Have you ever thought about your brain? Like, really thought about it? What an incredible resource--it's phenomenonal, really. Okay, it controls all of our involuntary responses and functions (you know, like breathing... stuff that keeps us alive). If you do something often often enough, your brain just sort of takes over. You don't even have to think about it anymore. And it has this store room filled with old, "forgotten" songs, jokes, memories. We think we've forgotten, but then we "remember." So, obviously we knew all along. It was in there somewhere. Sometimes I wish I could delete some of the information it retains, just to make room for some other important stuff. Stuff like where I left my phone charger, and the fact that I had already run a particular errand; there was no need to do it again. I am learning new things in school, and I'm doing really well. But by next term, I will have forgotten most of the "important stuff," because, as it turns out, my brain is more interested in retaining memories like that time I hugged a boy in Kindergarten and all the big kids stood around laughing. Or that time my grade one teacher had to come out to the field after recess and get me, as I hadn't noticed that the bell had rung, and that everyone else had gone back inside.
Why does a familiar song make you feel exactly the way you did when you first heard it? That's amazing. But in the midst of assigning memories and feelings to old songs, your brain is also getting started on new ones. Not to mention the creative processes it is working on. If a chemical level is slightly out of whack, you can have a bad day. That's weird. It just makes you realize that it's there for your own use. Your brain is there to serve you, not to be served. And despite all the processes we cannot control, there are things we can control. Like what to think about, what kind of memories to create, what sort of fuel we will put in to our minds. You get out what you put in, I guess....
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