Psychology & meditation
Did you know ? The most recent scientific research is beginning to show that our memories are mostly biased!
Indeed, the memory of events starts from our sensory experiences. The hippocampus processes this information and distributes it in different areas of the brain, more or less connected, to store them.
But this same hippocampus also manages the imagination.
So, remembering and imagining is pretty much the same for our brain!
Whenever one tries to remember an event, the brain will automatically fill in the missing information with probable elements, which depend on our prejudices, our samskaras.
Thus, the more one remembers a memory, the less chance there is for the memory to be faithful … hence the interest of living in the present, without too much attaching oneself, rehearsing or ruminating the past… the present moment is our only “truth” 😉
Psychology & meditation
Emotional currency is the things we do, the roles we endorse for others to accept us, appreciate us, love us. This is Prakriti for yogis, our personality.
It can be for example, to take great care of ones physical appearance, to make repeated jokes, to take care of others before oneself, to be smart, but also to be sick all the time, sad or depressed …
But basically, what we want is to be seen at our deepest level, for what we really are, this is Purusha, our soul.
Does that speak to you? It is quite easy to identify the emotional currency of the people around us. But could you take a few moments to think about your main emotional currency? To validate your first intuition, you can observe yourself in action in the days to come!
Awareness is the first step towards evolution … because would not the ideal be to be simply loved when we are authentic?
Psychology & meditation
As human living and incarnated beings, we all have samskaras, habitual patterns of thoughts, actions and words, innate or acquired, which may have been useful at some point for our survival but which may not be beneficial anymore to us today.
They may be physical (a way of acting on a daily basis), emotional (a way of reacting to life events), psychological (a tendency to anxiety, depression), immune (tendency to reject what is foreign, to let everything in). They affect all aspects of our being.
Some are positive, constructive (knowing how to listen fully, taking action from the center, knowing how to set limits) others much less.
With the practice of yoga, we learn to identify them, to rub them along, to tame them in order to gradually evolve and integrate them within our whole being: physically (what is our attitude on the mat? does it strengthen the pattern ?), emotionally (how does this emotion manifest within me ? can I see it arising, before it has submerged me?).
Do you have a minute, now, to reflect on one of your samskaras that you would like to make evolved?
Psychology & meditation
When you have a choice to make, you tend to:
- Look for one that will meet your criteria. The first acceptable solution is the right one.
- OR look for the best option. You review all the possibilities to be sure not to miss an even more satisfying one.
?
If the maximizers, those of the second category, generally make decisions of better quality, the satisfiers, the first category, are generally happier and satisfied with their lives.
Indeed, the maximiers would tend, even after making their choice, to re-examine the other options and question their initial choice.
To be meditated !
