The next time you are admonished (crapped out) for supposedly having a dirty mind, consider Ed Cooke, who was a Grand Master of Memory at the age of 23, from harnessing his Sexual Imagination. Our brains are wired to remember bizarre and debauched mental images like nothing else. The concept is simple: We create a Memory Palace - a building that we can easily conjure up in our minds eye, and then fill it with shocking images that stand in for the information that we need to remember. If for example, you are memorizing the order of a deck of cards, you would place the representative images in a path throughout the house. While effective, the directive to get dirty can lead memory athletes to some uncomfortable places. Eventually, you will have to evict your mother from your Memory Palace and similarly, indecent acts your grandmother will have to be committed in the service of you remembering the eight of hearts in being truly unspeakable. So, how do sexy images help you in becoming memory champion, and ultimately, how can you put that dirty mind of yours, to better use. Most of the difficulties people have with memory are not that they forget completely, but that they find memories difficult to find. The key to finding a memory is to make it bright and attention-grabbing in the first place. SEX, of course, tends to grab our attention. In this way, it can very useful to add a little bit of sexual imagery to whatever it is, that you are trying to remember, since it will make the resultant memories more attention-grabbing and therefore, easier to find. As an example, if you are trying to remember that the French word "interloque" means taken aback, it may be useful to imagine being taken aback when your dining companion interlocks her fingers round your thigh or something else. The link between the French word and what it sounds like in English is given just enough personality by the hint of sexuality here, that it will stick in your mind far better than a mere repetition. Shockingly, it does not take a lot of training to get most people to have dirty thoughts. That said, reminding yourself that your imagination is a zone without laws or restrictions can be liberating: no-one else knows or cares about the details of your mental life, so you may as well let your imagination run amok, while learning things; especially if it helps you have fun; learn faster; and, remember longer. The trick is to notice when what you are trying to learn is boring you and then, to re-inject interest with the choice addition of some sexual imagery. Find chemical formulae difficult? Re-imagine them as elaborate sexual configurations. Find your pin number for example, 3198 difficult to grasp? Re-imagine it as a 31 year old woman with her 98 year old lover. With a little bit of freedom of mind, almost any piece of information can be recast in a sexual form, greatly increasing its chances of being remembered. This is a "whatever-floats-your-boat" situation the incorporation of naked male slaves to imagery would work for Cleopatra; the ruggered man in the Camel cigarette ads for me; but, it might not be the thing for you. Or maybe it is? Again, NO judging! For my part, I like my sexual imagery suggestive rather than explicit. But, remember that the point of this sexual imagery is to encode useful information. The critical thing is that your image, whatever it is, helps you recall whatever you are trying to learn. It does occasionally happen that an outrageous or unpleasant image gets in the way of recall. For instance, the French word "saucer" means to wipe with a piece of bread; so by imagining your saucy lover wiping you with a piece of bread could help you to remember. Unfortunately, when it comes up in conversation to trying to use this word though, you could very well be distracted by the weirdness of the image and stuttered or choke. On rare occasions, this effect can be extreme. Variety is the spice of life, so you always want a good range of imagery to excite and energize your mind in the course of memorizing something. The Sexual Imagination is just one small part of the gift we have for making the world more vivid, interesting and memorable. Come on, use that dirty mind of yours!!!!