A Brand New Memory of the Past
The following is excerpts from Daniel Goleman’s book, Social Intelligence, take it as a food (or a snack rather) for your thought:
“Our memories are in part reconstructions. Whenever we retrieve a memory, the brain rewrites it a bit, updating the past according to our present concerns and understanding. At the cellular level, LeDoux explains, retrieving a memory means it will be “reconsolidated,” slightly altered chemically by a new protein synthesis that will help store it anew after being updated.
Thus each time we bring a memory to mind, we adjust its very chemistry: the next time we retrieve it, that memory will come up as we last modified it. The specifics of the new consolidation depend on what we learn as we recall it. If we merely have a flare-up of the same fear, we deepen our fearfulness.”
This explains why when you think of your first crush or something stupid you did when you were still at school, you started laughing, while during that time when you were actually experiencing it, it wasn’t so funny.
Now the fact that you can readjust your memory, goes to show that you don’t have to live with your past fear, or phobias. Given this little detail, you can evidently recall your fearful memories, and instead of reacting to it with the same type of fear, calm yourself down in the face of your fear that has just surfaced, this will in turn modify your fearful memory as something not as fearful as before, and gradually, the more you allow that same fear to surface, the more modified it will get (as long as you allow it to modify, remember one important point, modifying the memory is the work of the conscious mind, therefore choice is definitely yours, you can either modify it to become something more fearful or as something less fearful), the less fearful it will be. This the reason why rational knowledge, common sense and a positive perception on things are very important as we grow up and move on in this world…simply because it helps us…well….move on!
“Pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”-Marcus Aurelius
“Our memories are in part reconstructions. Whenever we retrieve a memory, the brain rewrites it a bit, updating the past according to our present concerns and understanding. At the cellular level, LeDoux explains, retrieving a memory means it will be “reconsolidated,” slightly altered chemically by a new protein synthesis that will help store it anew after being updated.
Thus each time we bring a memory to mind, we adjust its very chemistry: the next time we retrieve it, that memory will come up as we last modified it. The specifics of the new consolidation depend on what we learn as we recall it. If we merely have a flare-up of the same fear, we deepen our fearfulness.”
This explains why when you think of your first crush or something stupid you did when you were still at school, you started laughing, while during that time when you were actually experiencing it, it wasn’t so funny.
Now the fact that you can readjust your memory, goes to show that you don’t have to live with your past fear, or phobias. Given this little detail, you can evidently recall your fearful memories, and instead of reacting to it with the same type of fear, calm yourself down in the face of your fear that has just surfaced, this will in turn modify your fearful memory as something not as fearful as before, and gradually, the more you allow that same fear to surface, the more modified it will get (as long as you allow it to modify, remember one important point, modifying the memory is the work of the conscious mind, therefore choice is definitely yours, you can either modify it to become something more fearful or as something less fearful), the less fearful it will be. This the reason why rational knowledge, common sense and a positive perception on things are very important as we grow up and move on in this world…simply because it helps us…well….move on!
“Pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”-Marcus Aurelius
posted by suraj at 9:46 AM
1 Comments:
hi, if you're interested in Goleman's thinking, i thought you might also be interested in his recently published dialogue series, "wired to connect." he speaks with leading thinkers in a number of fields about the applications of emotional/social intelligence. worth a listen to and there are free samples available at www.morethansound.net
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