a small memory that is more reliable than our inherent memory. The next part is to think about how we feel in this moment. When we think about the feeling again, it will remind us of where we put our keys because we are linking the memory to the emotion. Pretty cool, huh?
We hope you have a wonderful day, and maybe even picked up a few new tools for the next time you place something. 🙂
