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At the end of our road on Thursday, we noticed a piece of heavy equipment and Grant observed that it must have been on the truck that had been in front of us as we returned from Albany the day before.
At which point I realised that I could not recall the journey home, though I vaguely remembered taking pictures…
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While the thought of having a total memory gap is not all that perturbing since I know the cause, it is never-the-less curious.
I inherited curiosity from my father.
In the years since I retired and had time to observe, I’ve come to appreciate the power of the unconscious brain.
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Even when disconnected from thought, the brain dictates self-preservation and reacts to physical stimuli.
But it is more than that. The unconscious brain listens to thoughts and interprets. You know the saying:
“Be careful what you wish for!”
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As a very simple example, have you ever been faced with a social function you didn’t wish to attend, or maybe speaking in public and developed a queasy stomach or a blinding headache?
It’s nerves, for sure, but isn’t the brain providing an excuse to get you out of whatever it is you don’t want to do?
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Psychosomatic illness.
Not the same as hypochondria which is excessive worrying about health and imagining dire illness.
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Psychosomatic illness is real but without physically attributable cause.
Years ago I put it to the therapist I was then seeing, that perhaps my long history of mysterious maladies had originated as a means of gaining attention from rather detached parents.
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She thought it a not far-fetched idea.
It is certainly true that people who give up hope die. How often do elderly couples pass on withing a short time of each other?
People who have been devoted to their partner often have no interest in going on alone, so their brains simply allow them not to.
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Laughingly, I used to say that someone must have a voodoo doll of me which they periodically stuck needles into.
Such things are powerful if you can make people believe in them. People can, literally, be scared to death.
The unconscious brain controls so very much.
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In recent years I’ve come to think of my brain as a separate entity. I mean, doesn’t everyone talk to themself sometimes?
How often do you go to bed exhausted, only to be kept awake by a brain that refuses to shut off?
It still happens to me quite often but now I don’t fight it anymore, as to fight is only to become more tired.
“You want to stay awake? Fine. We’ll read.”
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Brain likes to run music and seizes on tunes I play frequently, running them over and over until I want to yell STOP!
Everyone knows that experience.
It gets annoying. I force myself to provide an alternate tune to jog the other out of its track, so to speak. Sometimes it works. Often the alternate tune becomes just as annoying!
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There is nothing at all scientific about this. It is merely personal observation, but I do think we should all pay more attention to the organ that sits in our heads.
Ignore it at your peril and do not feed it psychotropic drugs!
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Whatever state I am in, I will always notice the yellow barn which looked particularly splendid on Wednesday.
Coming upon the photograph reminded me of that, otherwise I had no recall of the route we had taken.
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To pass that barn involves a cross-country route which is very pleasant at any time of year.
The trees will get that warm leaf-unraveling day soon.
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Patches of light must always be photographed!
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It was a great day to be on the road.
– Apparently!
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And that seems to have been that.
Here we were on the home stretch.
Thursday was another day…
Thank you, Carolyn, for your philosophical musing! I agree that the brain is an important part of our bodies, but we still don’t fully understand how it works. Thank you for the blue sky and the trees.
Joanna
My brain likes to replay obscure snippets of memory at various times during the day and night. It’s like it is saying, “Remember this? No? Then wake up and remember the moment”.
It was a nice day for photos. clear skies and good weather.
Best wishes, Pete.
I pondered on my brain at the age of 17. I’m still pondering!
https://pollymermaid.wordpress.com/2017/11/23/my-brain/
Some serious deep thinking touched on with a deft and personal light touch!
The Tramadol I mentioned knocked dust off the memory shelves that held the early “vision quest” years. I went on the hunt to put four years back together mid 73 to early 77. Whew. When we’re young a ton of “stuff” goes on all day that, from here, seems impossible.