This Reminds Me...

The eye catches only a fraction of what is going on around us. We blink, we zoom in, we zone out and during all this time stuff is happening all around us. Our other senses try to fill in some of the gaps, our ears might take note of a car approaching although we haven’t spotted it yet. Our sense of smell might tell us that our neighbor is enjoying another night of barbecue while all we have in front of us is a slice of cold pizza. But more intriguingly, behind the world of senses, there is yet another information processor at work who diligently fills in the gaps. However, that one uses information based on our memory of past experiences. Unfortunately, that data base tends to be flawed, because memories are notoriously inaccurate. However, that does not discourage our left brain from actively producing scenarios that are as close to what might have happened as possible. Because, most of all, it likes a good story. The scary part is that everyone likes a good story and so we all amble through life with a rather sketchy concept of reality. Although designed to help us avoid repeat mistakes, this over zealous story teller can actually get us into trouble by alerting us when there is no reason for concern. It might tell us, for example, that our neighbor “always” barbecues on Sundays without “any” concern for others. Instead of completing the picture, our story telling brain is adding to it. It digs into our deep coffers of trauma and pain in trying to link the current experience to one of the past even if the match is not even close. While throughout evolution this principle must have kept us out of harms way, nowadays with our tightly knitted relations we tend to be overwhelmed with messages. Putting a lid on the chatter box may at times be a good idea.