Memories and Mnemonics

For this Pokémon blog, I often get my ideas on the spot, which means I have to keep them handy somehow. I've explained the use of drafts in another post, but even with them, I have to also rely on memory, especially if I can't access my blog to quickly put up a draft so I won't forget. That seems to be a variable thing, and I've lost some draft ideas occasionally because I can't keep them in my memory long enough before I can access my blog to put the ideas up as drafts. However, there is something that may help in this regard.

A popular technique for memory improvement is the use of mnemonics, by which chunks of information, particularly trivia or bits and pieces of knowledge, are condensed and given a linkage, preferably in the form of a vivid image. This is often done for information for materials that are being studied academically by students, such as history, science, and others. As such, this is a technique popularized in self-help books for them, as I've found by looking over them. Beyond academics, this is (conceivably) also a technique that can apply to and be used regularly for other things.

As expected, one of those things would be Pokémon. At a simple level, these could be used for simple memorization of appearances and names. A mnemonic I often use is "MAU RBY, UMA", which relates to Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, the "Lake Trio"; the part before the comma refers to their appearance, with Mesprit being red (R), Azelf being blue (B), and Uxie being yellow (Y), while the part after refers to their Pokédex order. This is extremely helpful for keeping in line the details of these three beings, which look a lot alike and can potentially be confusing. More enterprising people can use mnemonics for advanced things like stats and other particulars.

Of course, there is also the potential for Pokémon to also be used as the mnemonics themselves for memorization of other things. If vivid imagery can be created with things that aren't even Pokémon to begin with, then it can stand to be reasoned that Pokémon can also be used to assist in creating vivid images. This might be even more helpful to fans, especially really big fans like me. Now the scenario is clear: if I have an idea for a blog post, I can think about a mnemonic for it involving Pokémon to keep it in mind until I can put it up as a draft on this blog and develop it.

The inception of mnemonics as a memory technique is clever, thought-forming, and sensible. It keeps things distinct yet memorable. It becomes a bit of a wonder why I as a big Pokémon fan don't use the technique more often - and with a Pokémon twist - for things that I need to keep in mind, like ideas for posts on this blog. It might help to do so before I get out of touch with them. Given that I don't expect to get out of touch with Pokémon, I'm sure that through mnemonics for my memory, I can definitely stay in touch with it and other things beyond.

One year ago: Pokémon Clocks
Two years ago: (It's a Wonderful) Local Ex-Raid, 2/8/2018
Three years ago: Serena-Shipping: "Heaven Help My Heart"