Have you ever gotten up from your desk, walked purposely into another room, and forgotten completely and utterly what you intended to accomplish? Worry not, this is not necessarily an early warning sign of dementia. According to researchers at the University of Notre Dame, walking through doorways causes forgetting, as their eponymous paper is titled.
Jess Hirsch is interested in how we can use forgetting through movement to our advantage, to rid ourselves of the things that no longer serve us. According to her:
“Human beings have used forgetting through movement on a greater scale, moving from one city to another to erase the past. Perhaps the new city’s air, water, and soil can transform past psychological states, or perhaps it is simply the movement of the body. As a person that roams coast to coast frequently, I find the ocean’s edge to be the strongest talisman for change. The salty water teases the mind to move and change like the waves break upon the shore.”
For Doorway Effect, Hirsch sprayed the stairwell walls with water from both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean.You are invited to consciously move between floors in the following manner.
Call to mind something you want to forget.
Dip your middle finger in ocean water.
Touch the water to your third eye between your eyebrows.
Move your finger in a circle.
Tap your third eye.
Pass through the doorway.
Repeat with the ocean water at the exit.
Forget.