Memories are really and wonderful things. Two people in the same situation can remember things very differently. And the older the memory is, the more the difference there is in their views.
A memory is rarely dependent solely on recall power. Because whatever we have recorded in our wondrous brains has been amalgamated by all that we felt and thought and hoped for - by all that we were then. And as time passes, and we change and grow, we add to that memory our hopes and emotions , mostly unconsciously.
You can love a song because it was played at a time you were wearing a dress you felt wonderful in because the song brings back the feeling of comfort. And you will forever like the color the dress was, even if you never consciously make the connection. You can hate the mountains because you associate the homesickness you had while you were there.
Our most impressionable recollections are the 'first times'. The first taste, the first trip, the first book of a series we got hooked to (the first time you read this blog!!). Sometimes it takes many memories to override the powerful first one we have registered. The sound of rain used to send endorphins running through my system because of rains in Hyderabad, my hometown in India. The wonderful breeze, the nicely-tempered water drops, the washed trees, the pakodas and chais. And now - after nine years of New Jersey weather, raindrops are the most depressing things I can think of. Memory re-engineered! But after many, many re-dos in my psyche. After many situations of a similar kind overrode the previous one. Probably, if I had had a few nice times (or nice people around!) when it rained - my original memory may have remained unscathed. Now, the sound of rain alone cannot make me happy - it has to have the noise of Hyderabad too.
Our memories, like everything, are colored by our own impressions. And as we look back, our preset notions take a stronger hue in memory. A pleasant smell that was just in the background at that point in time becomes the overwhelming perfume of the memory. And even a slightly similar smell brings back that time and place to us.
I remember taking a lot of anti-tetanus shots in my sporty childhood but my sister, going through exactly the same things, thinks we hardly got as many as we should have. I remember dad driving us straight to hospital after a fall, she remembers the time we ignored the wounds we got on the playing field in school. I focused on the enjoyable trips to the hospital and remember that but she registered the relief of not getting an injection more sharply than the times we got our shots. Our memories are clouded by what affected us most, by what we found most memorable. The reminiscence is now colored by our own preconceived notions. Neither is wrong. Its just a matter of how we look at it.
I believe that what we feel and what we remember defines us as individuals more than our actions and our principles do. We are after all the sum total of our memories.
A memory is rarely dependent solely on recall power. Because whatever we have recorded in our wondrous brains has been amalgamated by all that we felt and thought and hoped for - by all that we were then. And as time passes, and we change and grow, we add to that memory our hopes and emotions , mostly unconsciously.
You can love a song because it was played at a time you were wearing a dress you felt wonderful in because the song brings back the feeling of comfort. And you will forever like the color the dress was, even if you never consciously make the connection. You can hate the mountains because you associate the homesickness you had while you were there.
Our most impressionable recollections are the 'first times'. The first taste, the first trip, the first book of a series we got hooked to (the first time you read this blog!!). Sometimes it takes many memories to override the powerful first one we have registered. The sound of rain used to send endorphins running through my system because of rains in Hyderabad, my hometown in India. The wonderful breeze, the nicely-tempered water drops, the washed trees, the pakodas and chais. And now - after nine years of New Jersey weather, raindrops are the most depressing things I can think of. Memory re-engineered! But after many, many re-dos in my psyche. After many situations of a similar kind overrode the previous one. Probably, if I had had a few nice times (or nice people around!) when it rained - my original memory may have remained unscathed. Now, the sound of rain alone cannot make me happy - it has to have the noise of Hyderabad too.
Our memories, like everything, are colored by our own impressions. And as we look back, our preset notions take a stronger hue in memory. A pleasant smell that was just in the background at that point in time becomes the overwhelming perfume of the memory. And even a slightly similar smell brings back that time and place to us.
I remember taking a lot of anti-tetanus shots in my sporty childhood but my sister, going through exactly the same things, thinks we hardly got as many as we should have. I remember dad driving us straight to hospital after a fall, she remembers the time we ignored the wounds we got on the playing field in school. I focused on the enjoyable trips to the hospital and remember that but she registered the relief of not getting an injection more sharply than the times we got our shots. Our memories are clouded by what affected us most, by what we found most memorable. The reminiscence is now colored by our own preconceived notions. Neither is wrong. Its just a matter of how we look at it.
I believe that what we feel and what we remember defines us as individuals more than our actions and our principles do. We are after all the sum total of our memories.
one thing i would like to add is that people who have left the plc and dear ones of their childhood behind have much more stronger memories cause that is the only thing which keeps them going.one little eg.my cousins were ... Read Moreover for haj we discussed alot of the childhood stuff and i remembered more instances and minute details about them,they were really surprised to hear it and it was not of that much value to them as it was for me, cause i replay it in my mind again and again and it consoles me in a way
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