#1331 - time, memories and emotions
I know. I wrote about time only a few days ago (here), and here I am again.
What can I say?
I don't plan what to write about and when. It just happens.
Not that I think about; these posts are also a way to mark the passage of time. At least of my time.
Being numbered and published in order, they are linear and regular. Like we are used to measuring external time. In my mind, however, they are neither linear nor regular. Some of them are so vivid in my memories that I'm surprised at how far back in time I wrote them. And then, sometimes, I realise I'm writing the same thing only a few days later.
That's because our internal clock is not a clock at all.
It is more like a journal.
Scientists discovered that our brain uses episodic memory to track time. Each of these entries in our internal journal encodes what, where and when something happened. The more entries, the more that period will feel dense, and vice versa.
How does our brain decide what to write in the journal?
It appears the brain has a preference for novel stuff.
But also emotions play a big part as they can make an event less or more memorable. To me, it feels like emotions are the ink with which we write in the journal of our life. The stronger the ink, the less it will fade over time.
I'm probably oversimplifying, but I'd like to think that by filling my life with novel and emotionally rich stuff, I may expand the time I have.