The memories we makesteemCreated with Sketch.

in #philosophy5 years ago (edited)
There are those of us who spend a lot of brainpower finding reasons to complain about things. Why the price is high, why it's low, why yes and why no. The truth of the matter is that it's almost not important where we are at the moment, because if there is one thing we know for sure is that things are never perfect and that's enough reason to be upset.



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Mind you, I'm being a bit ridiculous for the sake of making a point, and the straw man I'm painting was meant to be rejected ideologically. However, there is some truth to it, to the half baked sardonic joke I've started this post with.

As the kids say these days "real talk" - When has life been perfect? When has your job been perfect, through and through? Yes, we can all remember joy, we can all remember moments of gratitude, but if we zoom in to the memories, if we really think back. In those "better days" as we think of them now, was everything truly perfect or could it be that's the story we love to tell ourselves?

I remember long ago watching a video of a man that claimed he could time travel. Before you judge me, within the context of the video, I kind of knew what he meant and I was open to believing him, because I do think he had a valid point to share.

You see, our memory does not work like a hard-drive storing binary code. It does not keep a detailed record of events, of people with faces, or anything that palpable. The way we store information is nothing short of amazing, but also ineffective. Everything and I do mean everything is tied to emotions, to how we felt at the time of the event, and when we recall the experience, we recall the emotions of the time.

Now, this presents a challenge of course. What happens if we feel different about something that happened today? What happens for example if something that once brought us discomfort, now only makes us sad? How does that new emotional vessel warp, distort, modify or possibly heal the memory we once had.

Yes, even those who claim to have photographic memory store information in the same way, and their super power is being able to retain emotions and internal notions of events, sights and people somewhat intact.

Don't believe me? You think the brain sees pictures? I guess I do not blame you, plenty of people think it to work this way, but it really does not. I however, can prove it to you with a simple thought experiment.

What does all this have to do with complaining you ask? Well, it

Imagine a pirate, imagine the boat, imagine shape, in what ocean he's in, his looks... maybe he has a bird on his shoulder, anything you want.... When you have the image in your mind, scroll all the way to the bottom and then come back.

Why didn't you know the answer? Why are you confused? I thought you saw a picture, was it not clear, how can we see and not see at the same time, are we really seeing anything at all?

What does this all have to do with complaining and complainers, you ask? Well, it's all connected my friends. You see, complainers most of the time believe and they are not lying that they have a clear vision of how things should be, that it's a perfect picture in their mind, but they've not tried to describe it in detail, because in truth both memories and theories are somewhat like the pirate you just tried to imagine.

Enough abstracts for one morning, I guess

Thought Experiment: Is one of his legs made out of wood?

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After suffering several mental breakdowns I have learned to stop negative thoughts and memories. I used to recall bad experiences over and over again, that was painful. Now I'm moving on and I'm doing my best to stop complaining for things that are not in my control and start taking action on things that are on my control.

Greetings from Mexico @meno.

Give me a little of what you smoke! ..xD

Crystalline like water. all understood

For a moment is thought the pic was a 3D ultrasound.

Emotions lead to the worst decisions as they tend to be irrational because of the mental picture you paint. One tends to focus on one end of the spectrum due to emotion as well.

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I read this just after lunch and all of a sudden I forgot what I just ate and I cannot get the pirate picture in my mind, but the real thing is that I can just recall pirates or the Caribbean kind of pirates or maybe black sails, so it is all fake and not real, not emotions attached there.

My bass teacher told me once, there are only two ways to deal with something you don't like. Accept it or change it. Being upset or complaining are just wasting your time and energy

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