I read two of Dr. Gabor Maté's books a few years ago. He became one of my favourite authors. The first book that I read by him was called "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts." I enjoyed reading all 400+ pages. It was an insightful, poignant and excellent read. I went on to buy "When the Body Says No: The Hidden Costs of Stress." This book is about 280 pages long and was also enjoyable. I think The Hidden Costs of Stress was very mature and forced me to confront certain realities of life. The illusion of invincibility. The truth about blame and its futility.
The Hidden Costs of Stress book introduced me to the 7 A's of healing. At that point, I thought I needed to store them somewhere. I could use the memory palace, I mused, but what if I overwrite that information? I could use the peg systems. But since it's a book on physiology, why not use my body to store the information? And so I chose to use my hands to store the information - beginning with my left-most pinky finger up to the index finger on my right hand.
Left hand → right hand
1. Acceptance (left pinky)
2. Awareness (left ring finger)
3. Anger (left middle finger)
4. Autonomy (left index finger)
5. Attachment (left thumb)
6. Assertion (right thumb)
7. Affirmation (right index finger)
Left pinky
1. Acceptance
To store this A, I imagine my pinky finger being used for a pinky promise. This reminds me of acceptance.
Left ring finger
2. Awareness
I imagine an eye ring on my wedding finger. I promise to be aware and am committed to being aware for the rest of my life...kind of like how marriage is a lifelong commitment.
Left middle finger
3. Anger
This is the finger people tend to display when angry and as a form of profane disapproval. They show vexation with this finger.
Left index finger
4. Autonomy
I struggled to get a good association with this one. So I opted to imagine the index finger being covered by a full metallic finger ring. Kind of machine-like. Machine-like = automation = autonomy. Hopefully that makes sense.
Left thumb
5. Attachment
On my left thumb, I imagine a baby's hands grabbing hold of it.
Right hand
My right hand is my stronger hand or my preferred hand. Consequently, the final two A's will be "stronger A's." These are the more "initiative-based A's."
Right thumb
6. Assertion
Now, which thumb is used to play "thumb war" or thumb wrestling? My right thumb. This is therefore the perfect thumb to use for assertion.
Right index finger
7. Affirmation
This index finger is used to instruct and to affirm. For some strange reason, the image of Malcolm X wielding this finger comes to my mind. This is sufficient to remind me of affirmation.
And there we have it! This is how I memorized the 7 A's of healing. I usually recall them once a month to keep them firm in my mind and body.
The beauty of using your own body as a memory palace is that you always carry it with you. No need to mentally walk through a building—just look at your hands and the associations come flooding back. Left pinky: pinky promise (acceptance). Left ring: eye ring (awareness). Left middle: the anger finger. Left index: robotic autonomy. Left thumb: baby attachment. Right thumb: thumb war assertion. Right index: Malcolm X affirming.
Next time you read a book with key principles you want to retain, consider using your body as the storage device. It's physiological, personal, and impossible to lose.