I'd like you to consider this for a moment. As you sit there right now reading this article, bits and pieces of information are coming in through your sense of sight. But you are also absorbing various sounds, feeling physical feelings like the force of your seat touching your butt and back, the sensation of the clothing on your body, and the air temperature and movement on your skin. You are also in receipt of sensations through your nose in the form of smells. And of course, you're receiving data in the form of the different tastes in your mouth.

And think about the emotional thoughts that you are presently experiencing? That's also data that you're currently processing. We exist in an information intensive world. Thanks to the Internet, almost everything and anything that a person might ever want to know is only a few mouse clicks away.

Recently I read an editorial that said that even in a calm and peaceful environment, we are bombarded by sixty thousand stimuli per second. And that's happening sixty seconds out of each and every minute, and sixty minutes out of each and every hour. And it goes on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, week in and week out for the length of our entire life.

And that's a big part of the problem. We are all being tormented by "information overload." And that makes it very difficult to remember all of the data that we want to remember or need to be able to remember.

Quite often, when we are reading, we realize that our eyes have been traversing the words on the page, while our conscious mind has been off somewhere else on a tangent. When we get to the bottom of the page, we realize that our eyes have seen the words, but we have no conscious memory of what we have just read. That's because our mind has been somewhere else worrying about a problem, or working out a project.

Today it's widespread to hear even young people state things like, "I'm having a senior moment." No matter what your age, and whether you are a student, part of the labor, or a retired senior, you know what I'm talking about. In our chaotic world it is very often quite difficult to focus your concentration.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS YOUR PROBLEM?

A. Your mind begins to wander as you study, and then gradually you grasp that you have no idea what you've read.

B. When you are in a social environment and new friends are introduced to you, you find that you forget their names as rapidly as you hear them.

C. You remember that you have an errand to do in another room; however, as soon as you start walking in the direction of the other room you totally forget what that task is.

D. You are able to stay focused and understand new information. But when you take an exam, "Test Anxiety" overcomes you and causes a mental block, and you are unable to recollect the answers to the questions on the test that you really know.

The largest cause of a person's inability to focus their concentration is nervous tension. And the largest cause of a mental block to recall is also nervous tension. So it stands to reason that the more relaxed a person is, the better they will be able to focus their concentration, absorb information, and then be able to recall it at a later date.

Today, hypnotherapy and memory enhancement has become a popular topic. That's partly because hypnotherapy is a brilliant tool for triggering a relaxed state. As a matter of fact, the very essence of the hypnotic state is relaxation. And as the mind becomes tranquil, the ability to keep the mind focused increases. Similarly, a calm mind increases the ability to retain information, and recall it when it is needed.

Hypnosis memory improvement is a fantastic modality for eliminating test anxiety. There are several hypnotic methods that can be used to program a student with the positive expectancy of tranquility, confidence, and accomplishment while taking exams.

People can take a course on how to apply self-hypnosis quickly and inexpensively in the privacy of their own home by buying hypnosis CD's. It is easy to find additional information on hypnotherapy to improve memory and recall in the Hypnosis Article Index located on my website.