In 2014, actress, author and radio personality Marilu Henner—whose super autobiographical memory means she can remember nearly everyday of her life (more on that later)—shared just what makes her memory tick. We’ve compiled some of our favorite insights from Henner’s energetic talk on the link between memory, your personal story and finding meaning in life. To really benefit from Henner’s “memory makeover,” though, you definitely need to click play below.

[youtube_embed src=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM70BZTYx1A”/]

1. Remember this: APR.

“There are three parts to every event: Anticipation, participation and recollection. The greatest of these is recollection.”

2. Life is like a box of puzzle pieces.

“In the jigsaw puzzle of your life, what are the hard-edged pieces? What are the things that you can interlock the other memories of your life to? It might be travel, which has APR built in. You plan for the trip, you participate in the trip and then you recollect the trip with photographs, stories, etc.”

3. Follow your nose. Or eyes. Or ears. Or…well, you get the idea.

“Every single person has a dominant sense—they are sight, sound, touch, taste or smell…. If you can cross-direct your primary track with your dominant sense, so many other memories will come back.

“How do you figure out what dominant sense you have? [You figure out] if you’re the kind of person who would rather hear directions and see the picture in your mind, or you’d rather see the directions. Or maybe a song takes you back immediately, or the smell of something.”

4. Looking for meaning in life? You’ll probably need those memories of yours.

“Developing a strong biographical memory is really our strongest line of defense against meaningless that we have. Because if you can develop a strong autobiographical memory, you can take the information from your past, bring it to your present and let it inform your future.”

5. Marilu still has a better memory than you.

“August 18, 1990—I know exactly what I was doing that day. I was traveling. I had just been cast in this show Evening Shade, and my husband…and I went to Evening Shade, Arkansas that weekend.”