We could all use a little dose of happiness these days

I’ve read a lot of book with happiness in the title. Stumbling on Happiness by Harvard Professor, Daniel Gilbert, PhD is my hands down favorite.  He’s a serious academic researcher who can describe complex concepts about neuroscience, memory, and prediction in a way that’s easy to understand. 

This book helped me understand how memory really works.  Think back to your first real romantic experience. Many if not most of us imagine a place in our brain where old Super 8 movies, VHS tapes, DVDs, or MP4 files are stored. We imagine finding the one labeled “first real romantic” and plugging it in to enjoy re-watching this old film. But our brains don’t record and store everything we see, smell, hear, and experience in life. Our hard drive is just not that big. What happens is our mind retrieves shards of memory and quickly create a new movie for us to enjoy. This happens so fast that it creates the illusion that you’re able to recall exactly what happened. 

With this understanding of how memory works, when my wife and I remember parts of our wedding differently, I don’t argue. There’s no point in arguing about the new movies we’ve each created in our minds.  His description of the role memory plays in prediction blew my mind. He’s the only neuroscience writer that causes me to laugh so hard that my elderberry flavored fizzy water spurts out of my nose.