1.5 (B) How Memory is Linked to Stress and Anxiety
How Memory is Linked to Stress and Anxiety:
With every experience, we react dependent on how we’re feeling at the time. Every situation we experience, the mind remembers, and stores into our subconscious. The mind will remember everything from how we reacted, to how we felt.
The mind is set up like a computer, taking in all the information it’s given, and stores it into the subconscious, like data. Although, the difference between the mind and a computer, is that the mind remembers not only the data, but the emotions as well. It will remember how you were feeling emotionally at any given time. It will log and store the experience as a memory, but also log if you were happy at the time of that experience, or sad, or angry, and of course, if you had fear. All this information gets stored in the limitless hard drive, that is our brain.
So, if you went to a birthday party, that made you happy, the mind will remember not only the event, but how you were feeling at the time.
The mind will also remember the emotions, and especially anything attributed to fear, because, as we mentioned earlier, we are set up to protect ourselves.
Say you came up to a dog, at a very young age, and it growled, barked, and lunged towards you, which startled you. You could easily develop a fear of dogs from that experience. It would be your mind taking that experience, and holding onto it, as a reminder to be careful when a dog is around. Again, it’s your mind sending signals of protection, in order to keep you safe.
So, if you reacted negatively about a certain situation, and the next time you have the same feeling, or thought process, the mind can be triggered to protect you. All the mind needs is a feeling or thought, or anything emotionally matching the experience from the past.
But, don’t just think this is all negative, as the mind will remember all that is positive as well. The mind is just geared towards negativity.
With every experience, we react dependent on how we’re feeling at the time. Every situation we experience, the mind remembers, and stores into our subconscious. The mind will remember everything from how we reacted, to how we felt.
The mind is set up like a computer, taking in all the information it’s given, and stores it into the subconscious, like data. Although, the difference between the mind and a computer, is that the mind remembers not only the data, but the emotions as well. It will remember how you were feeling emotionally at any given time. It will log and store the experience as a memory, but also log if you were happy at the time of that experience, or sad, or angry, and of course, if you had fear. All this information gets stored in the limitless hard drive, that is our brain.
So, if you went to a birthday party, that made you happy, the mind will remember not only the event, but how you were feeling at the time.
The mind will also remember the emotions, and especially anything attributed to fear, because, as we mentioned earlier, we are set up to protect ourselves.
Say you came up to a dog, at a very young age, and it growled, barked, and lunged towards you, which startled you. You could easily develop a fear of dogs from that experience. It would be your mind taking that experience, and holding onto it, as a reminder to be careful when a dog is around. Again, it’s your mind sending signals of protection, in order to keep you safe.
So, if you reacted negatively about a certain situation, and the next time you have the same feeling, or thought process, the mind can be triggered to protect you. All the mind needs is a feeling or thought, or anything emotionally matching the experience from the past.
But, don’t just think this is all negative, as the mind will remember all that is positive as well. The mind is just geared towards negativity.