On Consciousness and Cups
Contributed by Marilyn Bennett
Have you ever wondered how your brain stores your memories? There is an unconscious storage place where the memories can be retrieved when reminded by an object or experience.
The reminder can be as mundane as a simple cup. In my case, I have a set of delicate cups which are the remnants of a tea set that my younger brother and myself purchased for my mother when I was a teenager. The tea pot saw its demise at one of my various moves years ago, but the cups are in my hutch to remind me of that long ago precious memory. Then there is the cup that my daughter had made with the baby picture of my first granddaughter embedded on the exterior of the cup. That, of course reminds me of my trip to Alaska to be at my daughter's bedside during her first experience with childbirth.
The unconscious is a mental process that occurs without a person being explicitly aware of it and largely outside of conscious control. How powerful is the subconscious mind? According to the experts, your subconscious mind makes up around 95% of your brain power. So, doesn’t it make sense to surround yourself with items that remind you of HAPPY TIMES? The mind is organized into a connected networks of ideas, thoughts, motivations and emotions. Because of this interconnection the unconscious can and does influence our behavior. Do you remember experiencing negative feelings upon entering a dentist’s office only to feel better when a very cheerful reception remembers you in a positive way? Our emotions and memory can affect our behavior in many ways both positively or negatively.
The unconscious mind includes both repressed feelings, automatic skills and reactions and possibly complex hidden phobias and desires. So therefore holding on to objects which remind you of unpleasant or perhaps scary times in your past could negatively affect your current behavior. We have all known or heard of people who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and might react irrationally from mundane remarks or certain surroundings. It is the unconscious mind holding on to a terrible event in the persons past which can trigger the fight or flight reaction. Psychologists are still studying the how a person can deal with the many effects the unconscious mind has on our present circumstances and what a person can do to ameliorate the negative reactions.
Not being a psychologist, I came up with the great idea. I believe that surrounding yourself with positive items can create a healthy environment. In other words, keep the items that have happy memories and remove from the cupboard or from the house those that have extremely bad memories attached to them. This seems to be a simplistic solution, but it often seems that putting too much thought into things can ends up in muddled thoughts and over intellectualizing. "Keep It Simple" is a way of not dwelling on negatives either in our home or worrying about things that are outside our ability to change. Keeping our minds on what we can affect in our immediate surroundings. Letting go of world affairs that are out of our control. Concentrate on living one day at a time in the best and most positive way possible.
Looking again at my shelf full of cups I am drawn to the touristy Alaskan cup that was given to me by a teenage friend as a welcome to Alaska gift, such a sweet memory. Then is the latest gift from my daughter a cup inscribed with the words "Be careful or you'll end up in My Book". I love to remember the happy times in my life and even try to turn the negatives into learning experiences to lessen their impact on my present state of mind.
Perhaps you could make a happy circle of fun items and sit down in the middle and meditate on what a WONDERFUL WORLD we live in.