I am 60 years old. Six months ago I tried
an experiment - using simple memory techniques - to see if it were possible to
learn about a wide raft of subjects about which I had no prior knowledge and no
real interest: these included sport, pop, celebrities, soaps and other forms of
popular culture.
I am appalled at how little I knew – it was as if I’d had my
head buried in the sand since the middle sixties, filled only with raising
children and working.
Now, however, I know a bit about punk, glam rock, boy bands
and girl bands. I know a bit about golf, darts, football, cricket, baseball,
American football, athletics and the Olympics. I know a bit about films and celebrities
and who they married and what they called their children. I even know a bit
about soaps although I have yet to watch one.
I am thrilled with the results. They are
better than I deserve considering the vast quantities of wine that I’ve imbibed
over the last 40+ years. My synapses are polishing up nicely and with each new
snippet of information, the connections become shinier, brighter and stronger.
If only I’d been taught these techniques in school: I was, at best, a mediocre student. If I had known that learning could be so easy I might have had more
confidence in my own abilities. I might have reached out for the impossible and found out much earlier, what I now know very well - that all things are possible.
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