I found a great lecture on TED about the experiencing self and remembering self. What was that? We have two versions of ‘self’? Nope. There are multitudes of ‘selves’. All residing in our skulls. They are basically segments of our conscience. Segments that determine how we experience our existence.
So what is the ‘experiencing self’ and the ‘remembering self’? Well, the experiencing self experiences and the remembering self replays what we experienced. The sight, smell, taste, feel and sound of the event are registered, processed and stored by this mechanism. So what’s so fabulous about this, you ask? Right question! Listen to this.
Two patients are going through painful procedures of identical nature. A doctor asks them how much pain they feel, say, every few minutes and then they are asked to rate their pain as a whole. What’s so very interesting is that, when remembering the whole experience, patient 2 found the procedure more painful even through the procedure (by the minutes) was a less painful. It’s because the entire experience ended on a high painful note. Patient 1, enduring more pain by the minutes, rated the whole experience as less painful because the procedure ended on a less painful note. Now that is pretty cool. So we really do care about the happy ending after all, huh? And here we kept making it out about the journey! Humph.
If you really think about this. It’s a pretty phenomenal concept. And pretty accurate when you put it up against your own experiences. For example, I had to stay at a relatives house for approximately a month but due to the sudden narcissistic, OCD moods of the lady of the house, I left the house on a sour note. My experience was great for 25 days! But somehow, I always remember those last 5 days when I couldn’t even step into the house without feeling terrible. No matter how much I try to put that whole experience into perspective, it always tends to tilt towards the final five days of my stay there.
So maybe that teaches us why the dessert comes last. It explains why we must always say our goodbyes with a smile and why we must try ending things on a positive note. Here’s mine: Thank you very very much for reading lovely readers! Until next blog, ciao! ❤
P.S. I’ve included Daniel Kahneman’s lecture on my tags for all you curious cats out there! Or you can google him. Think on! ❤
Stop Waiting For Summer 