December 4, 2018
Thoughts for the Week
“Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, or narratives.” - Dr. Pamela Rutledge
When you take a moment to think about it, stories DO help us make meaning of life. Our brains are wired for memory matches and stories feed this wiring very well. When information comes into our sensory register (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell) the brain instantly looks for a match in long-term memory to make sense of the sensations it is experiencing. We do not have to think about this process, but it happens thousands of times a day. When certain people call, text, email you or stop by your place of business you instantly have memories or stories that help you place that person in context. The next interaction adds to the stories already stored in your long-term memory and may or may not change the schema in a small or drastic way. It depends upon the interaction we have!