We were reminiscing at dinner the other night.
That's one thing evenings in the early months of pre-summer are good for - reminiscing. Goodness knows no one wants to be out in the cold once the sun has dropped from the sky.
And I got to thinking what a remarkable thing the human memory is.
Our brains process an astounding amount of information 17 to a 18 hours a day, 365 days a year. At my current age of 53, my brain has cataloged 348,210 hours or 20,892,600 minutes of life experiences.
And in less time than it takes to snap my fingers, our brains can access a single event that occurred some 278,000 hours ago and replay the minutes in astonishing detail.
The past event is displayed on an internal projection screen exactly as it occurred all those years ago - right down to the clothes that were worn, the quilt on the bed, or the pastel swirls of the sunset. Sounds, such as the hum of a fan, the chirp of crickets, or a band playing are so vivid that the remembered scene might be occurring in real time.
Our memory vaults even supply us with the smell of honeysuckle or a roasting turkey.
Is it any wonder we are prone to spend time on walks down memory lane?
No comments:
Post a Comment