Category Archives: memory lapse

Falling Off the Thought-Train

There is a common human disease, which I have decided has nothing to do with age, gender, religion, race, country of birth, country of residence, or financial status. As for many humans, this disease disturbs and frustrates me and so I have given a bit of thought to the phenomenon.  Here is what I’ve come up with so far.

Symptom:

Arriving in a room, or moving to a new location in a room, or leaving your house & not remembering why you made “the move.”

Possible Reasons:

  1. Sleep walking
  2. Short attention span
  3. Short-term memory issue
  4. Day-dreaming
  5. Not focused
  6. Interrupted on way to new location

Actual Reason:

  1. When you are engaged in Task One, idea for Task Two pops into Mind
  2. Mind determines where Task Two must be completed
  3. Mind gives limbs signal when to move—immediately, when current task is complete, or at particular time—and where to go to complete Task Two
  4. Idea for Task Three pops into Mind, but limbs are on the move or scheduled to move to Task Two location
  5. Alarm clock for scheduled move to Task Two occurs and limbs move as ordered
  6. Body arrives at Task Two location, but Mind has already sent details of Task Two to Archives & is clueless upon arrival—Mind essentially got off the Task Two Thought-Train too soon

Recourse:

  1. Stand in middle of new location—frozen in place so Mind can search Archives for any recent task associated with new location
  2. When search fails—as it usually does—return to previous location (if you can remember where that was) and stand frozen in place until Mind reviews previous task which lead to the idea for Task Two coming into Mind
  3. If step 3 is successful, go to location for Task Two and complete task
  4. If step 3 fails, forget about Task One and Task Two and proceed to Task Three—assuming Mind is still on Task Three Thought-Train

Please note there are no prescription or over-the-counter medications or group therapies which can prevent or cure this disease. A glass of Chardonnay, however, makes it more tolerable.