Blog 790 – 10.10.2017

Now I Remember

Most of us no matter our age from time to time have a bit of trouble recalling some bit of information from our often over taxed brains. It is seldom early onset Alzheimer’s or dementia but just “the human condition.” We so quickly forget or at least we think we do.

Some years ago I attended a management seminar where the speaker, a memory expert, taught us a few tricks to quickly remember things. He said one of the biggest things that causes a blockage to our memory is “trying to force it.” If I had the karaoke music for it I would sing and record Frank Sinatra’s “Nice And Easy” for you at this point. And though the Universe appreciates your thanks, you need not say, “Thank God” quite so loud. You may rue that remark someday when I am a renowned vocalist. Softer please with the, “In your dreams.” They are my dreams and by God (exactly) I mean to make them come true. I can hear you laughing even here in far Wisconsin. Back to my story, the memory expert illustrated his point about trying to force ourselves to remember. He said it is like walking up to the desk of a large library and writing your request for a book on a note and giving it to the librarian then each time he or she gets a few feet away from the desk calling them back to make the same request over and over short circuiting the process. He went on to say, “Make your request, then tell yourself, ‘I will remember’ and leave it at that. You will be pleasantly surprised how much quicker the sought after information will come to you.”

I had cause to use his system this past weekend. For the life of me I could not recall the famous name behind the famous voice. I knew he did Darth Vader’s voice. I could hear him in my head saying, “This is CNN” and “Arby’s, we’ve got the meat.” What got me started on my memory search was sharing a bit of trivia that I did easily remember when sharing with someone about a favorite movie, “Absolute Power” with Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, and several other great actors. One of which, Dennis Haysbert, is also famous not only for playing bad guys in the movies but for his voice work, most notably as spokesman for Allstate, “You’re in good hands.” And also for introducing a weekly news program, “Television’s longest running news show, this is Meet The Press.”

I started trying to recall the name behind the other even more famous black voice on Saturday afternoon and I am ashamed to admit how poorly I followed the process. I must have called back that librarian a thousand times. We are so used to just Googling everything that we have even the slightest trouble remembering. Early Monday morning I woke up still bugging the librarian impatiently and I had given up and was typing “Darth Vader’s vo…” when it came to me clear as a bell and nice and easy – James Earl Jones. And with the name another thought, “I wonder if he ever thinks his name is too similar to another James Earl who killed a King?”

You see I don’t think we need Google to remember for us. We only need to remember that we all have access to the One Great Mind where we are all loved and remembered and where we are not required to read commercial pop ups in order to access that mind.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White