Thanks to television, radio, and the Internet, everyone is afflicted with an overload of information. And on account of the anxiety caused by the frenzied lives we lead, our ability to center our concentration, soak up information, and recollect it later when needed has been smashed.

I'd like you to reflect on this for a minute. As you sit there and read this document, bits and pieces of information are coming in through your eyes. But you are also hearing different sounds, feeling bodily feelings like the pressure of the seat against your butt and back, the sensation of the clothing on your body, and the air temperature and movement on your skin. You are also receiving data by way of your nose in the form of aromas. And of course, you're in receipt of data in the form of the mixture of tastes in your mouth.

And how about the emotional feelings that you are at the moment feeling? That's also data that you're presently processing. We reside in an information intensive world. Thanks to the Internet, almost no matter what a person might want to know is only a few mouse clicks away.

I recently read an editorial that said that even in a tranquil and peaceful environment, we are bombarded by sixty thousand stimuli per second. And that's occurring sixty seconds out of each minute, and sixty minutes out of each hour. And it goes on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, week in and week out for our entire life.

And that is a big part of the problem. We are all suffering from "information overload." And that makes it very difficult to remember all of the data that we want to memorize or need to be able to recall.

Quite often, when we are reading, we discover that our eyes have been traversing the words on the page, while our conscious mind has been off somewhere else on a tangent. When we get to the bottom of the page, we realize that our eyes have seen the words, but we have no conscious recollection of what we've just read. That's because our mind has been somewhere else mulling over a problem, or working out a plan.

Today it's widespread to hear even young people say things like, "I'm having a senior moment." Regardless of your age, and whether you are a student, part of the work force, or a retired person, I'm sure that you understand what I'm talking about. In our hectic world it is all too often quite difficult to focus your attention.

SO WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS YOUR PROBLEM?

A. Your mind starts to meander as you study or read, and then suddenly you grasp that you don't have the slightest idea what you have been reading.

B. When you are in a social situation and new contacts are introduced to you, you forget their names almost as rapidly as you hear them.

C. You recall that you have a job to do in another room; however, as soon as you start towards the other room you totally forget what that chore is.

D. You can stay alert and absorb new information. But when you take an exam, "Test Anxiety" rears its ugly head and causes a mental block, and you are not able to recollect the answers to the questions on the test that you actually know.

The biggest cause of a person's failure to focus their attention is that people are suffering from too much nervous tension. And the biggest cause of a mental block to recall is also nervous tension. So it stands to reason that the more relaxed a person is, the better they will be able to focus their concentration, absorb information, and then be able to recall it at a later date.

Today, hypnosis and memory enhancement has become a popular topic. That's to some extent because hypnotherapy is an excellent instrument for causing a relaxed state of being. In fact, the very fundamental nature of hypnosis is relaxation. And as the mind becomes quiet, the capacity to stay focused increases. Similarly, a calm mind enhances the facility to retain information, and recall it when it is needed.

Hypnotic memory improvement is a fantastic modality for eliminating test anxiety. There are several hypnotic methods that can be used to program a student with the positive expectancy of tranquility, confidence, and success while taking tests.

Students can take a course on how to apply hypnotherapy easily and inexpensively in the privacy of their own home by buying hypnotic CD's. You can find more information on hypnosis to improve memory and recall in the Hypnosis Research Library located on my website.

Alan B. Densky, CH has specialized in the practice of hypnotherapy and NLP since 1978. He offers hypnosis & NLP CD's for memory and recall improvement and test anxiety. Visit his Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis site for free resources & MP3 downloads, and his Hypnosis Video Blog for tips & tricks.