Page:Memory; how to develop, train, and use it - Atkinson - 1919.djvu/139

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
To Remember Places
133

direction, locality and position of those places, and the best way to reach them. Before long you would be a veritable reference book regarding those special places. Or, if your sweetheart were waiting for you in some such place, you would do likewise. The whole thing lies in the degree of “want to” regarding the matter. Desire awakens interest; interest employs attention; and attention brings use, development and memory. Therefore you must first want to develop the faculty of Locality—and want to “hard enough.” The rest is a mere matter of detail.

One of the first things to do, after arousing an interest, is to carefully note the landmarks and relative positions of the streets or roads over which you travel. So many people travel along a new street or road in an absent-minded manner, taking no notice of the lay of the land as they proceed. This is fatal to place-memory. You must take notice of the thoroughfares and the things along the way. Pause at the cross roads, or the street-corners and note the landmarks, and the general directions and relative positions, until they are firmly imprinted on your mind. Begin to