Proposal 2 : Mastering names

To find the names of people and things is both a social necessity and a pleasure. Some people have no problem with this, but others need to maintain this ability, which serves us so well.

Here are a few ways that you can try, according to the difficulties you are experiencing.

- - - - - - - Names of things

One game would be to put a name to everything you see in your kitchen, your workshop, your office…

Another would be to name all the flowers in your garden, the trees in the park nearby…

While shopping, quickly name all the “things” you see as you go past the displays

Sometimes we have difficulty recalling the names of even the most familiar objects.

Crosswords, scrabble, sodoku and other word and number games are excellent for stimulating a memory that has become lazy. Games like Trivial Pursuit are also good for refreshing your memory, and this sort of social game suits some people better than games played alone

- - - - - - - People’s names

Take a photo album and put a name to all the people in it; put a date on event and identify the places where the photos were taken.

Take a magazine and name all the people featured : politicians, film and TV stars… At night, before going to bed, recall the names of all the people you met during the day, especially those whose names you have just learnt, as they are likely to be the first ones to be forgotten

If you have insomnia, try this: take a member of your family and find his or her date of birth, the names of his or her parents, children, spouse; think of the children and what classes they are in; try and remember what you know about each child. You can be sure that sleep will overtake you before you have been through your whole family. On the other hand, you will be the one to consult when it comes to explaining family relationships !

If a name still escapes you, take the time to find an association to help recall it without hesitating. Link this name to a place-name, deform it or make it sound ridiculous. These extremes facilitate memorisation. But be careful not to make a mistake and give the funny name instead of the right one !

- - - - - - - - Place names

Mentally retrace your journey to work. Think of the train or bus stops, taking the time to go into as much detail as possible. Take out the photos of your last trip and try to name all the places you took care to immortalise.

Simply take the main street in your district and try to think of all the shops in order, one after the other. If you can’t remember one, go on to the next. You will find time during the day to recollect the missing one or to go and check it in the street.

If a name won't stay easy, especially when you are travelling. The techniques are always the same : break down, associate, caricature, ridicule, deform; use all these tricks, even the silliest ones: the crazier it is, the better it works. The time will come when we can forget these prompts because the whole name will come spontaneously. The main thing is not to give up. The memory can always retain what we want to put in it.