Saturday 1 June 2013

I remember everything. No I don't. Yes I do. No I don't.

I'm learning a bit about psychology at the moment.

I'm not doing any study. Oh no. As far as going back to school, I've definitely done that for the last time.

It's actually part of my work. That's right, my job means I get paid to learn stuff. And I don't even have to do the exams. Sounds like not too bad a deal to me.

Anyway, one of the main things I've learnt through my work-related exploration of psychology relates to memory. To summarise, when it comes down to it, we're really not very good at remembering stuff.

I can definitely relate to that. I seem to forget stuff left, right and centre. But it's actually even worse than that. Not only do we not remember a whole lot of stuff. But even when we do remember stuff, we tend to remember it wrong.

This explains how you can be describing some sort of incident that happened in the past with someone who was also there, only to discover that this person has a completely different recollection of it from the one you had. Who's right? Who's wrong? The answer is, probably neither of you remember it quite as it happens.

I can tell you that as a writer, I find this sort of thing happening all the time. Sometimes I'll read something that I wrote a while back. I might groan or avert my eyes. Then I'll say to myself, "Did I really write that? Did I really think this was something that was worth putting on the page? What on earth could I have been thinking at the time?" Of course, I have absolutely no recollection. But I guess the page can't lie.

Anyway, I think I had a point when I started writing this. What a pity that I can't remember what it was. Mind you, if I did I'd probably remember it completely wrong anyway, and it would end up all messed up. Maybe it's better this way for everyone.

Enjoy the week. May it provide you with numerous enjoyable, if most likely incorrect, memories for the future.