Don’t you hate that? You are in the middle of a sales presentation, or telling a funny story and suddenly, you can’t think of what comes next! Try as you might, the mind’s gone blank and you have no idea how to finish.
It happened to me in a very public way many years ago, and I can still remember the occasion now. I was a competitive dancer and I had practiced and practiced a spectacular new step. I couldn’t wait to perform it as one of a series of six different dance movements.
All was going well until I came to the point where the new step was to be performed and I stopped. My mind was a blank. You see, I’d practiced the step on its own and not in sequence, so under the pressure of competition, my memory couldn’t cope.
Pressure on your memory comes from many quarters: when you’re tense, afraid or in panic; when you’re under pressure, multi-tasking or feel angry, emotionally charged or under threat. Feelings of loneliness, insecurity or confusion can all lead to mental blocks and, in the midst of the ever-increasing pace of our technological world, these blank moments occur in even the youngest of adults. What is usually happening is that the sustained release of adrenalin actually decreases the efficiency of essential brain connections required for you to remember well. Your memory is a complex and amazing set of reactions and processes which work best when you are not stressed and operating in ‘normal’ mode.
So what can be done to clear a mental block?
Firstly, it’s important to check that there is nothing physical causing the condition, particularly if it is happening more frequently than twice a week. Stress , if sustained over a long period of time, can cause mental blocks, so honestly evaluate how you rate on a stress questionnaire.
Relaxation is a key factor in clearing mental blocks, so take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. Rotate your shoulders and loosely shake your arms and hands to relieve tension. Don’t panic – if you are in a public situation, make a humorous comment and move on. Find another way to continue and, chances are, the lost thought will pop back into your mind seconds later.
Thinking about the task you were undertaking in a different way will sometimes clear the block, also. Reframing your thinking and looking at other possibilities will also give you new brain connections to approach the task.
A famous problem was solved when the makers of hotel elevators tried to overcome the many complaints they received about the slowness of even their newest elevators. After spending a lot of time analyzing the machinery and the physical impact on patrons of increased elevator speeds, some clever thinkers redefined the problem. Why did hotel guests complain? Why did the lifts seems so slow? Answer: Because they had nothing to do while they were waiting! When visible screens indicated the progress of the elevator, and mirrors were installed inside and outside the elevators, the complaints ceased.
Trust your brain – given the right conditions, your brain will remember. If you can control the factors surrounding you at the time, mental blocks will be a thing of the past. Or, if they occur, you know what to do. Relax, laugh, reframe and respond.
For more information, read Keep that Boomer Brain Growing
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This article was reproduced with permission of its author Gillian Eadie, founder of the Brain and Memory Foundation. Gillian is an award-winning educator with more than 20 years as a principal at several prestigious private schools and is a Churchill Fellow. For more free help and personal advice on How Stress Affects the Human Brain link to this article. You’ll find more about memory loss and improving your memory when you visit the http://brainandmemoryfoundation.org
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