A Special Memory

How do you know if you turned off the coffee pot or steam iron this morning? Do you remember if you locked your doors last night or replaced your gas cap after filling up last week? Knowledge of these minor activities is stored in a portion of the brain specifically designated as Erasable Reserve Memory (ERM).

Usually the ERM sector clears itself during sleep; all thoughts stored in the ERM dissolve altogether since the brain has no use for storing ERM contents. But sometimes the ERM fills up during the day and useless thoughts and memories can overflow, by accident, into the Major Memory Center. This overflow effect will allow you, or force you, to remember a phone number you’ve not used for 30 years or the middle name of your second-grade teacher.

ERM overflow, as you can imagine, can be very annoying. Worse than that, overflow thoughts take up Major Memory Center storage space that would be much better used for storing experiences, pleasant memories, and thoughts about safety. At least four hours of daily sleep is required to dissolve the contents of your Erasable Reserve Memory sector. During periods of insomnia, you can build the ERM storage capacity, minimizing overflow, by eating a small amount of any form of raw squash.