UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • December 2016 • 29
An Upbeat Philosophy Of Memory and Life by Chance Massaro, M.A. •
powcom@sonic.net
SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ Given how our brain works and how culture shapes and trains our brains, we hu- mans seem to have a much bet- ter ability to no- tice, focus upon and reify the neg- ative. Blame your amygdala and our desire to avoid making the same mistake twice, but negatives get lots more play in our memory than positives.
losophy is just the opposite: notice, focus on and reify the positive. For indeed the magic (secret) of human life is that whatever I focus on I get more of. We see and hear people frame their world in disempow- ering ways: you complement a friend on her sweater and she replies, “This ole thing?” some- one misplaces their keys and they say, “I’m always losing my keys;” an often heard self deprecating refrain, “I never remember names.”
thousands of comments like These and An upbeat phi-
these are predictions not simple descriptions, because YOUR BRAIN BELIEVES AND MAKES TRUE WHAT
them! The frame I put on my realization is negative when actually I could complement myself on patting my pocket; remembering that’s where my keys should be!
that if I put a positive frame around my behavior I can say, “I remember my keys (faces, names, formulae, phone num- bers, medication, characters in a novel etc, etc.)” whenever I do. An Upbeat philosophy encour-
ages people to focus on and ap- preciate what they do that works in their life: keep score of what
“Maybe knowledge is as fundamental, or even more fundamental than (material) reality.”
Anton Zeilinger
• Packaging • Greeting Cards • Locally Owned • Mailbox Rental • Copy Center • Faxing • Passport Photos • Document Shredding • Fast Service!
(707) 526-1130 • Open Mon-Sat 1585 Terrace Way ~ Santa Rosa ~ Off Pacifi c Ave. The point is
TELL IT! Here’s a great example I hope you will remem- ber well. I’m on my way to my car and I pat my pocket and an- grily exclaim, “Dang, I forgot my keys.” But look! I didn’t forget my keys, I just remembered
YOU
works. So in the areas of learn- ing and remembering we want to track whenever our memory works well and DEFINE OUR- SELVES AS A PERSON WHO REMEMBERS EASILY AND WELL.
Upbeat in Santa Rosa!
This philosophy further en- courages communities to do this among its members. Whenever someone remembers something we want to notice it and comple- ment them. Even further, we want to ask them, “How did you remember that?” with genuine curiosity to solidify the realiza- tion as well unearth new tech- niques that we could use. Let’s use this fundamental phi- losophy to guide everything we do whether it’s getting dressed in the morning, letting a car come in front of you on the free- way; learning and remembering or forgiving ourselves and oth- ers.
Some of our friends from Western Farm Center in Santa Rosa 2015!
Wiggles loves to shop at WFC...
Wiggles is a 5 year old Puggle and comes to Western Farm Center because he loves the selection of food and gets to go in the store and meet other dogs. His owner also shops at the store because crickets are available for his pet turtle. A friend told him about WFC and he’s been a loyal customer since! Another positive is the fact he gets a lot of help from the staff and a much better selection of pet products to choose from than any other pet store in Sonoma County!
Western Farm Center (707) 545-0721
Since 1967 we’ve been the Favorite Place to shop for pets & farm animals!
Vaccination clinics every Sunday from 9:30am to 11:30 am
21 West 7th Street • Santa Rosa
www.westernfarmcenter.com Open Mon-Sat 8am-5:30pm • Sun 9:30am-4pm
“Information is what you put in empty heads to keep them empty.” ~ Marty Rubin UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • December 2016 • 29
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