TRICKS OF MEMORY: Concepts vs. Events (And the clarity PURPOSEFUL DESIGN)

 
Bears (Barry Neil Kaufman), CEO/Co-Founder of the Option Institute
and Author of Happiness Is A Choice with Class Participants
 

“Facts and words and concepts are recalled rather easily and quite accurately. Episodic memory (recalling events, sequences of events) are more difficult to recall and accuracy tends to be quite compromised. How come? We tend to remember the ‘nature’ of the experience more than the details. Unless, of course, we embedded that experience at the time of the experience with heightened emotion (fear or joy)…making the retention more vividly imprinted neurologically but, at the same time, possibly less accurately imprinted.

“What are the implications? Every episodic memory happens in the present moment. We can strive for accuracy (which can be quite elusive but useful in verbal agreements, legal issues, responsibilities mutually agreed upon) but, perhaps, even more useful, we can strive to construct memories for learning, opportunities, growth, and nourishment…even to formulate optimism.

“I call that PURPOSEFUL DESIGN. Your life doesn’t happen to you, you happen to your life. So let’s design it to learn, grow, be nourished, and nourishing…to be happy, to love, and to be loving. Those experiences don’t happen to you, you bring them to life by your focused INTENTION. And they don’t happen on the OUTSIDE, they happen on the INSIDE (and you are totally in charge of the INSIDE).

“LIVING A GREAT LIFE IS NOT ABOUT THE EVENTS OF YOUR LIFE BUT HOW YOU RESPONDED AND WHAT YOU DID WITH THOSE EVENTS OF YOUR LIFE.”

Love, Bears

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