Do you frequently walk into a room and forget why you were going there? Some of us have problems with remembering names and faces. The ability to do well on tests or promotional exams often hinges on the ability to retain and then recall information. Despite its importance, how to improve memory is a topic that is often overlooked in our education.

Memory can be broken down into three basic components: imprint, retention and recall. Imprint is when we encounter a new piece of information that we would like to store in the memory banks. Retention is the degree to which this information creates a memorable and lasting impression or not. Finally, recall is the ability to retrieve the retained information at will. Any of these three phases can be the culprit in a memory lapse.

Here are some tips that can help you improve memory.

Pay Attention- Sometimes people blame their recall abilities when a given fact escapes them when really the error occurred during the imprint phase. If you are not paying attention, chances are you will not remember. Part of the problem is the we are continually bombarded by trivial messages courtesy of the mass media. Attention follows interest, if something is important to remember, remind yourself of that at that time.

Make Associations. Neurologists tell us that the individual brain cells actually make physical connections with other brain cells in response to new associations. The more associations you make with a piece of information, the more likely it will be retained. Just met someone named Richard and you want to be sure you remember his name? It would be pretty hard to forget if you created a mental image of Richard Nixon putting his arm around this new acquaintance while he said, “I am not a crook, and my friend Richard here isn’t here either!” The more colorful and comical an association is, the more easily it will be retained.

Get Enough Rest. Sleep deprivation and fatigue are proven to dampen all phases of memory. Elite military units intentionally create conditions of mental and physical exhaustion during the training and selection of new recruits to see if they can function properly under those circumstances, many cannot and are dropped from the program. Memory problems are one of the early warning signs that stress has gotten out of hand. Make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, rest and recreation.

Stay Hydrated and Oxygenated. All of the organs of the body require copious amounts of water and oxygen to function at their best, especially the brain. Many of the health problems encountered the elderly are due to dehydration, including memory lapse. The brain uses a lion’s share of the oxygen brought into the body. Make sure your living and work spaces are well-ventilated. Deep breathing exercises as taught in yoga can also improve memory and mind power.

Watch Out for Negative Beliefs. A person gets to a certain age and it is almost inevitable he will begin to complain about the memory starting to get foggy. This is not to say that dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are not real maladies. However, the power of self-suggestion can impair memory in an otherwise healthy person.

A popular routine amongst stage hypnotists is to suggest to a receptive volunteer, “in a moment the number between 6 and 8 will disappear, you will try very hard to remember it, but it will remain a blank until I snap my fingers.” Lo and behold the number does seem disappear for awhile, where the otherwise intelligent person cannot answer “what is four plus three?” The volunteer still has a perfectly fine brain, the power of belief just created a temporary and amusing memory lapse. Use positive affirmations like “my memory and mind-power grow stronger each and every day” to combat negative thoughts and beliefs.

James Malone is a Certified Hypnotist from Point Pleasant, NJ and the publisher of the insanely popular Creative Calm online newsletter. NJ. Do you remember why you read this article? Hint: its because you want to improve your memory! Will you remember to visit the theholisticmall.com/_wsn/page16.html Improve Memory Resource Page later on or should you just visit there now to learn even more?

Most people realize the importance of regularly checking their financial balance sheet, whether it’s in their business or personal life, but how many of us maintain and check our energy balance sheet? I suggest it may be at least as valuable as the financial one.

Here’s how to do it:

Observe and record for at least one week what drains your energy and what adds to your energy and well-being. Energy drainers are often those stress-producing attitudes and reactions to daily occurrences, while energy boosters are the energy-accumulating attitudes and responses.

Notice that you’re looking more at your reaction and responses to situations rather than the situations themselves, although you may find certain patterns and situation/reaction combos where a certain situation invariably and consistently leads to a reaction or response.

For example, sustained loud noise may consistently lead to an outburst of anger, while walking around in nature may consistently lead to a sense of peace and well-being.

As you pinpoint each deficit go to your heart center and ask how to turn that deficit into an asset. Commit to taking action on at least one deficit each week. Before you know it, you’ll experience a rejuvenation of energy that you can then apply to your life — your life on purpose.

©2005 Brad Swift of Life On Purpose Institute, Inc.
This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

Dr. Brad Swift founded Life On Purpose Institute in 1996 with the vision of creating a World On Purpose by assisting people like yourself to clarify their life purpose & live true to it. Determine how on or off purpose your life is with the fun & insightful Self Test at:
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Are you striving for personal and professional success and not reaching your goals? Do you feel you deserve success? Could it be that you feel guilty about something you did or did not do that is causing you to feel bad about yourself and sabotage all your efforts?

I am convinced that 99% of us are blocking our health, happiness, and success because we do not believe we deserve it. I learned about this common unconscious fear as I was counseling clients as a Marriage, Family Therapist. I was surprised to discover that this negative thought was preventing men, women, and children from reaching their goals.

When I assisted clients of all ages to overcome this major self-defeating thought, they were able to make the changes they desired.

I also know that we are all basically good, because clients who were not even caught doing something wrong still felt guilty, and punished themselves by sabotaging their success.

An example of this is Joan, a fifty-year-old woman, who made a lot of money and then lost it all. To help Joan, I guided her through the HART process (Holistic And Rapid Transformation). I asked her to close her eyes and say, “I can’t be successful, because ____,” and finish the sentence. Joan replied, “I can’t be successful, because I am bad.” I then said, “Go back the time you decided that you were bad.” Joan saw herself stealing money out of her parents’ cash register when she was ten years old. No one caught her, but she still felt guilty, and she was punishing herself forty years later.

I then asked Joan to imagine that her parents were there in the store and to speak to them. She said, “Mom and Dad, I am really sorry. Please forgive me.” Then Joan imagined that they were forgiving her and she forgave herself. At that point, she sighed with relief and said, “Wow! I have been carrying that around for a long time.”

We can feel guilty about anything no matter how long ago it happened. It is important to become aware of anything we believe was wrong. Then we can stop punishing ourselves by letting it go with forgiveness.

Another example of this fear of success is the case of a seventeen-year-old athlete. Rick was doing very well in sports until he fell and severely hurt his knee. Rick realized that when his parents spanked him as a young child he had decided that he must be a bad person. Therefore, Rick concluded that he did not deserve to be successful.

I have found that men or women, who leave a relationship or other commitment, very often feel guilty. Jim, a thirty-six-year-old man, had left his wife and children two years ago. He was still feeling depressed and unhappy in his work and new relationship.

To assist Jim, I asked him to close his eyes and imagine that he was a judge in a courtroom. He was looking at an image of himself as the prisoner, who was up for parole. I said, “Judge, tell the prisoner what he did wrong and what his sentence should be.” Jim replied, “You are a terrible person. You left your wife and children. I am sentencing you to a lifetime of misery!”

I continued, “Okay, Jim. Send him back to prison for life.” But then the judge answered, “No! I want you to have three more years of pain.” “All right,” I said. Then the judge Jim continued, “No. Today is Jim’s birthday. He has suffered enough. Prisoner Jim, you are free to go and be happy,”

This empowering process assisted Jim to let go of his guilt, leave his self-made prison, and go on with his life. That is what we all need to do. Only then can we believe that we deserve success and happiness. Only then can we allow ourselves to reach our goals. The truth is you deserve health, happiness, and success. Go for it!

©2007 Helene Rothschild, MS, MA, MFT, is a Marriage, Family Therapist, intuitive counselor, speaker, and author. The article is excerpts from her new book, “ALL YOU NEED IS HART!” She offers phone sessions, teleclasses, books, e-books, MP3 audios, tapes, posters, independent studies, and a free newsletter.

You can hear the ringing of the alarm in the distance, you feel too tired to drag yourself from the bed to shut it off. You have slept for hours yet still don’t feel rested. Slowly you push your weary self from the bed. The last thing you feel like doing is fronting up for your shift. You feel absolutely drained; mentally, physically and emotionally. You are running on empty. You started your nursing career full of zeal and zest but the reality of the constant caring and the demands of the work environment are far removed from your expectations. When you think about it you can see you are in a downward spiral. You have been avoiding making decisions and getting involved in your life. There certainly is no eagerness left for your job and just barely enough for your relationships outside of work. The passion is gone. You literally feel like you have nothing more to give, overwhelmed even with the demands of nursing or perhaps experiencing feelings of sadness, anger or indifference. If this situation rings true for you or someone you know – then professional burnout may be the culprit.

According to Maslach (1) burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased personal accomplishment that may occur in those occupations that work with people on a daily basis. From a nursing perspective burnout is experienced by nurses throughout the world and throughout the variety of clinical practice settings.

Causes of burnout
There is no doubt that nursing has innate stressors and the very nature of the work and the work environment holds a risk of professional burnout. How that risk unfolds is a complex interrelationship between multiple factors which include:

*The work: nurses deal on a daily basis with the best and worst of all life and death entails and a multitude of in betweens.

*Working conditions: work load pressures, patient demands, power imbalances in the ‘team’ environment, staff shortages which compound the workload pressures, shift work and consequent impact on fatigue levels. Consider also that at times nurses experience violence and even threats to their life as a simple fact of their everyday work environment.

*A unrelenting sense of responsibility, this feeling that you need to help and assist – often in circumstances of funding constraints and workforce shortages it is impossible for you to deliver. There is often lack of clarity about just what it is you need to do to be a ‘good’ nurse.

*What nurse’s experience on a day to day basis if often far removed from what they thought and were promised when they entered nursing.

*Nurses and their competence are often over scrutinized and under supported. Even in this day of enlightenment we are still subjected to the blame and train the nurse mentality when anything goes wrong.

*Talented boss or not? Does you boss have skills in leadership, team building and engagement? Are they prepared to say no to the hierarchy when their team is under resourced and over pressured? Do they recognize and respect that you have a life outside of nursing? If so you are one of the lucky ones and this will probably be reflected in the burnout statistics for your work area.

*The nurse and their own individual circumstance and set of coping resources and supports.

Burnout perspectives

Patients and Consumers of nursing services

Interestingly given that most of us pursue nursing as a career because we want to care and assist people we need to be mindful of the fact that professional burnout can negatively impact the care provided to the very people we intend to help — the patient!!

Nurses

There is great privilege in being able to support someone through the best and worst of what life has to offer. There are however also great risks for the nurses own health in doing so, day in and day out. In essence; nursing is absolutely one of the most stress filled occupations around and professional burnout can have dire consequences to nurses.

Nursing Leaders

Be mindful that burnout will eventually cause withdrawal from the activity associated with the burnout. In case burnout amongst nurses hasn’t caught your attention yet consider that in 2002 a US National Institutes of Health (2) study reported that there was a 23% increase in burnout for each additional patient to nurse ratio and of those nurses who experience burnout a whooping 43% said they were planning to leave their job within the next year. Such statistics are a call for action if any organisation intends to attract and keep its nursing workforce. Professional burnout is real and it has serious consequences for nurses and patients as well as nursing and health care leaders. We will explore strategies and solutions in Part 2 Burnout Solutions.

(1) Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (2)National Institutes of Health. (2002). More surgical patients die when nurses caseloads increase.

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