all in the mind

Your natural memory is the result of an exceedingly intricate
network of retention of facts, ideas, and physical activity--all of which
are learned through sensory perception, and then stored in your mind
and limitlessly cross-referenced, for future use. This is how it
happens:
Facts
“Camembert just had six kittens.” That sentence tells you, first of all,
the fact that six kittens have begun to exist. It also reveals, in the
word “just,” the fact that their birth was quite recent. But, because of
your mind’s retention of other facts, previously learned, the sentence
tells you even more-you know that Camembert is a cat, and that the
kittens are her offspring, and that she is a lady cat. You know these
things because of your previous knowledge that kittens--baby cats-are
descended from female cats... information which comes from your
mind’s ability to register facts.

Abstract Ideas:

Now, what is a cat? Can you picture one in your mind? Unless you
know Camembert, your impression of “cat” will probably not be an
accurate picture of Camembert herself ... but still, you have a very
good idea of her basic parts, at least. This impression is the image of
an abstract idea, one built on a whole slew of impressions in your past
involving cats and cat-ness. Then, too, how many are “six”? One more
than you have toes on a foot, three and three, one less than days in a
week, half-a-dozen... another abstract idea that is so well documented
in your mind that you need give the word- and the concept- no more
thought than it takes you to think of what letter follows “G” in the
alphabet.

Motor activity

If you swim, or ride a bicycle, or climb up a step ladder to get
things off a high shelf, or move you arm to avoid putting your hand
into flame, or walk, I’m sure that you don’t spend every active
moment thinking about these things; they come to you so naturally
that you don’t even have to give them thought. If you type, no doubt
you can now type many more words in a minute than was the case the
very first time you tried a typewriter. But that took time and practice.
Through repeated experience, effort and practice, your mind comes to
retain memory of motor activity.
But all this mental memory-activity is only a part of the total picture.
Remember, our definition of memory plainly calls for all means of
making information available.

MEMORY TRICKS

Your life is touched by a never-ending barrage of sensory
impressions-a continuous attack by countless little “sense-arrows,”
which invade your body through eyes and ears, mouth, nose and
fingertips...all over you! These impressions crash the gates and head
straight for your brain, there to be sorted and filed for future
reference.
As you read this page, vision sensarrows are carrying its message
to your brain; and because your mind is aware of your overall general
goal, everything is being filed under the heading of “memory” ...
“making mine better.” That, then, is your target: success at gathering
information about the psychological aspects of memory, and utilizing it
to strengthen your own ability to remember. Or, turning the minds
own habits to your practical advantage, much like a matador studies
the bull’s style of charging and turning, and then uses this knowledge
to help him turn in a better performance during the corrida.
A helpful image

To better visualize several of the basic aspects of your memory’s
“style” try this: imagine your sensarrows to be solid things; some will
be larger than others, thus less difficult to locate in your mental filing
cabinet. Then, too, should several arrows bunch together, the resulting
cluster would be much easier to find then a lone and lonely arrow.
Using this image as a starting-point, let’s begin to analyze your
mind’s memory habits, and see if they don’t afford a few suggestions
for strengthening your ability to remember.
Opening the drawer

Before those sensarrows can get into your mental filing cabinet,
you’ve got to open the drawer. Let your sesame be the words, “I want
to remember, I can remember, I shall remember!” As important as
knowing the best ways to go about strengthening your retentive ability
is your attitude. If you’re convinced before you start that nothing’s
going to help, then you’re absolutely right, even though you’re dead
wrong. The doubts that you have will always be present in your
conscious thoughts, leaving no room for practical memories.
But an optimistic outlook clears the rocks from the road at the
outset! If you’re confident that you can reach your goal, the route will
be fun, and everyone knows that fun is more fun than work! When you
come to a hill, a difficult part of making your memory better, just
making believe that it’s fun will make it a lot easier!
Experiments have demonstrated that people generally retain
memory of pleasant things more accurately, and for a longer time,
than memory of unhappiness. So it follows, doesn’t it, that by being an
optimist to begin with, your memory is automatically a great deal
better?

Source : memory improvement