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Home » How to lose weight quickly » Debra Ollivier: Marilu Henner On 'Total Memory Makeover'

Most people can't remember what they ate for dinner yesterday, never mind how they celebrated their 17th birthday or what headlined the news that day. Marilu Henner, on the other hand, can remember virtually every day of her life. Henner, who many remember as the character Elaine O'Connor Nardo on the sitcom Taxi, is one of only 12 documented cases of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM. People with HSAM have an abnormal ability to remember the intimate details of events in their lives and what was going on in the world on any given day in vivid, experiential fashion.

In her recently released book Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future, Henner recalls the memory games she played as a child. These exercises, writes Henner, were a way to "mentally challenge and exercise my brain to the point that I could 'time-travel' back to: What did we do each day of our vacation? What was I doing when I was exactly to the day my younger brother Lorin's age? My niece Lizzy's age? And it was not just about touching down on a fleeting image or a feeling from the past, but rather going deeper and deeper into memories and specific moments, exploring my past thoughts through the lens of the present."

In Total Memory Makeover, which just made The New York Times Bestseller list, Henner guides readers through exactly that process, helping them create connections between their past memories, present lives and the futures they hope to create. Henner sees memory as both a vast reservoir of information and an opportunity for self-exploration -- a contention confirmed by research that suggests that everything we've ever experienced is stored somewhere on our mental hard drives.

Henner deconstructs the many alluring types of memory and provides an extensive number of exercises designed to help readers access their memories, sift through painful ones, and release personal obstacles connected to repressed memories. "Negative experiences provide the most memorable and useful lessons," said Henner, who herself is infectiously positive.

In addition to being an actress and a healthy living coach, Henner is the author of The New York Times bestselling Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover, among other books. A long-time friend of Leslie Stahl, Henner and the remarkable capacities of people with HSAM were put on the cultural map when Stahl featured them on a CBS 60 Minutes Super Memory Summit.

I recently spoke to Henner about Total Memory Makeover and tried, in vain, to remember what I did on my 21st birthday.

What exactly is HSAM - and was that a curse for your parents?

No, it wasn't a curse for them. My parents died very young so if anything I feel like it's a tremendous insurance policy against loss. Most people remember eight to 11 events in a year. People with HSAM remember more than 200 events, and the memories are extremely detailed, very specific and autobiographical. It's not about memorizing lines, or looking at something and closing your eyes and describing it. It's more like the experience of being someplace or going through something, and recording information as you're experiencing it.

The prevailing mindset is that we have to let go of our pasts. You're suggesting that we should actually remember every detail about them. How can total memory recall actually help people take charge of the future?

First of all, your past is in you and on your mental hard drive whether or not you're acknowledging it or not -- or whether you remember it or not. It's what makes you behave and do things in your present. So why not explore it for all it's worth? If we didn't have a memory -- the layering of information that carries over into our present -- then what are we doing here? Our brains are capable of so much more than people realize.

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Debra Ollivier: Marilu Henner On 'Total Memory Makeover'

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Home » How to lose weight quickly » Debra Ollivier: Marilu Henner On 'Total Memory Makeover'