It has been said that if three people witnessed an auto accident and the police take statements from all of them, they will provide different sets of facts. It is not uncommon for members of Congress and prominent media outlets to issue statements that are identical in wording. Now moving away from political to personal thoughts. Most of my blogs are about memories of some event or a person, and the memory is connected.
Cause and effect – I am not sure if I have a lot of memories because I write about my memories, or if I write about memories because I have a lot of memories? Yesterday morning, I woke up with “unique memories” on my mind, but nothing associated with the phrase. Since then, I have had several thoughts on what that means or if it is more than just two people seeing something different. Before I start talking about how our brains work and I don’t want this to be about what the experts say about that process, so I am just providing my uneducated thoughts.
A portion of our brain manages the automatic functions of our body, and another portion is used to learn new things and to tell us how to use that information. I believe our brains have another area or a way to store a lot of information, which I will call memories. The memories accumulate over the years and are not in your daily thoughts, but they are there when triggered. Bill Daniels was the President of First Continental Mortgage when I worked there in the 1970s. He amazed me with his ability to remember all the spouses at functions like company parties. I asked him how he did that with people he had never met. He told me his “tagging” technique. Start with what you know, like the employee or client, and tag in your memory the spouse’s name. When you see the person for the first time, then tag the picture to what is already in your memory.
The PC software does the same thing, and you can make it work better for you by the way you store files. None of that is really the point of this blog post. When I remember things from many years ago, I assume others remember them the same way. The more I have thought about it, the more I am not sure if that is true. Certain portions may be the same, but other details may be different. As we age, that can affect a person’s ability to recall events or details, but it is more than just that.
Our emotional state of mind, who we are with, and other factors at the time when the memory is being made are stored uniquely by each person. If the two people talk about that memory together, they can flesh out a memory that they agree on. However, for events they shared originally, but not discussed since, if they wrote their memories down and then compared them, there might be many differences. Our life experiences are also “filters” through which we see current events, and they can affect how we view or remember our past experiences. What was serious back then might produce a laugh today or vice versa.
I believe our memories from the past are more than just something to talk about; they are a connection to many people who were important to us in a different time. Any picture taken during that event or period may trigger a connection or “tag” that was part of capturing that memory. It is like pulling that string, thinking it will break off, but the hem just keeps unraveling. Remember the Polaroid film, when a picture was taken, after a few seconds, a little bit of the image began to show. Then, after a few minutes, you have a pretty good picture with more details. With today’s smartphones or digital cameras, you can see the image right away and share it anywhere in the world. However, if you have thousands of images taken over 30 or more years, can you find that image of that unique event when someone mentions a name or event?
God created us with abilities so wonderful that we can barely understand them. When we are weighed down with emotions involving a loss of a loved one or facing unknowns that make it hard to take deep breaths, recalling a happier memory can help ease our pain. Maybe it was a moment in time when your mother told you something that made you smile when you were sad.
Dean Martin – Memories Are Made Of This
Discover more from RICHRAY BLOG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
