Well That Changes Everything! September 27, 2018
Posted by nrhatch in Fiction, Mindfulness, People, Spirit & Ego.trackback
It’s awesome when gifts reveal that the giver “gets us.”
Especially since, unlike numbers, we don’t always add up.
We are not always easy to figure out.
We are conundrums. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As it turns out, there’s a good reason for our internal inconsistencies.
On the one hand, we are the product of our experiences.
Every moment is a valuable link in an unbroken chain.
From first breath to last.
But . . .
Our memories are unreliable causing those “valuable links” to shift about like Hogwart’s staircases in an Escher print.
A fabrication.
A self-styled creation.
An imaginary concoction cobbled together from snippets that may or may not be true.
“We constantly create false memories to help us achieve the identity we want.”
In short, we can’t rely on our memories to tell us who we are because the tangled collection of tangential and essential connections and choices that led to THIS door is mired in mystery.
So . . . where does that leave us?
Here. Now.
Aah . . . that’s better!
To read more: The “Real You” is a Myth (NeuroscienceNews.com)
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
Spirit Lights The Way 
The real me is having my morning coffee and is still uncertain exactly which “me” dragged herself out of bed. I’m hoping it’s the energetic one because I have a busy day ahead 😴
Same here, Joanne. Except for the busy day part. 😀
I like to think what you see is what you get, but you’re probably right. We all take a little literary license in describing ourselves. Heck, in some alternate universe I might be fitness crazed and climbing Mt. Everest. In this one? Not so much….
It’s a fascinating article. Our identities are self-scripted . . . and can be re-written if they no longer serve us.
Some memories are vivid either because they are tragic or joyful. Others we adjust for the bits we forget.
After reading the article, I’m questioning whether even my most vivid memories are based in Fact or Fiction. There’s a perception bias that accompanies us throughout life which alters the way we see and experience the world.
I’m guessing that many of our early memories are skewed.
That said, WHO we are today and HOW we choose to act NOW is far more relevant than misty memories maintained in dusty musty minds.
Sadly, I think my memory is becoming more unreliable with each passing day, Nancy. This is why I journal. 🙂
Watching my parents as they “lost their memories” was difficult.
After reading this article, I’m wondering whether all they lost was a fictional narrative that had accompanied them through life?
Memories are elusive wisps of gossamer waving in the breeze.
Love this Nancy! Questioning who we are always stirs up the ego and our attachments. Let it all go … because it will be gone. 💛
Yes, indeed! The Ego is a funny thing . . . working so hard to protect its imaginary identity.
This sure strikes me as true! I think one of the conundrums for me is that old friends like to “remember us” one way and as life takes us through new journeys and we grow, change and adapt it can be very hard on THEM! Speaking from personal experience lately. LOL!
Yes!!! I’ve had friends who insisted we could only remain friends if I remain unchanged ~ like a comfortable old shoe. They wanted me to be how THEY wanted me to be.
“We’d get along GREAT . . . if you would just do what I want you to do.”
Love this! Very timely insights…now and always.
Thanks, Helen! Studies about memory (and the brain) are fascinating to me ~> another reminder that “now” is all we have.
That was such an interesting article! I discovered long ago, that often what I thought was a “memory” was actually me just remembering having seen a picture of me doing it (or, in the case of hunting Easter Eggs, about to do it!) Lot’s of my “memories” are really just because I’ve seen pictures of the past! Now, there is one Easter Egg hunt I clearly remember, but most of the others – my memory, is not really a memory!
Articles like this remind me to focus on WHO I want to be NOW ~ our past (which may not even be “real”) need not define us.
Keep reinventing yourself!