Most people as they grow older wish for better memory
Memory is one thing every individual has in common with others. All of us are able to keep and retain some things in the past, may it be an event, a person, a thing, or a statement, an image. We all have memories, some we wish to relive many times, some we wish we just can forget. That is one thing about memory—it recurs. According to Myers, memory comes in three stages. The first is to register something which will become a memory, then, this will get us to the second stage in which the memory becomes the working memory (short-term).
At stage three, there will be a fraction of the working memory which will become long-term memory in which the memory will become available for us to retrieve later on. There is some information in our lives that we force to memorize like those information we need in our studies and when it comes to the discipline we are in. We don’t want to forget that information because if we do, our projected performance in school or in profession becomes affected. There is, however, information that we do not really force ourselves to put into memory, but, can find its way into our memory. These are, mostly, people, events, a sensation or an image.
That results to what people say as good and bad memories. The good memories are those everyone wants to preserve. The bad are what some may want to totally forget especially when it brings back the pain, the fear and the awkward feelings. I am like most people who want to have a better memory as I become older. I think I need that! I’ll need a better memory as I go through my studies. As a student, I have to process a lot of information which, like mentioned earlier, are essential for my performance not only as a student, because I’ll need them all when I have become a professional.
And I need better memory not only on the information I get on books or in lectures, but, in events and people as well. I would wish to recall a lot of things especially when there are other people who are sharing the same memories with me. I think that would be incredible! I think memories can also improve relationships. But, it can also help break relationships especially when the memory you share with the other person makes you relive things uneventful. I also have bad memories and I think I have lots of it. But it isn’t that tragic that I would wish I do not have that kind of memory.
Although those are what I consider bad, I think it is fine that I sometimes access the events and the images. It’s because it makes me want to become better. I want to learn from my past. The memories I have remind me of what I really am, of what I am made of and of what I can and cannot do in the past. It defines me. But there are definitely a lot of things I wish to change. My past doesn’t have to be my future. I want to improve. I want to become better. And I don’t think I will be able to do that if I won’t reflect. I believe reflections are healthy.
It would allow me to reevaluate myself, which is why I have to access my memory from time to time. What makes it difficult is when bad memories come to me when I don’t want them to or when I least expect them to. I think it is when people call a memory haunting. When the memory isn’t forced for retrieval or if it is just triggered, coping becomes difficult for a person. There is one study which reported that bad memories especially those which came from tragedies are the memories easily remembered than the good ones (Warner, 2007).
They reported that unlikable emotions like fear and sadness can trigger an “increased activity in the part of the brain which is associated with the brain. ” I sympathize with some people whose memory has become destructive for them. And I am fortunate that mine isn’t. References: Myers, David. 2006. Psychology, 8th ed. New York, USA: Worth Publishers. Warner, Jennifer. 2007. Bad Memories Easier to Remember: Negative Memories May Be More Vivid Than Happy Ones. WebMD Health News. 29 August 2007. Retrieved April 13,2009 from http://www. webmd. com/brain/news/20070829 /bad-memories-easier-to-remember.
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