Have you ever forgotten about something?
It's very frustrating, right? It's not that you don't know about it, you just can't seem to recall it.
"I know there are keys somewhere here, but I forgot where are they."
"I remember studying the topic. Oh my God, I can't remember the content though. What am I supposed to write now?"
"Oh no, I think I had forgotten her birthday again."
On the other hand, there are people who are trying to forget bad things that happened to them.
That cheating ex.
That betrayal by your own best friend
That near-death accident.
There are also the minority of people who have this real-life superpower of remembering everything and not forgetting even the smallest details (hyperthymesia),
and there are also the minority of people who are unable to make memories (amnesia), or to simply put it, they always forget.
How do we even remember things in the first place?
The brain does not record memories like a recording machine, instead it built links and connections, until a whole memory is formed. This is why we remember things in bits and pieces, because 2 bits of information that we remember will not be retained by the brain by one single pattern of connections. They have their own unique neural path.
Apart from that, the brain also do some sort of 'housekeeping' to our memories to improve its efficiency, where it stores and strengthens important memories, and forget trivial, unimportant memories.
"So does that mean if I forget things that I need to remember for my exam, they are not important?"
Not necessarily. As we know it, there are lot of important information, not limited to examination topics, that our brain
still forgets. Why?
Well, there are a lot of factors on how your brain tend to remember things. You are more likely to remember things if:
- You keep recalling the memory
- Your brain is in a good health when it receives the information for the first time
- The fact is so unique
- The fact is interesting to you
- The information has an emotional connection with you (arguably one of the most important factors)
- You apply the information (ranging from just writing it back to actually experience it hands-on, you are more likely to remember it)
- You pay more attention
- You try to remember it in bits and pieces
Just to name a few, actually.
(I'm sorry if I made any technical mistake or if I use any scientifically incorrect terms here. Feel free to correct me if I do)
So, humans are generally diverse in the term of their memory and also memory deterioration. Which means, our capability of remembering and forgetting things varies. Apart from that, we also tend to remember or forget certain things more than others.
As we know it, forgetting things is always considered to be a negative thing.
But you know what?
I am actually grateful, and I appreciate the fact, that I forget things.
Why?
Because by only forgetting, I can remember more.
Try to remember these:
What did you ate for lunch last Sunday?
How many doors were there at the venue of where you were specifically on 3.46 pm last Tuesday?
What was the colour of your shirt last Thursday?
Don't remember? Well then, try to remember what you
actually remember last Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
(No peeking into the planner or whatsoever)
Probably you may be able to recall a few things, right?
This shows that
you actually forget more than you remember.And most of the things that you do remember, it is most probably because of the factors that I had listed just now.
Maybe your beloved cat died last Sunday.
If you're taking any tests last Tuesday, maybe you can still remember a few things that you studied.
Maybe last Thursday your friend told you a trivial, useless but this so weird fact: humans share 50% of our DNA with bananas.
(It's true though, Google it)
My point is, despite we despise forgetting something, most of the time, we forget more things than we thought. And it is beneficial for us.
By only forgetting the unimportant things, I can remember the important things.
By only forgetting useless memories, I can remember memories that matter to me the most.
We may forget lots of things that we do during our childhood, but we will always remember what our parents did to us during our childhood.
We may forget all of those daily hassles during our teens, but we may never forget how we are struggling financially and mentally to finish school.
We may forget the lecturers' names sometimes, and had to secretly Google them, because the memory of our lecturers are incomparable to the memories with our friends that help us through ups and downs in our university lives.
I know, it's weird, right?
It's weird how our brain form memories, remembering & forgetting things.
Indeed,
the brain is the most complex thing in the universe.
Don't take my words on it, take Professor Sir Robin Murray's.
But as a normal person, who forms memories, remembers and forgets normally,
I'm grateful for that.
The best thing that I can do now is to gradually improve my mental capabilities, to avoid forgetting real important information.
The brain is confusing.
But it is what it is.
Be grateful for it.
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