Dubai: Most people use only a fraction of their mental capacities.
And even if one is born with a bad memory that interferes with utilising the full faculty of the brain, it can easily be strengthened using special memory-enhancing techniques.
That's an unsolicited assurance from an 82-year-old memory improvement expert, who is now set to embark on a coaching drive among students in the United Arab Emirates.
Dr Francis Xavier, an Indian pioneer of the so-called memory movement, also known as the father of the popular Memory Filing System (MFS), says he is on a mission to help people develop their mental capacities through motivation — and the UAE is his next destination.
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Dr Xavier can register and reproduce 100-digit numbers within 7 to 8 minutes.
Quick recall
He also has more than a 100 telephone numbers, 400 stories, the entire periodical table with atomic weights and several other things on quick recall.
He is also capable of remembering 2,200 years worth of calender dates and is able to reproduce the first Sunday of the month for all these 2,200 years (1800-4000 AD).
Explaining how he exercised his memory to reach such a high point, Dr Xavier said, “I was born with a very poor memory, something that people can inherit, but that didn’t stop me from developing it. I want to tell people that they can become memory masters by developing their ability to remember.”
Dr Xavier has authored 15 books and held seminars on memory improvement all over the world for 55 years.
He is making his debut in the UAE on March 31 at the Grand Excelsior Hotel in Dubai and on April 1 at Grand Excelsior Hotel in Sharjah to specifically teach students how to boost their memory.
The training programmes, to be conducted under the title “Ignite the spark of genius in your child’, are designed to make students ‘exam-ready masterminds’.
Techniques
Though there are many memory systems people can use to boost their memory, such as creative visualisation or rote-learning based on repetition, the MFS technique can be used as a filing system, Dr Xavier said.
“We are not born with this system in our brain. The capacity of memorising is not the same with everybody, but using this technique, people can have stronger memories and retrieve things [mentally] without difficulty,” he said. With MFS, people can remember 100-digit numbers, he added.
“Unfortunately, in schools and colleges, they don’t teach students techniques to memorise. Such a system can help students remember points and not the word by word recall from the textbook. This means they are capable of writing their answers in their own language, not in the language of the book,” he explained.
The seminars brought to the UAE by Future Point Children Centre will cover various topics including creative memory, scientific study techniques, revision technique, 5SQR technique, powerful technique to triple reading speed, scientific handwriting improvement, how to set high goals, boost brain power, develop concentration and will power, improve self-control, confidence and courage, Dr Xavier added.
In summary, he said, “The technique [works like] a creative memory file.”
It teaches people to make a number of different files containing the facts they want to remember.
Each file can then be linked to people they are emotionally attached to, such as their mother, father and/or someone else.
