another boy who lived - Mind palace question time! First of all, thank you so much for all of the help and answers that you are giving out, I find this subject absolutely fascinating. Second of all, how many rooms do you currently have in your mind palace? And how frequently do you visit them all? Lastly, (sorry, this is long), how specific can one get with the information in the palace? In your examples I thought it was generally small snips of fact or general ideas. Could one remember long, specific lists of things?

28th January 2012

Question with 6 notes

veni-vidi-dormi asked: Mind palace question time! First of all, thank you so much for all of the help and answers that you are giving out, I find this subject absolutely fascinating. Second of all, how many rooms do you currently have in your mind palace? And how frequently do you visit them all? Lastly, (sorry, this is long), how specific can one get with the information in the palace? In your examples I thought it was generally small snips of fact or general ideas. Could one remember long, specific lists of things?

How intensely flattering to be asked about my own, but you’ve asked a more complex question than you realise. I can only apologise in advance.

My mind palace is Hogwarts because it’s pretty perfect for adding extensions and I get a measure of comfort from going there.

Hogwarts is divided by subject so that when I’m searching I know instantly where to look. So just like Philosophy is the Divination Classroom, Medicine is in the Hospital Wing, Chemistry is the Potions Classroom, etc.

In terms of rooms which are currently active, ie I’m constantly adding things to them and reviewing them, I have 4 and am currently constructing a fifth. I review these rooms in detail every night before bed, and often pop in for a couple minutes at random during the day (while waiting for a friend who’s in the loo, for example) as I’m overly familiar with them and so don’t need complete silence to access them. I’ll go mental if I’m torn away by a sudden noise, mind.

In terms of non-active rooms, it’s a hell of a lot more. I have a great fear that anything could be important at any time, so I hate to delete entire rooms. (Yeah, I’m that guy who corrects your random assumption with fact. Don’t worry, I’m well aware of my status as a colossal dick.)

Once a week I’ll have a quick flip through the rooms which I don’t use with regularity. Things like the Hospital Wing, which I don’t search through on a daily basis but do store in occasionally, are preserved with all their triggers and take a few minutes to walk through; whereas the Potions Classroom is just the Potions Classroom, devoid of triggers but kept intact in case I suddenly need to remember a ton of Chemistry-related stuff.

Before I retire a room in the manner of the Potions Classroom, I draw diagrams of the room, both with and without triggers, and also fill up several pages of a notebook writing out all the triggers and what they represent. So if I need them again, it is possible to rebuild.

Then finally there’s rooms which are ready but don’t have a purpose, rooms which come from being overly familiar with Hogwarts, like The Great Hall. I often divert into these when passing by just to smile to myself; that’s just case of a quick look which literally takes seconds, and isnt something I do with any planned regularity.

I’ve tried several times in the days since you asked this to count the total of my rooms, but I honestly lose count as I forget where I’ve already been and couldn’t manage to jump out of the palace to write them all up with confidence. I think it’s between 30 and 40, with a majority falling into the last two categories.

SPEFICITY:

Gonna put the heading as I’m sure you’re the only one interested in my own palace. :)

The examples I used were more general due to two things - one being the way my own mind works and the other the attempt to keep things as simple as possible, especially considering the subject I stupidly chose to demonstrate with.

You certainly can use your palace to remember long, specific lists; in which case I’d suggest sectioning a room, having one list to a corner or something similar.

I adore human anatomy (insert obvious dirty joke) and prefer to have little lists, say involving the bones of the hand, all the triggers of which occupy a bedside table; than a list describing the entire skeletal system, so you might find that preferable. That’s not to say it isn’t possible; just down to each individual’s personal method of working.

Tagged: veni-vidi-dormi ask How To Build A Mind Palace