Memory

Here's someone you haven’t heard of...

Meet Jonas von Essan. A two-time World Memory Champion. In March 2020, Jonas became the 1st person to pass the "Olympus Mons of Memory Tests." Which involved recalling sequences from the first 100,000 digits of PI.

Here's how he did it...

Memory is a Visual Skill

Visual information is more engaging and easier to remember than abstract data (like numbers).

Jonas creates an image for 3-4 digits of PI. The first 3141 becomes “TORTA” (in a numerical alphabet explained below). Which is Swedish for ~ CAKE. 592 is a GHOST which floats out of the cake. 6553 is a HELMET — he visualizes in his mind the little ghost putting on a helmet.

This method is called... The Major System

Many memory champions, including those reciting PI, use this technique. They convert digits into images using methods like the Major System. It's a mnemonic technique that transforms numbers into consonant sounds. Which are then turned into words or images.

The process: Letters = Numbers

Combine the assigned consonants into words by adding vowels,

(which don't represent digits).

Example:

32 = M (3) + N (2) → "Man."

47 = R (4) + K (7) → "Rock."

Then he puts his images in... The Memory Palace

He places these images in a mental space like a familiar house or location. Visualizing the story as he "walks" through the memory palace makes recall easier.

Why is this important to you?

Imagery allows for creativity and storytelling. Which makes the information enjoyable to remember and harder to forget. A computer can tell us the infinite number sequence of PI. But when a person can tell us thousands of numbers in the same sequence, you remember that person.

You don't need to go as hard as a World Memory Champion. But the skill of Memory is critical for your spiritual & mental health. It has atrophied with the rise of technology. Your focus has been scattered with attention grabbing apps. Now with AI on the rise. People don't even have to think anymore, let alone remember things.

Where Is Your Memory?

Your intentional thoughts are the cornerstone to your memory. The Neurological System is the electrical impulse of all lived memory. Remembering is deeper than it seems. Memory is the bedrock of your unconscious Mind.

1. Neocortex – The largest and most evolved part of the brain. Handling higher thinking, sensory processing, language, and long-term memory storage.

2. Prefrontal Cortex – A section within the neocortex. Responsible for short-term memory, decision-making, and problem-solving.

3. Cerebral Cortex – The outermost layer of the brain. Which includes the neocortex and other regions that control movement, perception, and consciousness.

Think of the cerebral cortex as the big picture.

The neocortex as its advanced processing center.

The prefrontal cortex as the executive control panel.

Other parts of the brain that store memory:

1. Hippocampus – Forms new memories, especially facts, events, and spatial navigation.

2. Amygdala – Connects emotions to memories, influencing how strongly you remember them.

3. Cerebellum – Manages procedural memories like habits, motor skills, and muscle memory.

Does this imply Memory is stored in the Body?

Emerging research suggests memory might also involve the body through the nervous system. Especially in the form of muscle memory or implicit memory. While this is still being explored many Massage Therapists have seen this firsthand.

My first business was a Massage Practice. As many Massage Therapists are aware - people have emotional releases on the table. Whether crying, anger or laughter. I have seen first-hand how memory is stored in other parts of the body beyond the brain. Our body's nervous system communicates as a whole.

I had a client needing work on her shoulders. When doing a certain technique she started to feel anxiety. I stopped and the anxiety would stop. The muscles remember. In another case, I was working on a woman who went into a trance. She told me that she relived some of her past traumas and felt resolution afterwards.

Why is Memory Important to Creation?

Memory and creativity are linked. Creativity isn’t just about coming up with something new. It’s reassembling what we already know in unexpected ways.

Here’s how different types of memory fuel creativity:

1. Episodic Memory (Personal Experiences)

The stories we’ve lived shape our creative expression. Our tone, style, and vibe come from our personal experiences. People will resonate with those they can relate to. Our creative expression comes straight from experience.

Writers, artists, and musicians often pull from their past. To be able to remember and thread stories and meaning from lived experience is key. If you cannot see the symbolism of your past situations - you won't be able to create meaning.

2. Semantic Memory (Facts & Knowledge)

The more you know and recall, the more “raw material” you have to work with. Remembering interesting, novel facts will give you a deeper understanding of life. In order to grow you need to learn. In order to learn your need to remember.

Great innovators don’t create from nothing — they connect existing ideas in new ways. There is nothing new under the sun. Only new ways to tell the same things. Recalling information and creating new ways to relate helps ideas click for people. You can read the same fact 100 times but not really understand it until it's said in the right way.

3. Procedural Memory (Skills & Patterns)

Mastery in any creative field comes from practice — repetition turns effort into intuition. This is about making skills second nature by memory. Mastery Level.

Musicians, painters, and writers often rely on procedural memory to bypass overthinking and enter a flow state. How many of you've experienced a creative flow state? Everything seems to fall into place. Notes, images, words seem to fall out of you, uninhibited by the need to "think." This is a deeper state of memory and skill.

4. Working Memory (Short-Term Thinking & Problem-Solving)

This is where improvisation happens — holding many ideas in mind and playing with them in real time. Like a jazz musician or freestyle rapper. This is the synthesis of all knowledge and skills collected. This is real-time memory and adaptation.

Strong working memory lets you connect dots faster and see patterns others miss. This aids in finding the meaning in life's situations on the spot. When the symbolism hits you in an instance there's no negative emotional reaction. Knowing on a conscious and subconscious level - it's necessary for your life's story.

5. The Subconscious (Deep Pattern Recognition)

Many breakthroughs come when you stop consciously thinking — your mind keeps working in the background. When all parts of your memory play within the backdrop of your Mind.

Connecting and understanding what's underneath you can have full control of your life. Remembering everything. The life circumstances that shaped you from the shadows.

This is why those "a-ha" moments happen on a walk, or just before sleep. Memory isn’t about storing more. It’s about retrieving your memories and arranging them in new ways.

Example: Meet Jess…

Jess came to me last year.

“I have been persistently, desperately crying out for help and nobody listens… I don’t want to be here anymore. I think my spirit guide has abandoned me and I am going to have to use whatever I can to do this alone.”

After exchanging messages, I encouraged her to take some time in nature by herself. That way she could orient her mind and emotions and connect with the animate forces that surround us.

“I feel stable now after exercising and meditating for so many hours in the stream in my backyard. I am forever in your debt.”

She soon made quantum leaps in her healing after working in 1:1 sessions. Piercing through the limited perception of time, making leaps and bounds only days after.

In her own words she wrote…

“The entire conception of time on this planet is so inaccurate, I’ve just spent an entire human life in 20 minutes here, I saw everything. I remembered everything… I felt everything, I experienced the entire life cycle.”

This brought her to the core of what we were working on together.

“I contemplated the term, “Sense of Self,” versus identifying myself as a victim who tries to rationalize why the things in my life are so negative.”

The path of healing can be instantaneous when tapping into the deeper memory. You may have heard of past lives or the collective unconscious. Whether the memories we tap into are one or the other - doesn't matter.

What is important is the evolution that happens when we remember.

Return to read the next Superpower of the Soulpreneur:

6 Superpowers of the Soulpreneur

Don't forget this.

Your Guide,

Benji Faun