I know a few things about ‘ear wind’, that little tornado of loss. Having struggled with Chinese language acquisition over the years, far too often I have had vocabulary and phrase learning gush in as ‘ear wind ‘ ….that is in one ear and (alas!) out the other. I recently started using memory palaces to help retain some smatterings of vocabulary. Strangely enough it has opened up unexpected worlds and other roads of curiosity. For example: I am finding time to read more books and actually taking notes of things I want to remember from those books. A couple of months ago I found myself sitting in a Beijing writers group listening to writers respond to other peoples writings (fascinating!). Even some of my attempts to remember dreams were partially successful ….. a chink in the door to other worlds! An improved memory undoubtedly expands the quality of living. The trick however is to make the discipline a daily practise.