Forcing Our Memory
As I sat enjoying coffee with Margie this past week, the first thing I wanted to do was pull out my cell phone and use its camera to capture the moment I wanted to remember the camelia centerpiece, the eclectic mix of coffee cups, saucers and their cream & sugars sitting there, I drank it all in – I was present at the moment. I immediately told my mind to be quiet about “taking pictures.” Instead, I listened and focused face-to-face with blue eyes and wrinkled skin. The warmth inside completely overriding any chill that has begun to fall now that it’s December.
I began to focus. Focus on what really matters to us. I had to accept that my own memory was all I had on this one – this made me go into a repeat and confirm pattern.
Observance and Awareness of our surroundings by exercising our five senses is easily forgotten in our world of electronics. As we age, by default, our opportunities for memories increase. Or decreases in some people’s minds. Why do we remember some things and not others?
Psychologists believe it is related to emotion. High energy vs low energy and how the brain interprets this. And I agree. I also believe it has to do with our senses. Our senses highlight our emotions for memory recollection. Add in distraction – Distraction in the form of any one of those senses, and before you know it, your focus is gone. Jaded.
My repeat and confirm pattern is just that – slow down, LISTEN, repeat what you have heard whether only in your head and then confirm what you understand to be true. Often, the confirming portion of this is most monumental to conversations with friends and family.
If someone is taking the time to tell you a story – it is important to them. They are entrusting a piece of themselves to you. The best compliment you can give is to hear them and remember – to LISTEN. To be present. Observance and Awareness.
Emotion.Drives.Memory
Our senses help to trigger it.
Our memory.
