It seems that the area of forgetting is part of the lands of the elders. But forgetting is an interesting subject for anyone.
I read about the golfers who complained that their elderly caddy could not see well enough. This time they wanted a caddy with good eyesight. "Did you see where that drive went, Caddy?" "Yes, I did." "Great! Where is it?" "I forget."
The Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith, was once close to the manly Russian visitor, years ago. "How close were you?" "I forget."
It is difficult to tell whether an assertion of forgetting is true. Personally, I like the idea that as the decades slide by and more and more of life becomes a single stream, that even something as exciting and basic as a love affair might actually be forgotten.
I think there is speculation that every sight, sound, smell, touch and thought is hidden in the brain somewhere but that finding them and recalling them is iffy. I have read that it is a good thing we forget so we aren't overwhelmed with thoughts and memories. I have also read that recent research indicates that the business of going into another room but forgetting why when you are there is triggered by passing through a doorway. I keep meaning to remind myself of my mission before leaving the room but I forget.
I do enjoy some work on my habits, physical and mental. I might focus on leaving the room deal and learn to pause before exiting the room to give myself a reminder. I realize that I won't know I have failed to do that until I am elsewhere and puzzled but this is an old problem. Back in psych grad school, we learned about Edwin Guthrie and his work on situations where training is aimed at changing behavior before an important event occurs. Maybe I will put a sign on my doorways to remind me to pause and rehearse my mission before exiting a room.
There are people who try to outperform each other in Olympian contests of memory, such as memorizing the arbitrary order of a deck of playing cards. Books such as "Moonwalking with Einstein" by Joshua Foer can help you get started in such activities if you are of a mind to. I am much better at remembering book titles, author and quotations than remembering family birthdays. I don't learn or remember the records of the outstanding and 'instanding' members of the Packer football team.
Just the other day, I saw a list of things we tell ourselves that don't hold up. One of the items was "I don't need to write that down. I'll remember it." I do write things down more than I used to but I forget where the note is.
