Perception is full of holes and memory is mostly empty.

 “The true art of memory is the art of attention.”
— Samuel Johnson

Memory is not a record of the past, it’s a resource for acting in the present. You remember in order to know what to do or not to do. You don’t remember for nostalgic purposes.

Every experience we have is far richer than we are able to perceive or remember. Take a moment to observe yourself watching and listening. After you’re gone through the motions, go back and do it again, but this time look beyond what you were looking at and listen to what you didn’t notice.

For the smartest beings in the universe, we certainly don’t see, hear, or remember much. There have been savants who remember everything, and their brains appear no different than ours. We could remember so much more, but we don’t. And the reason we don’t is because it would be a waste of resources. The question we might ask is, given the incredible things our brains are capable of, is why aren’t we doing more with it?

Amnesia

Recall

Trauma and Significance

Regression

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